Beer Review: Sam Adams Summer Ale

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.3 percent

Appearance: Summer Ale pours a hazy orange color. Parts of the brew's body was murky and others weren't as much. There wasn't any carbonation present. If at all, it congregated and danced around on the bottom of the beer. Because the head faded off fairly fast, I was relegated to just one picture. It shrunk to almost nothing by the time I got a third and fourth shot off. As you'd expect after hearing that, there wasn't much lacing to write home about either.

Smell: This smelled very grainy and yeasty. Not sure how I felt about it. I wasn't excited nor was I completely turned off from the beer. Following that up was a decent presence of lemon zest. I definitely was moved enough to make a note of it.

Taste: Some wheat and citrus interested me on the front of the tongue. There was also some spiciness that I got. It provided some extra zest as did the lemon. The finish on this beer has always been my problem with it. It's not peppery from the spice nor is it a bitter bite from the hops. I really have never been able to tell what it was. It just always leaves me with a funky feeling in my mouth.

Overall Rating: 

The smell and the first aspects of the taste have always been pluses with me for this beer. I hear massive props given to this beer all of the time. It just hasn't got the job done for me in the years I've been able to drink it. A relatable brew is Bell's Oberon. One important aspect of Oberon that I love is the pale and wheat-like finish I get from it. perhaps that's why I don't enjoy the finish of this one?

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.

 

Beer Review: Sam Adams Whitewater IPA

Serving Type: Draft

ABV: 5.8 percent

Appearance: Whitewater IPA had a beautiful straw color, with a decent amount of haze throughout the body. The head was almost the thickness of two fingers and that was without assistance from nitro. I've been very critical of Sam Adams brews recently, but I give credit where it's due. This beer looked amazing.

Smell: Most say they get a sense of hops from this beer. It was a different experience for me. I caught plenty of citrus, mainly orange in my nostrils. It was very appetizing. Rarely do I have my mouth water by simply smelling something. This was one of those times.

Taste: I got plenty of hops on the back of my tongue. Those hops tend to hang around in the aftertaste. The citrus does an alright job of balancing out the flavor, but isn't as effective as I want it to be.

Overall Rating:   

I've had a few bad experiences with Sam Adams with artificial flavoring and such, but this was a pleasant drink. Went pretty well with the meal of fried pickles and pulled pork tacos I had, too.

Beer Review: Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock

Serving Type: Draft.

ABV: Seven percent

Appearance: Chocolate Cherry Bock reminded me of a dark, thick stout. It's a very dark brownish/black with a red hue. The head is almost tan, but the cherry that's in the beer also dabs the head with a red tone.

Smell: It's an easy guess what this beer smells like. The chocolate and the cherry were the two dominant scents in my nostrils. I also got a small hint of the malts.

Taste: The cherry hits the front of your tongue and the chocolate strikes you once it hits the back. I was instantly reminded of stealing all of my grandmothers cordial cherries around Christmas time.

Overall Rating:  

I really loved the flavor of this beer, but due to the fact of Boston Brewing Co.'s ability to widely sell its beers I'm tempted to think that these wonderful flavors are a product of simply dumping extract into the beer.