Sam Adams Noble Pils availability?

No, It used to be a spring release until it was replaced with cold snap or alpine spring, can't remember. Now i believe that it is only available in mix packs.

 

Discontinued. Used to be a seasonal offering by Sam Adams for a few years, then by popular demand they pumped it out year-round. Then discontinued all together (except for rare appearance in the mixed pack you found).
Most everyone on BA agrees that it is/was one of the better pilsner offerings in the US. Not sure why SA went with the downtime pils (pretty good) or alpine spring in its place. Maybe it was a cost savings move or something.

I've just move onto FW Pivo, Sixpoint the Crisp, Victory Prima and local Brewer's Alley Czechmate Pils to get my noble hopped pils fix. Still wish SA Noble were available though.

 

Yeah, and a top shelf pilsner for a lower price than other top craft offerings seems like it would fit the SA business model as well. Pilsners are tasty but also a summer quantiy beer. Having it for a buck or 2 less a sixer than competition seems like a no-brainer to me, but I don't see the financial analysis figures at Boston Beer which I'm sure have alot of play into the decision-making.

 

That sucks, it was a really good beer. I was wondering why I haven't found it lately that explains it.

 

Keep in mind that Beer Advocate users are a niche who do not reflect the larger market for craft beer. Also, our community tends to buy a beer once and move on- we generally are not loyal repeat buyers, which is not sustainable for a brewery of Sam Adam's size. One raw material vs another is such a minimal expense to a brewer that I would bet the main reason Sam Adams would discontinue a beer is because people didn't buy enough of it. Purchases is the main metric Sam Adams is looking at.

Agreed on those and I always put in a plug for Jever.

 

I'm no Pilsner fan, but that was a pretty good one. On a side note, I am seeing imported Pilsners showing up in 16oz cans. Including Konig for a mere 5.99 a 4 pack.

 

All I saw on the shelves today are Downtime.

 

Yeah, breweries tend to do that. When sales don't meet expectations they save costs by not brewing it regularly any more. Same thing happened to Red's Rye Pale Ale from Founders. Cost a lot to brew, wasn't selling enough, they took it to a seasonal, still wasn't selling enough to get back the costs of brewing so now its pretty much only available on tap at the brewery.

 

It was included in the Cabin Fever spring pack and you might still be able to find those.

 

It was one of the better SA beers I enjoyed quite often so naturally it was discontinued.

 

I could be making this up, but if I recall correctly it was wildly popular as a spring seasonal upon its initial release, which is why they moved it to year-round. I really liked this beer when it first came out, and admittedly, I didn't purchase it as frequently (if at all) once it went year-round.

I always wondered why they didn't try to give it another whirl as a seasonal again, specifically spring would be a good fit once more. Especially considering the increasing popularity of Pilsners in the craft market. The only reason I can think of is that Cold Snap must sell extremely well, so it's simply easier to throw Noble Pils into random mix packs.

I did try a couple in the Cabin Fever mix pack, and I found it to be mediocre at best. Either the recipe changed, or my palate has (I'm much more critical of Pilsners in 2016 than I was when Noble Pils first came out). The Pils malt character simply wasn't there, tasted off, and wasn't as rich. And the hops felt muddled, getting in the way rather than being complimentary.

 

A real shame that they discontinued the Noble Pils. And it figures that the only mix packs in any of the stores around here are the summer samplers.

 

You are correct, it was popular (at least in my area). I think the timing was off for it to go year round and if that beer was released now the results may be different. Downtime Pils is solid but I prefer Noble Pils.

 

What a nice beer that one is!

Eric

 

Love the opening 6 words