If I don’t have Guinness in the refrigerator, I probably have something by Sam Adams. Maybe the Boston Lager. Maybe the Boston Ale, which I prefer to the Lager. More often that not, it’s the Cream Stout, though I’ve been known to have one of their seasonal varieties around. The Summer Ale isn’t far around the corner. The other day, wanting something different, I picked up a six-pack of their latest Brewmaster’s Collection, two bottles each of three different brews.<\/p>\n
Two of the bottles were Boston Ale. Pretty much standard. I like the Boston Ale, it has a slightly bitter tang to it.<\/p>\n
Two bottles were of a new addition to the Sam Adams line-up, Black Lager. The label reads, “This traditional lager is medium in body with a deep roasted character. Its dark color and rich malty flavor come from specially roasted caramel and chocolate malts. This brew is lightly hopped with Noble Bavarian hops for a soft spiciness and a smooth clean finish.” Not a bad description. It’s very easy to drink, not bitter at all. It passes the opaqueness test–if I pour the beer into a glass and put my hand behind the glass, if I can see my hand the beer is not dark enough.<\/p>\n
The last two bottles belong to Hefeweizen, an amber brew. The label reads, “Samuel Adams Hefeweizen has a traditional spin on a classic American craft brewing style. This crisp, fruity wheat ale is cloudy, because the yeast has not been filtered out. Bavarian Spalt hops give the ale a crisp elegance, this is not bitter and leaves a clean aftertaste.” It’s not really dark, more the color of apple cider, and it’s fairly opaque. I don’t like the taste, though.<\/p>\n
I would love to find somewhere the Sam Adams Honey Porter. I discovered this in college–there was a beer specialty shop near the University of Richmond<\/a> campus–and were it not for the Sam Adams Honey Porter I doubt seriously that I’d have made it through the American Revolution class I took one semester. Oh, to suffer through the dreadful monotony of Professor Harry Ward! Many a day I would go back to my room after lunch, pound a Honey Porter or two, and then I was good to go for Ward’s lecture. To quote John Lennon, “Children, don’t you do what I have done,” and I don’t recommend going to class after pounding a beer or two, but that got me through, and I came away with an A in that class.<\/p>\n Tomorrow I may have to make a run out to Total Wine & More. Yes, that sounds like a plan….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If I don’t have Guinness in the refrigerator, I probably have something by Sam Adams. Maybe the Boston Lager. Maybe the Boston Ale, which I prefer to the Lager. More often that not, it’s the Cream Stout, though I’ve been known to have one of their seasonal varieties around. The Summer Ale isn’t far aroundContinue reading “On Sam Adams' Brewmaster Collection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[327,944,222,328],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-beer","tag-college","tag-richmond","tag-sam-adams","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}