Boston Lager Remastered

The first commercial batches of SABL, brewed at Pittsburgh Brewing Co. were 200-300 barrels. BBC's brewery in PA, built by F&M Schaefer in the early 1970s, had 1,000 bbl. brew kettles which Boston "resized" to make 600-700 barrel batches. Not sure of the size of a batch out of Cincinnati - BBC's done a lot of renovation/improvements including IIRC new kettles which he named after his father, Charles, and Owades.

Well, the "great great grandfather's recipe" was always more puffery than
fact. According to Jaime Jurado's article on Koch's hired brewing consultant, Joe Owades (which, admittedly, has some notable errors):

The earliest articles on SABL often featured Koch comparing his beer to Pilsner Urquell - which makes little sense today (I suppose that since Koch was aiming his beer at the import market, not the "craft" segment, and specifically going after Heineken, Beck's, St Pauli Girl and Molson, P.U. was still seen as traditional and well-respected enough, as well as closer to what most Americans thought of as "beer" to use the comparison?)

Here are two snippets from The Boston Globe's "The Beer Facts" column, the first before the official release on April 12, 1985:

So, add a different yeast strain than his ancestral recipe, too.

So "same recipe" as his great-great grandfather, except different barley strain, different hops, different yeast and different processes (dry-hopping and krausening).

Also note that the "massive" quantity of Pilsner Urquell brewed in the mid-80s added up to just a bit over 1M bbl., so much smaller than BBC today. And, of course, P.U. uses Saaz hops - at the time, they were still whole hops - they didn't switch to pellets until, IIRC, the early 90s.

 

Nope. The kettles were named after his father, Charles, and great great grandfather, Louis. Owades name went on the cellar. No kettle size mentioned in the Press Release, unfortunately.

November 2005 - The Boston Beer Company to Celebrate the Unveiling of Major Renovations at Its Samuel Adams Brewery in Cincinnati

 

Coke actually did that, as I understand it, to be ABLE to switch from using sugar to high fructose corn syrup. If they had just switched it, it would have been a problem. Change the flavor though so people will want the OLD back, and that’s what you give them (but with a different sugar)? Genius.

 

Hence the remastered. If it tastes exactly like the original Boston Lager what would they have gained? The advertising and label changes cost money, and he is a smart businessman. It would be an epic fail if he gets caught trying to pull a fast one. I guess we’ll have to wait and see when it’s released and reviewed. But I’m thinking the tweak has to be significant enough that the casual beer drinker can tell its different, or it won’t work.

 

Yes, but one commenter opined that perhaps it was just a marketing ploy without any real recipe change.

 

well, in a way, Sam Adams is already winning. There are already over 80 comments on BA about the news, so they have people talking about their product.

 

That's what I'm asking: isn't it unlawful to say "we're changing the recipe" while changing nothing at all?

 

That’s true, but their target market isn’t guys on this site. Their target is beer drinkers who have never heard of BA and don’t care, they want a beer that’s better than Budweiser, but perhaps they’re hops adverse. Something they can find anywhere at a decent price without any kind of hassle. Budweiser has its guys that will never change, SA has its drinkers that will never change, what they need is for the guy who buys every now and or perhaps so rarely it doesn’t count to pick one up and say “ damn that’s pretty good”. They’re looking to pull in more casual beer drinkers and maybe get more crossovers from AALs. Just my opinion on that one, but it’s a careful balance, if it’s too hoppy the casual guy might not go with it. The Hops has to be on the Pils range perhaps, but can’t tread on or compete with SNPA, that’s a losing play because that beer is a great beer, available everywhere and fairly cheap.

 

JK, talking to yourself again!?!

Cheers!

 

When did they say they were changing the recipe?

 

They didn't. I was asking a hypothetical situation

 

Since there is no legal requirement to disclose your recipe and you're definitely allowed to lie in your advertising I don't see what could be illegal about falsely claiming to change your recipe (unless you are claiming some regulated ingredient is specifically present/absent falsely. That might be illegal)

 

"You" are but what about licensed brewers? There is:

... but, obviously, with such vague terms as "Remastered" and even the keg label's "Reformulated" it wouldn't be too difficult for BBC to show they "tweaked" a recipe.

OTOH, consumer lawsuit over the years (Kirin and Beck's brewed by AB in the US, Blue Moon labeled "Craft", Miller-brewed Lowenbrau, etc.) it does appear one can easily find a lawyer to make a case.

 

Didn't Kona have one as well in the past?

 

Hard to fathom. But I suppose the average American palate wasn't suited for a relatively heavy and malty beer. Like others have said they will probably try to make the beer more marketable by increasing the hops and making it lighter and less malty. Personally, I thought it was perfect, but I guess we'll see how the remaster turns out...

 

This is a great way to boost sales.
1. People who may not have drank it for a while may want to try the new version out of curiosity. Instant sales boost.
2. If they like it then more sales.
3. If they don't like it then they may remember the old version fondly and demand it back. Bring back the old version and now these same people are buying it again. More sales than before.

All about the money.

 

How fresh do you typically drink it? Is it possible you just haven’t had it fresh enough for a long time?

See below for more explanation...

I’ve had it in Jamaica Plain, and can confirm what @invertalon has posted. It’s a really hoppy beer when super fresh. If I find it under a month old the hops truly shine in it.

The issue is, as we all know too well, hops fade fast. And that just leaves us with that caramel flavor. Which is nice as a complement to the Noble hops, but when they become dominant it can be unpleasant to some.

Some of our German friends here can chime in, but I actually believe Bitburger is considered a “Fernsehenbier” in Germany. Essentially a “TV beer”, a macro beer like a Budweiser. Like Radeberger and Warsteiner.

I really dig their Pils though, and I’ve had it fresh near the source.

You know people don’t actually read the threads before they post right?

 

Hmm ya didn't consider how much more scrutiny alcohol producers are under. That regulation seems incredibly vague but I suspect the term "material particular" is pretty crucial. The law suits I can think of all had to do with misrepresenting where the beer was produced. I'd think that there's potential for a suit in regards to claiming the presence or absence of particular ingredients. But I've also seen tons of packaging that implies the presence of fruits that are actually just emulated by hops so I wonder? Have their been cases about claims of all malt or anything like that?

 

That can be a contributing factor but doesn't fully explain how I wasn't comparing beers in distribution vs. 'fresh' stuff from JP; it was all purchased and consumed in the same way, and there still was a marked decline in the hop character.

Plus, freshness issues aside, the size and configuration of that particular brewhouse could be a contributing factor as well; and maybe they get 'more' out of the hops there because of it.

Bottom line: I'd still love to have some BL from there some day.

 

Very good insights in your post (IMO), but While BA members are not their target, we do talk with friends who are their target, plus I would love to know how many BA members might try a bottle out of curiosity...you know, for educational purposes :-) Certainly not enough to affect the SA bottom line, but I think someone famous once said something like "no such thing as bad publicity". More conversation = more potential sales.