Monday Rant: Do Sam Adams Brews Feature Artificial Flavors?

I had quite a few different types of beers this past weekend in celebration of my graduation from Slippery Rock University. One of the first ones I had after I finished the last project in my collegiate career was Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.

Now, before I realized the multitude of the beers in the craft industry there were to try this beer was in the upper-echelon for me, as were other brews from Boston Brewing Co. As time has went on I've had a love-hate relationship with Cherry Wheat.

I've had glasses of Cherry Wheat that tasted like freshly-baked cherry pie and I've also had it taste like cough medicine which leads me to believe that Sam Adams beers sometime feature artificial flavoring. I've come across two other instances questioning ingredients with Sam Adams beers.

Around Christmas, I was able to review Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock. I concluded that I had come across that familiar Robitussin taste when it came to the cherry flavor. I've also had chances to have Summer Ale, which is prominently featured on television commercials and boasts the inclusion of "grains of paradise."

Summer Ale doesn't ever seem to feature any actual lemon tartness on my tongue. I honestly don't pick up any citrus or tartness in the beer's flavor. Is Boston Brewing becoming so much bigger than other brewers in the craft beer industry that they can get away with possibly half-assing the ingredients of its beers?

We really won't ever find out. I've seen hundreds of commercials of head brewer Jim Koch talking about how great some of his concoctions are and I'm sure they were at some point. My question concerns whether or not Boston Brewing has come to be too commercialized and has its care for each product began to slip as we have seen with the major American brewing companies in recent times?

Since Boston Brewing is one of the figureheads of the craft brewing movement, I sure hope that isn't the case.