What's with all the Samuel Adams hate?

Youthful rebellion.

 

I don't understand the hate either.

Here I am, drinking a fresh Winter Lager, bottled March 4th... just in time for Spring! Drink up!

 

I truly feel they have a place in the craft world, one of serving as a gateway. As with brews like Shock Top, Sam Adams serves as a transition beer for those on their journey to craft offerings. Not only that, they have good business practices, and paved the way for craft breweries we now know and love.

I guess it doesn't hurt that I did their tour, loved our guide, and enjoyed the overall experience.

And their lager? I happen to like their Boston. Every beer has an occasion, and every occasion, a beer.

 

I won't turn down a Boston Lager, Octoberfest, Noble Pils, Rebel IPA, or a Latitude 48. No hate on a brand of beer that helped confirm my launch into even more craft.

 

"Fans don't boo nobodies." - Reggie Jackson

 

It comes from the fact that in the US you only have any idea of alcohol once you're 21, and likely didn't get into not the cheapest option until after college. So people under 30 have no idea what it was like 10 years ago. Their dads drank Boston Lager, how could THAT be cool!? Bourbon seems like it's the only drink that never goes in or out of style....

Sam Adams makes great stuff, I thought that flanders in the funny bottle was great. I don't personally buy their stuff, but I understand many people do, and I definitely respect the folks who produce SA.

 

You mean Summer Ale.

 

I love Sam Adams Boston Lager and Cold Snap, Winter Lager. Not too many of these up here. Sometimes pretty hard to come by in Alberta. Perhaps my bad timing? Who knows. When I want a nice simple beer to entertain with. You cant go wrong with a Sam's.

 

Nope.

May have taken the horrible seasonal release timing joke a bit too far this time...

 

The thing with Samuel Adams that people don't like besides popularity is that they don't make any brews that are out of the ordinary. You won't find a coffee, chocolate, oatmeal stout coming from them. You will have a nice, balance lager or ale that makes for easy drinking.

The Boston Lager is one of the best straightforward lagers on the market and the scores here indicate that. However, they do have a knack for bottling an absurd amount of white ales. The whole "white ales brewed with spices" thing is kinda getting a little redundant.

 

Actually the Summer ale ... try it with a Lime wedge, makes a world of difference.

 

I'm annoyed by their marketing. Their ad about how they don't change as other beers come and go. To me it feels like they are aligning themselves with the likes of Coors and Budweiser and not the great variety and ever changing world of craft beers. They make a solid lager, OK. Beyond that, they don't interest me. Nothing innovative, interesting or exceptional.

 

It's not hate, per se.

They are partly responsible for leading me to craft. However, it's my stance that they are happy brewing ok beer in lieu of appealing to more people. I get it, it's a business. I don't fault them for it. I feel I just fall into a smaller crowd that wants more than ok and will pay for it.

 

Any beer that needs something added to it after it's been brewed shouldn't be brewed.

 

To add to what I just wrote, the other thing that makes people hate Samuel Adams is the fact the the Summer Ale is for sale right now.

The fact that they have to be the first to release all seasonal beers turn a lot of people off. I don't want a lemony wheat beer when it's still 30 degrees outside. And by the time I'm ready to drink the summer ale in July/August the Octoberfest will be running its course and the Winter will be coming out.

 

Because their beers are widely available. Beer geeks like to complain about lack of availability (citing expansion as making good business sense) until a brewery reaches the point where they are able to satisfy demand. Then they complain that the brewery sold out.

 

Beer snobs. The lowest life form in the beer world

 

Because they're sold at gas stations.