So being a relatively new resident of the Boston area and having a grad school budget, I decided to tour the Samuel Adams R&D brewery the two weekends ago when my SWSBO (S for Should not Must, since we aren't married) came to visit... we had a great time, despite getting there for the first tour of the day at 9:40AM... If you go on the Brewery tour, make sure you get the earliest one called the "Morning Mash-In tour" and it's the only tour of the day you can reserve your spot online for. Trust me, there is a good reason for that, and the Saturday Morning Mash-In is often reserved fully up to a month in advance... luckily for me they take a limited number of walk-ons every time. Anyway, the tour was great and you feel like you've learned so much about beer, hops, malted barley, and yeast that you could walk out and brew your own beer with the snap of your fingers... the tour guides were phenomenal and kept the crowd laughing (which I'm sure is hard to do at 9:40 AM on a Saturday, but maybe less so since everyone knew they were getting free beer after.)... finally, they take us to this back room and give everyone an "official" Sam Adams 5oz tasting glass (pics to come) and lead you through an official beer-tasting review for their Boston Lager. After you have your fill of the Lager (they encourage you to drink as much of it as you want), they break out the Seasonal beer... the first time I went was Octoberfest... they let you go buck-wild at that point and let you try that for a while occasionally adding some humorous commentary and telling you a bit about the beer. Next, which from what I understand is exclusive to the Morning Mash-In, they break out a special experimental beer they're working on, followed by one of their specialty beers that is pretty much exclusively available in their gift shop as well as very select bars in the area. Needless to say I got a nice buzz and had such a nice time that I took my father there the next weekend when he came to visit! And Lo and behold, as if by some great miracle, they had changed up the tasting beers! Those were as follows:
Trip One:
Boston Lager--decent, was my very first Sam Adams beer EVER... like literally this one on the tour was. Gorgeous clarity, beautiful amber color, could smell the hops coming off of it but not too strongly, pretty light-bodied
Octoberfest-- deeper amber to red tint, VERY good.. probably my favorite of the day. Pretty light, but definitely closer to medium-bodied than the lager I believe
Oyster Stout-- Very Dark, nearing black... didn't try this one because unfortunately it is restricted by my diet (I keep kosher and it was prepared with shellfish) when I asked others at my table what they thought they said "it's interesting but I don't think I'd ever order it"
Boston Brick Red-- Brick Red, lol. This beer is only sold in Boston, not anywhere else in the world, and has typically only ever been sold by the keg to bars and pubs that have been loyal Sam Adams customers from the beginning... it's pretty good, and the carbonation is low... not a "flat" low, just low. It's really pretty good, but the mouthfeel was totally different because of the lack of carbonation, which threw me off a bit... I was lucky enough to be there right after they had Bottled it for the first time ever. They said that it may never get bottled again.
Trip Two:
Boston Lager-- Always gotta start with the original!
Winter Lager-- Loved it!! Had a phenomenal taste! Deeper almost redish color, great mouth feel, and as someone who doesn't like wheat-y beers, this was a perfect lager choice
Lemon Wheat Pale Ale--Surprisingly flavorful! I typically don't like pale ales but with that in mind this one was really good! Similar in looks to a corona or land shark but with better flavor, IMHO.
KMF-- KMF (or Kosmic Mother Funk) was by far the most interesting of all of them... it was arguably the most sour beer available (or should I say unavailable since it's likely near impossible to get at this point) that had almost no carbonation and tasted almost spot-on like red wine! It was super interesting, but I tend to really dislike red wine so this was REALLY not for me... it was the only one of the six beers that I tried which I had to have them dump out for me
*the name was something like that but I can't remember what it was exactly...
Anyway, it was really a great time and I ended up going a little over-budget in the gift shop, picking up a $12 64oz growler of octoberfest and a $15 pint bottle of the Boston Brick Red, since it was limited edition. We also got to keep the tasting glasses! They also have a deal with a bar around the corner where you can show them your ticket for the tour, buy a Sam Adams beer, and give you one of the specially engineered Sam Adams glasses for free. I did that on my second trip, although I didn't even come close to finishing the beer.. it was only 11 am lol. Overall, very successful trip(s)!
Trip One:
Boston Lager--decent, was my very first Sam Adams beer EVER... like literally this one on the tour was. Gorgeous clarity, beautiful amber color, could smell the hops coming off of it but not too strongly, pretty light-bodied
Octoberfest-- deeper amber to red tint, VERY good.. probably my favorite of the day. Pretty light, but definitely closer to medium-bodied than the lager I believe
Oyster Stout-- Very Dark, nearing black... didn't try this one because unfortunately it is restricted by my diet (I keep kosher and it was prepared with shellfish) when I asked others at my table what they thought they said "it's interesting but I don't think I'd ever order it"
Boston Brick Red-- Brick Red, lol. This beer is only sold in Boston, not anywhere else in the world, and has typically only ever been sold by the keg to bars and pubs that have been loyal Sam Adams customers from the beginning... it's pretty good, and the carbonation is low... not a "flat" low, just low. It's really pretty good, but the mouthfeel was totally different because of the lack of carbonation, which threw me off a bit... I was lucky enough to be there right after they had Bottled it for the first time ever. They said that it may never get bottled again.
Trip Two:
Boston Lager-- Always gotta start with the original!
Winter Lager-- Loved it!! Had a phenomenal taste! Deeper almost redish color, great mouth feel, and as someone who doesn't like wheat-y beers, this was a perfect lager choice
Lemon Wheat Pale Ale--Surprisingly flavorful! I typically don't like pale ales but with that in mind this one was really good! Similar in looks to a corona or land shark but with better flavor, IMHO.
KMF-- KMF (or Kosmic Mother Funk) was by far the most interesting of all of them... it was arguably the most sour beer available (or should I say unavailable since it's likely near impossible to get at this point) that had almost no carbonation and tasted almost spot-on like red wine! It was super interesting, but I tend to really dislike red wine so this was REALLY not for me... it was the only one of the six beers that I tried which I had to have them dump out for me
*the name was something like that but I can't remember what it was exactly...
Anyway, it was really a great time and I ended up going a little over-budget in the gift shop, picking up a $12 64oz growler of octoberfest and a $15 pint bottle of the Boston Brick Red, since it was limited edition. We also got to keep the tasting glasses! They also have a deal with a bar around the corner where you can show them your ticket for the tour, buy a Sam Adams beer, and give you one of the specially engineered Sam Adams glasses for free. I did that on my second trip, although I didn't even come close to finishing the beer.. it was only 11 am lol. Overall, very successful trip(s)!
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