Showing posts with label Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock. Show all posts

May 14, 2012

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.

 
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December 27, 2011

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.