Samuel Adams (beer)
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Samuel Adams is the brand name of American beers produced by the Boston Beer Company (Template:Nyse) and named after brewer and patriot, Samuel Adams.
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History of the brand
Image:Samadams.jpg The Samuel Adams brand originated with only one variety, Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The recipe for this beer was originally developed in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri by Louis Koch. It was sold under the name Louis Koch Lager until Prohibition, and again until the early 1950s.
In 1985, Louis Koch's great-great grandson, Jim Koch, with the help of Dr. Joseph Owades (the man credited with the invention of light beer in the 1970s), reformulated the recipe, and in April of that year re-introduced the beer under the Samuel Adams name. Samuel Adams Boston Lager debuted at the re-creation of the first battle of the American Revolution, Patriot's Day 1985. Three months later, it was voted best beer in the United States at the Great American Beer Festival, in which 93 national and regional beers competed. The publicity that followed helped the Boston Beer Company grow to 63,000 barrels a year by 1989.
The company's success attracted many imitators. By 1995, some 600 craft breweries were producing specialty beers in the United States, and the industry as a whole enjoyed significant annual growth between 1990 and 1995. Increasing competition appeared to have little effect, and Boston Beer remained the largest craft brewer in the United States with nearly 1.2 million barrels sold in 1996. Sales leveled off after that, and Boston Beer tried to continue its growth momentum by offering alternative beverages, such as Hardcore Cider (1997), and Twisted Tea (2000).
Initially, the brand was produced under contract by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company (best known for their Iron City brand of beer). Over the years, the brand has been produced under contract at various brewing facilities with excess capacity, ranging from Stroh breweries, Portland's original Blitz-Weinhard brewery (shuttered in 1999), Cincinnati's Hudepohl-Schoenling brewery (eventually purchased by the Boston Beer Company in early 1997), and industry giant SABMiller. Today, more than 60% of its beer is produced at its very own, newly renovated, Cincinnati brewery. One third of Samuel Adams beer is still produced under contract at breweries in Rochester, NY, Eden, NC, and Lacrosse, WI. The company brings all its own employees, ingredients and brewing processes to these contract sites to assure consistency and quality in every batch of beer. The Boston Beer Company also has a small R&D brewery located in Boston (Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, where public tours and beer tastings are offered.
Samuel Adams Boston Lager was voted "Best Beer in America" by fest-goers at the Association of Brewers' "Great American Beer Festival" several times in the mid to late 1980s, although that award was mired in controversies surrounding accusations of ballot-stuffing. The award was later cut from the Great American Beer Festival as a result of the controversy.
Other Boston Beer Company brands
As of 2006, the company produces ten varieties of beer year-round: Boston Lager, Sam Adams Light, Boston Ale, Pale Ale, Cherry Wheat, Cream Stout, Brown Ale, Hefeweizen, Scotch Ale and Black Lager. Additionally, the company brews five seasonal beers per year, as follows:
- Double Bock (January - March)
- White Ale (January - March)
- Summer Ale (April - August)
- Octoberfest (August - October)
- Winter Lager (October - February)
Samuel Adams also runs a "Winter Classics Mix Pack" near the Christmas Season, including Old Fezziwig Ale, a spiced ale introduced in 1995, Holiday porter, which is very dark but smooth, introduced in 2004, and Cranberry Lambic, which is redolent of its eponymous fruit.
The company has also produced several limited-run "Extreme Beers", which are meant to be enjoyed more in the manner of an aperitif or cordial rather than a beer. These include Millennium, Utopias, Triple Bock, and Chocolate Bock. Due to the extremely high alcohol volume in these brews (as high as 25% for the Utopias), their sale is restricted by several states. In November 2005, the brewery continued extreme brewing innovation by releasing a limited release (60,000 units) "Imperial Pilsner Harvest '05" brew.
As of 2006, the Sam Adams brand had 18 award winning styles of beer available in 12oz bottles. Boston Lager, Light, Double Bock, White Ale, Summer Ale, Octoberfest, Winter Lager, Old Fezziwig Ale, Cranberry Lambic, Holiday Porter, Boston Ale, Cherry Wheat, Cream Stout, Scotch Ale, Black Lager, Brown Ale, Hefeweizen, and Pale Ale. The most recent of these is Samuel Adams Brown Ale.(2005) This beer was voted on by consumers around the country to replace Sam Adams Light in the Brewmasters Mix 12 pack.
Five Samuel Adams products are available on draft towers across the country. Boston Lager, with its trademark blue-flame tap handle, is the most widely distributed Samuel Adams draft. However, the seasonal draft line up of White Ale, Summer Ale, Octoberfest and Winter Lager, grows in popularity each year. Also available from the keg in select locations (mostly airports) are Boston Ale, Hefeweizen, Cherry Wheat and Black Lager.
In Pop Culture
- In Chappelle's Show, Dave portrays Samuel L. Jackson in a "Samuel Jackson Beer" commercial with a loud mouth, non-stop swearing, black version of Samuel Adams with a wig based on Jules in Pulp Fiction.
- The Family Guy movie (Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story) has a joke that parodies the commercial, with 4 men sitting at a table. Two of the men order a water, while the third says he'd like a Samuel Adams. The other men then state that it is only 9:30 in the morning and that the man who ordered the Samuel Adams already has 2 DUIs. The man then states that he needs to "get the taste of hooker spit and weed out of his mouth"; the other men immediately order Samuel Adams as well. (Similar to Chappelle's Show skit). Furthermore, the show's Pawtucket Patriot beer is considered an homage to Sam Adams because of the similarities between the characters, as well as the similarities of their logos; in the case of PP, it is a colonial character named Pawtucket Pat.
- In 2002, the Boston Beer Company sponsored the "Sex for Sam III" competition on the Opie and Anthony Show on WNEW radio New York City. Contestants were required to copulate in public places, and the most outrageous would be eligible to win a trip for two to the company's brewery in Boston. When one couple was caught copulating in St. Patrick Cathedral, the radio show hosts were fired and the Boston Beer Company suffered considerable embarrassment.
- In a sketch of an episode of Mad TV, where Ben Franklin is sent to the future, he is offered Sam Adams Beer and says "Tommy Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson) called that piss water!"
- On the popular cartoon South Park, one of the characters a teacher, Mr. Garrison, is being fired for his incompetence. When one of the school officials says to him "Mr. Garrison, are you aware that none of your kids know who Sam Adams is?" Mr. Garrison strikes back with "Well who cares about a guy who makes beer!"
Trivia
- Many people claim that the man on the label of Samuel Adams and other Boston Beer Company brands is not Samuel Adams, but Paul Revere. However, during tours of the brewery, tour guides explain that the portrait of Samuel Adams that they use on the label is based on a portrait of an older Adams, and that they simply regressed his age, which led to the confusion.