Boston Lager Remastered

Could be the lighting of course, but it looks a bit lighter colored in the ad. Using less caramel malt would be one way to make it easier drinking by reducing the final gravity, allowing for a slight reduction in original gravity and keeping the abv the same 5%. The calorie count might give a hint but I haven't come across it for the remastered version.

 

Yeah, noticed that, too (although it is often strongly backlit).

So, maybe "brighter" refers to the color?

Love the pitch, tho' - "Still the original only different."

 

The above pitch by Boston Beer is one in a long line of relaunch attempts.

Any fan of English (soccer) over the last few years saw the slogan at various matches:
Carlsberg. Possibly the best beer in the world.
They reformulated "possibly the best beer", essentially admitting that Carlsberg had been bad.
Foodbev.com has a story about the new Carlsberg.

By 1980 Schlitz had implemented cost cutting measures to an extent that people seemed to notice. They reformulated and tried to convince people that the new recipe was good

It apparently failed. Stroh's bought the company eventually.

Don't expect eternal truths to be delivered through marketing.

 

From the video "a perfect Boston Lager to be brewed..." but only available in New York? Because only New Yorker's deserve perfection? WTF?

Non-cheers to this marketing crap!!

 

Well, yes. Suck it up.

Yes again. Agreed.
Cheers

 

Too many traditionalists out there to allow messing with traditional styles. There’s too many $7 cans of hazes out there right now, some good, some bad, most average. Personally I appreciate the tradition of trying to make a great beer without a gimmick.

 

Off topic, but does anyone know if now that Sams and Dogfish merged, will dogfish be served at fenway? Since Sams took over as official beer, the craft selection has been drastically reduced

 

It’s why Koch is a billionaire, he’s not giving for Gansett or Budweiser as options, he’s selling you SA.

 

At a super premium rate too.

 

Sam Adams is usually priced inline with most of the other usual craft beers around here. Not BMC, not Stone -- definitely not Three Floyd's.

Sam and SN seem to be priced similarly -- is it jacked up in NC?

 

Depends, mostly SN is priced friendly because its brewed in Asheville. Especially so in 12 pack formats, but I’d say from an unscientific standpoint that SA is maybe a couple of bucks more.

 

Definitely not around here. I just looked them up on a local store's website; $14 a 12-pack*, $10 a six for the brands. Heard similar from others around the country.

You probably haven't really looked at Sam lately, have you?

It's like I don't look at some of the labels I never consider buying.

*Correction -- SN is actually a dollar more than Sam for its regular 12-packs. Super Premium indeed!

 

Your right if I’m not looking I don’t notice prices. Prices here fluctuate wildly because you can buy beer in food stores, gas stations, bars, bigger retail stores. I can definitely get SN at good prices, but I was never a fan of any SA beer except Boston Ale which I’d buy if I could get it. But it’s not cheaper than anything SN, if I catch it on sale $12.99 a 12 pk, Celebration even at the food store is At the price most of the time. If I had to guess I’d guess SA in $7.99- $8.99 a six Id guess for a 12 $1 or so lower prorated out. I get the impression SA doesn’t turn well, outside of the usual suspects Yuengling sells well.

 

Why screw with your flagship beer.
If it ain't broke, don't mess with it.
They are just doing a piss poor job at trying to re-market to those of us who have moved on to local brews I suppose?
Next month they will probably have a cask conditioned and a soured version of it too.

 

That's what they bought dfh for

 

Well, apparently it doesn't sell near as well as it used to. I think the strategy that makes more sense to me is to make Boston Lager compete with Yuengling Lager. It is a much better beer already, if only could be cheaper, that may be a winning strategy.

 

Boston Beer Co.'s actual beer barrelage (i.e., not counting cider, seltzer and FMB production) is down nearly a third in the last five years or so, based on Brewers Association figures:
2014 = 2.55M bbl.
2019 = 1.75M bbl.

Now, whether that can be blamed on the flagship Boston Lager's performance enough to say it is "broken" would take the ability to see BBC's internal stats, though it is likely correct to say SABL has seen a downturn in sales.

It appears that Jim Koch thought tweaking the SABL recipe and putting it into a test market (and even making a commercial promoting it) says he thought it was worth a chance to "mess" with it.

 

Do you have a link for that commercial?

 

https://squiersllc.com/sam-adams-octoberfest-national-tv
Note that, despite the name of the URL, the "Remastered" video is first.

Was posted in #300 up there ^, too.

Bonus OT question: What album is that that features Koch's favorite song? Is that the ISLANDS record label? A TRAFFIC album, maybe?

I guess John Barleycorn Must Die would be too easy. Or maybe a nice inside joke.