Rebel Rouser Double IPA - Sam Adams

I could list a dozen IPAs right now, but it doesn't make the assertion that they are the next Heady any more or less true. I've seen threads like that before too. I remember one where someone thought Victory Dirtwolf was the next Pte and/or Heady. I guess I don't agree.

 

Unfortunately the bottle shops around me only have old Sculpins. I wish they sold more because I love that beer.

 

What's a "BrewDog fan"? I've never met one of those.

 

This thread wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for the passion, ingenuity, and talents displayed by Mr. Koch over the years. All the great brewers will tell you that. Who cares what he said a year ago. He's a businessman trying to keep up with the trends. Let the first guy who has never contradicted himself (and rocks a beard & flannel & shits on anything not perceived as rare/exclusive) to throw the first stone.

 

I like Rebel and I will buy Rebel Rouser if my little cow town Albertsons ever gets it. Might have to pass on Rebel Session IPA however.

 

Pleasure to meet you. Now you have.

 

I'll preface my post by saying I'm very underwhelmed by Rebel. It's not bad, just nothing great. Your typical average beer.

Now I'll add....what was anyone expecting? Samuel Adams has been making good beers since some of you were wetting your diapers and since before I drank a drop of beer. They have reached a point in the beer game a large majority of you brewing in your home can only dream of. They make some great beers (cream ale, double bock, maple porter, etc) and no one can dispute the fact their Lager changed everything in the late 80s/90s.

Stating the obvious, SA has to straddle the line. They got mouths to feed just like everyone else and, sorry, but they are a mass produced company at this point. I find it hard to believe a company as big as SA could put the kind of money toward "the next Heady or Pliny (and god I hate it when I see that on these boards)" to appease the few thousand of us that would love versus the hundreds of thousands of their consumers who have never drank a "Heady or Pliny." You can shit on them all you want for making an average IPA or DIPA but I think it's unfair because they are between a rock (the average drinker) and a hard place (the "craft" drinker). Unfortunately the rocks outnumber the hard places quite significantly and there's already enough money poured into Rebel for them to possibly take a gigantic hit if the Heady Rebel was a big swing and a miss for the masses. Remember your first IPA? I know it's hard to believe a rather large segment of the population has never had one before. Crazy, I know. I am in the industry almost 18 years now, and mostly deal with BMC people and trust me, I'm not bullshitting about that.

I, for one, will want to try it. I won't necessarily seek it out but will get one when I see it. For those of you that shit on SA because of name alone, I feel bad for you. Go back to the 90s when you had about 5-10 solid American choices and then all imports. It really wasn't all that long ago and thanks to SA you have the hundreds of choices you have today. Don't forget that.

 

I appreciate what Koch has done for the beer industry and he is a good guy. I tried Rebel and it has that caramel malty taste that you get in their other beers. It just doesn't go well with a heavily hopped beer.

 

I don't have much respect for Jim Koch for selling products only as market share grabs. Whether it is his cider or tea or hoppy beers, if you aren't inspired to make a product, the end result often tastes uninspiring. If you're not excited about your finished product, why should the consumer be? I'll pass and pick up a beer that was crafted with pride and enthusiasm instead.

 

Drinking the session IPA, Rebel Rider, now. Its pretty good. On par, IMHO, with All Day and Daytime. I am pleasantly surprised.

 

Agreed. Right now, there are a lot of restaurants with no DIPA options on tap. At least in a few months many of those restaurants will have one DIPA option.

 

The new commercial of theirs pisses me off so much because @SamCalagione coined that phrase "we take beer seriously but not our selves" on beer wars. Sam is what beer is about not Sam Adams.

 

I wish I went to the type of restaurants that had multiple IPAs, such that a DIPA like RR could be swapped on for one of the existing IPAs.

Have been to 3 national chain places in 2wks, all of which had only one IPA.

Obviously, they're not replacing the sole IPA w/ a DIPA

 

I didn't hate Rebel but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. I'm sure this will be along the same lines. I generally will not go out of my way for Sam Adams only because nothing from them has ever thrilled me.

 

4 pages of thread and does anyone know release date?

 

I purchased in NH last week.

 

I'm sure this beer will be pretty good but based on the Sam Adams name people will subconciously rate it low. On the other hand if it was canned by say, The Alchemist people would rave about it

 

Their Hopology series gets interesting. The broken-down variations on Latitide 48 IPA. I'll try it for sure.

 

Saw Rebel Rouser and the Session at Woodmans yesterday.