Staying Warm with Sam Adams
Posted on December 21st, 2009It’s cold, it’s snowy, and Christmas is fast approaching. All of this means one very important thing to me: the Sam Adams’ Winter Classics Pack is finally available. As a native of Boston, Sam Adams is basically my tap water, and their winter selections are by far my favorites. Unlike many other breweries, who give you three - four if you’re lucky - different brews in a mix-pack, Sam Adams fully embraces the spice of life with six different styles ranging from dark to light to spiced to fruity. So what better way to enjoy the blizzard than to curl up with a half-dozen bottles, a perfect pint glass, and my laptop?
Take note of the symmetry
Boston Lager
Let’s start off with the original. Boston Lager was introduced in 1984, although the original recipe dates back to the 1860’s ‘Louis Koch Lager’. It is a Vienna Lager and sticking with the German tradition, is brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot.
Pours a deep golden color with a decent amount of off-white head. Great retention, tons of nucleation. Clearly the glass helps this beer.
Aroma is caramel malt, some grain, and hop. Very straightforward.
Flavor is crisp. Initial sweetness somewhere between pale and caramel malt. A characteristically English style bitterness follows. Hops last well into the aftertaste.
It’s fairly light on the mouth. The flavor is bigger than the mouthfeel, which in this case is good as it leaves the beer refreshing and very drinkable.
This is what ‘beer’ tastes like. Simple, straightforward, no frills, but no compromises. An old school beer, no doubt, but one that deserves to be revisited often.
7.25/10
Winter Lager
Moving down the spectrum of availability, we reach the seasonal Winter Lager. Available on its own from approximately November thru January (not nearly long enough), Sam Winter is a German-style Bock spiced with orange zest, cinammon, and ginger (among other things).
Pours a clean caramel, two fingers or so of froth. Pretty nice retention, and once again lots of nucleation in the Perfect Pint.
Light aroma, there’s not a lot there, but what I can smell is more hoppy than expected.
Taste up front is a big wallop of carmel malt. Malt & hop are far more distinguishable than spices, which is rare for Sam Adams. Flavor turns a tad metallic after the initial malt hit. Spicyness shows in the aftertaste. Very earthy, with a bit of cinammon & ginger. Interestingly similar to the Fezziwig (scroll down), but lighter and crisper.
Medium-bodied, high carbonation, very clean on the tongue.
My second-favorite Sam Seasonal (I’m counting down the days until White Ale hits the shelves), Winter Lager is definitely a great beer for a cold night, and my favorite Sam Adams to pair with dinner (it seems to work with just about any red meat). Again, a fairly straightforward beer, but a great standby.
7/10
Cranberry Lambic
Alright, let’s get one thing straight before I get to the tasting. This is not a Lambic! Do you hear me Jim? A lambic is - by definition - a sour ale (usually fruity) produced by spontaneous fermentation. Read about it. What we have here is a wheat-based, [likely artificially] fruit-flavored ale. To call it a lambic would be to call a piece of Veal Filet Mignon. They might both be good in their own right… but they aren’t the same thing.
Ok, now that I’ve got that off my chest…
Pours a hazy, murky rust with a thick white head. Bubbles are big and pop easily, leaving a medium ring beyond the initial pour.
Sweet, fruity smell, surprisingly not of cranberry. I detect more cherry and sugary malt than anything else.
Carmel flavor, some wheat backbone. Again more generic fruit… it just doesn’t taste like cranberry to me. No tartness whatsoever, from the fruit nor the expected-but-nonexistent “lambic.” There’s more bitterness about this beer than in this beer.
Mouthfeel is smooth and slightly creamy, similar to a good wit.
I enjoy this beer less and less every year. I think as my palate grows used to hops and brettanomyces, the idea of an overly sweetened wheat ale loses it’s appeal.
2/10 (Would have been 3-4/10 if they’d just own up and call it what it is: Cranberry Wit)
Coastal Wheat
Coastal Wheat is an American Wheat Ale (which is different from a German Hefeweizen or Belgian Wit) brewed with lemon peel. Why such a decidedly summer style found itself in a winter mix-pack is beyond me. It’s Sam Adams’ newest release, so I’m guessing they’re just trying to publicize it.
Coastal Wheat is a translucent pale yellow. Very little head, but consistent lacing.
Aroma is not very pleasing, kind of like rotten citrus.
Flavor is bready, with a bit of lemon juice. Kind of like a blue moon with lemon already added.
…and that’s it.
To be frank, this is a simple, uninteresting, and underwhelming beer. Not what I’ve come to expect from the Boston Beer Company. I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t help see this as anything other than a knee-jerk marketing reaction to the recent success of faux-craft brews like Blue Moon & Shocktop (and a few other generic wheat ales). Of course, this is ironic because those beers were the macro breweries’ attempts to combat the growing popularity of craft breweries like Sam Adams. Go figure.
Poor marketing decisions aside, this is the worst Sam Adams beer I’ve ever had. Even as a summertime ale it’s not very good, but to jam it in a winter pack (replacing the always-excellent Black Lager, even) is downright insulting.
1/10
Old Fezziwig
Now that we’ve got the unpleasantness out of the way, let’s move on with the real winter beers.
Old Fezziwig is a Winter Warmer with cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel added (sound familiar?).
Pours caramel color with an inch or so of bubbly head. Quickly dissipates, but nucleation continues.
The beer has a dark fruit & cinnamon smell.
Flavor is roasty, with a bit of smoke. Full flavored dark malts, some chocolate. There are definitely hops in there, but they’re balanced. Spices show up toward the end, cinammon & citrus (more from orange peel than from the hop), very faint ginger at the end.
A very well spiced winter warmer. One of my favorite things about December.
8.75/10
Holiday Porter
Holiday Porter is an American Porter brewed with four types of malt and English Noble hops. Compared to the other beers in this pack, it’s among the more straightforward.
Pours a deep blackish ruby, near opaque. An inch of thick beige sticky foam insulates the beer and coats the glass from start to finish.
Aroma is roasty and metallic, with some molasses sweetness.
Flavor isn’t as sweet or malty as you’d expect from the aroma. Roasted chocolate & bitter coffee dominate up front. Some figgy or rasiny sugars sneak in there as well. A bit astringent towards the middle. A big diacetyl presence as well. Aftertaste is espresso bitter and a little burnt.
Medium-to-heavy body. Diacetyl adds a creaminess that matches perfectly with the bold flavors. This, plus a looong lasting, near nitro level of froth makes for an excellently well rounded porter.
9/10