Boston Lager Remastered

"Wheel O' Beverage Styles"

Fixed that for you.

Cheers!

 

Probably right Squire, my boss always says that I think too practically all the time.

 

I guess you'd have to ask Boston's marketing department about their thought process and results (I tend to agree with post #450 above from @steveh) but I think part of their process involved specifically labeling the beer "Remastered".

Pretty common to have a small test market or, in the case of the larger macro-brewers, a test marketing region made up of several different metropolitan areas.

Might have been based on BBC's NYS network of wholesalers, nearness to their Allentown, PA brewery, etc.

It was unusual how silent BBC was (just a couple of mentions behind a paywall at BBD/CBD), since most testing involves heavy ad campaigns, etc.

EDIT - Well, looks like there were coasters (2-sided)

and that mention in the 2020 Annual Report which did not use the "Remastered" term - posted in #423 above.

 

Makes you think initial reception of the reformulation was a great big *meh.*

At the time of the reform market test I mentioned that I tried the BL (original, as I'm not in NYS) on draft for the first time in a long time and really enjoyed it. Prompting a six-pack purchase that was also enjoyable. It won't surprise me if BBC decides not to fix what isn't broken.

 

Well, from that 'graph from the Annual Report I think they're implying they stuck with the changes of the brewing process - those advanced "21st century brewing techniques” - but didn't go with an ad campaign/labeling change promoting the "remastering"?

Of course, they did use the word "Remastering" - my point was they do not call the current beer "Remastered Boston Lager". Reading too deep into it all? Probably. What else is there to do 'round here?

 

I wonder if BBC decided to tweak the Boston Lager brewing process (i.e., "Remastered") and that is how all of Boston Lager is now being produced (with no labeling/branding change)?

Are there any BAs who are regular Boston Lager drinkers who have noticed a difference with their beers?

Cheers!

 

I don't drink much Boston Lager, but you might be right about the remastered product going everywhere. Maybe they introduced the new formula everywhere and just used the remastered label in NY? The test could have been just a test of labeling. A few years ago I picked up Stone IPA cans that heralded (in very small type) a revised hop character in their beer. I didn't notice a big change in the Stone IPA after drinking it, though. Whatever Boston Beer is up to, it would be nice for them to be more forthcoming.

 

So this was all just some sort of placebo test on BL drinkers?

But I agree that we need some follow-up from BBC. Inquiring minds, and all.

 

Jeez. Everyone is missing the technological advancements that the brewers can employ now that they did not have in 1987.

Remember, no internet. No iPhone. No space travel or water chemistry. Refrigeration was some radical idea from a science fiction movie. No movies.

The Remastered Sam Adam's is really just making perfection better, because the marketing department could not figure out how to say they made perfect more perfect.
And Computers.

Cheers

 

The *brewers* employ all this tech?

 

Bill, I get that you are having some 'fun' here.

Below is from the Sam Adams website (with emphasis in bold by me):

“Never From Concentrate

The easiest and most efficient way to brew is a process known as “high gravity brewing”. The practice entails making a sort of beer “syrup” and then diluting it with water until the desired %ABV is achieved. Sam Adams Boston Lager is not from concentrate. To deliver the full flavor and aroma, the brewing process is labor-intensive, including decoction mashing (four-vessel process), krausening (secondary fermentation), extended lagering (aging), and dry hopping during the final stages of fermentation.”

https://www.samueladams.com/inefficient

So, even in the past BBC expended a fair bit of effort to produce Boston Lager. For the beginnings of BBC at contract breweries (firstly Pittsburgh Brewing) but now at their own breweries (e.g., Breinigsville, PA).

I do not know what changes they have made with this “Remastered” Boston Lager but I enjoyed drinking the one bottle I had (discussed in post #429).

Cheers!

 

Huh. They use decoction mashing when brewing Boston Lager?

 

As a reminder you knew about this via a post that JK made in 2019; you “liked” the post:

“David Grinnell, BBC VP, said "We’re set up for decoction mashing now..." in an interview in 2010 about the company's renovations to the ex-Schaefer brewery. And in his Quench Your Own Thirst book, Koch has several pages on converting their original contract-brewery, Pittsburgh Brewing Co., to allow decotion, noting he spent $8,000 on equipment for them, and that the PBC brewing system (w/an extra vessel) was one of the reasons he and Owades chose them.”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/pilsner-hate.611182/page-2#post-6455676

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the link, went and re-read some of it. That was an interesting thread.

 

It was entitled "Pilsner Hate" but there were lots of posts from folks who appreciate the Pilsner Beer style (including me).

This weekend I will be discussing a new SEPA craft brewed Pilsner in the NBW thread. The Pilsner beer scene in my area just continues the get better and better and...

And tomorrow evening I will be homebrewing my annual batch of 1896 Michelob (a Bohemian Pilsner).

Cheers!

 

New Coke anyone? AmIRight??