Samuel Adams (beer)

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Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams)

Location	Boston, MA United States
Owner	Publicly Owned NYSE: SAM
Year opened	1985
Annual production	1,358,000 barrels

Samuel Adams is the brand name of American beers produced by the Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) and named after Samuel Adams, a brewer^[1] and patriot.

1 History of the brand
2 Other Boston Beer Company brands
3 Popular culture
4 New brewery
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History of the brand

Boilers at the Samuel Adams brewery

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 occurred as the craft brewery movement was exploding in the US. The company was forced to fend off copycats and imitators, such as Boston Beer Works, in what is now an oft-cited trademark case [1]. 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 and Eden, NC. 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.

[edit] Other Boston Beer Company brands

Samuel Adams glass

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, Black Lager, and Utopias. The Sam Adams Boston Lager contains 4.9% ABV, roughly average for its style. Other styles have pushed the physical limits of alcohol content for the brewing process--in 2003 one batch of Utopias contained 25.6% ABV, beating the records that Samuel Adams Triple Bock and Samuel Adams Millennium had set before it.

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 - November)
Winter Lager (November - January)

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 tastes like cranberries, but is not actually a Lambic-style beer.

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 in 2005. The winner of the 2006 Beer Lover's Choice Award, Honey Porter, has replaced the Hefeweizen in the Brewmasters' Collection as of early 2007.

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 summer 2006, Sam Adams released a Brewer Patriot collection that includes four beers that "honor the fine American Brewing Tradition of our founding fathers."

The Brewer Patriot collection includes:

Traditional Ginger Honey Ale
James Madison Dark Wheat Ale
George Washington Porter
1790 Root Beer Brew

The Boston Beer Company also produces Twisted Tea hard iced tea and HardCore hard apple cider, which are intentionally separate from the Samuel Adams brand.

[edit] Popular culture

On 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 Jackson's character "Jules" in Pulp Fiction.

Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story has a joke that parodies the commercial. Four 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 an outstanding DUI. The man then states that he needs to "get the taste of weed and hooker spit out of [his] mouth"; the other men immediately order Samuel Adams as well.

Furthermore, on Family Guy, the Pawtucket Patriot Ale is considered a homage to Sam Adams because of the similarities between the characters, their logos, as well as there brewing locations being in New England; in the case of Pawtucket Patriot, 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 couple that completed the most sexual acts in the most places would 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 was cancelled and the Boston Beer Company suffered considerable embarrassment.

In a sketch of an episode of Mad TV, when Ben Franklin is sent to the future, he is offered Sam Adams Beer and says "Tommy Jefferson called that piss water!"

On one episode of South Park, teacher Mr. Garrison is being fired for his incompetence. When one of the school officials asks, "Mr. Garrison, are you aware that none of your kids know who Sam Adams is?" Mr. Garrison retorts, "Well, who cares about a guy who makes beer? I'm trying to teach history!"

[edit] New brewery

The company has been in the planning stages of constructing a new brewery somewhere in southeastern New England. The frontrunner location is Assonet, Massachusetts^[2].