Boston Lager Remastered

The draft version was broken last time I had it on draft it was a drain pour. Hopefully that isn't the case with the new batches moving forward.

 

That probably wasn't the brewery's fault.

 

Sorry - I failed to notice the first time. The audio of their VP of Brewing is poorly recorded in that spot. One needs to be forgiving of things like this in the pandemic, but it's unfortunate since he's talking about audio quality.

Bonus Question Answer: That looks like side one of U2's War, with the needle being put on Sunday Bloody Sunday. It's fitting to have the producer of Samuel Adams beer pick a song about a terrible incident involving the British army... but of course it's a thousand times more likely to just be the random record at the video shoot (and I'm just having a bit of fun).

 

Probably no Paul Revere and the Raiders laying around.

 

That is deff possible but I feel like over the last ten yrs it went from a go to at a restaurant too just an average beer. Still really like the sam summer but the Boston lager needed a change. I'll have to try it out see if there is a noticeable diff.

 

It's really always been just an average (craft) beer, your palate is just evolving.

I'll still take one at a restaurant if it's the only choice over the "usual," but it's far from a first choice when stocking the fridge.

 

I was thinking of those cups of beer at Fenway where most teams are charging $10-12 bucks a beer for Budweiser. You have a captive audience for your beers. Very smart move, I’m not a fan of their beers, I won’t say no if offered one, but I won’t buy it at any price honestly.

 

Ohh, and perhaps at all their minor league affiliates as well.

 

WAG here but the flagship Boston Lager is over half of their sales. They are likely hemorrhaging at draft houses and maybe even some reliable outlets like the airport lounges, and those are all Boston Lager parking spots taken over by a Hot New Brewer In Town. My guess.

Given that the craft crowd doesn't seem to care about BL, and the casual crowd is not being offered BL, seems like the decision to relaunch, err, Remaster the brand was easy.

What's to lose? BL was not going to stop its slide into irrelevance all by itself. Good luck to those guys.
But it is a shame that the rebranding effort comes down as a shameless corporate effort. Just a jumbled mess of messaging with absolutely no direction. Maybe if they spent a third as much it would be more engaging. Really pathetic actually.

 

We've got a minor league team near by, I can attest that they haven't gouged the prices like the majors.

And the whole experience is much more fun! Guys are playing for the fun, not the paycheck.

 

I know when I went to Houston the beer options were many compared to Boston. The prices were better but it seemed to be mostly can sales and not draft. Far more profit in draft sales, id have to say Fenway gouges pretty good compared to other parks from what I have seen.

 

How close do you live to New York (that is the only place that the remastered Boston Lager is available)?

Cheers!

 

Minor Leagues are always better, baseball is baseball, it’s competitive. The Summer League affiliate here is a bargain by any standards.

 

I bet beers in Fenway aren’t the bargain though, even though it’s a small piece of their pie.

 

Not to dive too far down this rabbit hole, but ...

Minor league teams are affiliated with the MLB club, not owned by it, so concession contracts, etc., would all be up to the local guys. (I suppose there may be an exception or two somewhere in the MiLB system...)

Minor league ball may be more fun, but it is not due to the quality of play, that's for sure.

Most players on affiliated minor league teams are not playing for just fun. They are playing to move up and eventually make the majors. IOW, the rosters are mostly filled in MLB "prospects".

There is independent minor league ball, and these teams are unaffiliated, and the pay is low (so low that our local independent club had to make sure the city of St. Paul's minimum wage ordinance did not apply to them.)

Speaking of the St. Paul Saints, that team will have a major change next season. They are changing from independent baseball to being the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. This will result in a significant upgrade in the quality of play and in the "star" power of several players on the roster. The team ownership (which includes Mike Veeck and Bill Murray as minority owners) says it will not affect ticket prices. IDK about concessions.

 

I believe your we’ll right. It’s why the Greensboro team is now a Miami affiliate and not a NYY they couldn’t agree on money about a new stadium and the NYY pulled out. But they feature local beers. Phillys dropped some too, most teams are really slimming down the pipeline, Clearwater and Reading are top notch, the Lakewood team in NJ, they have a Ny/Pa team I think it’s a summer league, Burlington were has a KC summer league affiliate, just a great place to bring a kid.

 

re: slimming down.

Yeah, MLB (at the top) decided there were too many affiliated minor league teams, costing MLB too much money, so every team had to cut back. The dominos falling from that is what resulted in the Twins dropping their nearly 20 year relationship with the Rochester (NY) Red Wings as the AAA club, and working the deal with the local St. Paul Saints. (It will make it a lot quicker and cheaper to move players up and down between the MLB club and the AAA club, since they just change their commute route. It should also give Twins fans the opportunity to see the top prospects in action.)

 

The salaries are so outrageous something had to give, these 8-10 year contracts are not sustainable. Double down on that with Covid and about zero revenue outside of the TV things are going to change. With Covid being a reality and teams losing money anyway why play, why should I open the gates to lose money? I can make more doing nothing. I want to redo the CBA in all leagues or I lock them out. Simple math, desperate times call for desperate measures,no one could see this coming.

 

Well at Fenway it is, but that's not a Sam Adams thing, that's a Fenway thing. They have the highest beer prices out of any ball park in MLB.

I'd actually love to try Boston Lager on cask.

He also said it was drain poured...that's kind of awkward at a bar, where do you pour it, on the floor?

 

IDK but as beer lover I could see offering up quarterly single Hop creations like Mikkeller? did years ago. You keep the SA Traditional Lager in production and add a quarterly offering say using Mosaic one quarter, Amarillo say the next quarter. It expands your line and keeps the traditional in play. I’d be interested enough to buy a sixer a quarter, which is a sixer more than I buy in a year right now. I only mention that because Mason Jar Pull Tab Pils is brewed using mosaic hops instead of traditional German hops and imo it’s a really nice twist. If it’s not a hit you didn’t reformulate anything your base beer is still in play. Most loyal consumers like it the way it is, they don’t want it changed. See: The horrendous reception of the New Coke, people hated it, and it wasn’t broken.