Jan 21, 2005

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Boston Ale

Had a couple of tumblers of this stuff and realized I had never blogged about it. This is by far one of the best beers Jim Koch puts out. For those that don't realize it, Sam Adams started out as a homebrew recipe of Jim's dad in 1984 in Boston. It was one of the best microbrews out, then slowly started to snowball down the proverbial mountain in popularity. So after making more than 15,000 barrels a year consistently it became a "regional" brew. Actually one of the biggest regional brews. It is still a microbrewed beer just at a larger volume, hence giving it the "regional" brew name. It has a amber-light brown color with a fabulous lattice, not like the Pale Ale. It was first brewed to celebrate the opening of the Boston Brewery.
"Like Samuel Adams Boston Lager®, it was an old family recipe that was rescued by Jim Koch from his father's attic. Samuel Adams® Boston Ale, a Stock Ale, has a complex, caramel malt character balanced with distinct spicy and herbal hop notes. Our proprietary ale yeast imparts a variety of fruit and ester notes in both the nose and flavor which are indicative of the style."
This brew has that homebrew "aged" quality to it, which means when you muffed the recipe or method a little that you let it age for some time just to allow the flavor to balance out. It is fermented at "cooler" temps and Kraussened.
Some characteristics: 180 calories, 5.1%ABV, year round availability, and Spalt-Spalter Noble hops, East Kent Goldings and Fuggles