REVIEW: Samuel Adams Merry Mischief

Merry Christmas Eve, folks! The season of Christmas beers is almost at an end but not quite yet. And I'm going out with a cool one. This one was actually the first Christmas beer I bought this year. It was back in like October. That's no time to be drinking a Christmas ale, but my fondness for Sam Adams' limited releases ought to be well documented by now. And a gingerbread stout?? Come on! How am I not going to buy that? Also, I like to see a Christmas ale full of seasonal spices built on top of a big hearty stout. I'm excited about this one. To the beer!

REVIEW: Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour

I'll admit it. I totally fell for the marketing on this one. Can you really blame me though? That big, weird shaped, corked and caged bottle really jumped off the shelves. But when I got closer and saw that what drew me in was a barrel aged stout brewed with Belgian yeast I knew I was taking this one home. Now a stout is not a traditional Belgian style, far from it. But what's to stop an enterprising brewer from smashing a big dark roasty beer together with a funky fruity Belgian style ale. Color me intrigued! To the beer!

REVIEW: Samuel Adams Fat Jack

I suppose I've put it off long enough. Time to finally get into the pumpkin beers this year. Pumpkin ales are a bit of a point of contention among beer drinkers and I feel like there's no real middle ground either. It seems folks either can't stand them, or can't get enough of them. Mark me down firmly in the second camp. Today's brewery is also a point of some contention among beer geeks. Some criticize Samuel Adams of playing it too safe. If you've been reading this here blog for a while you know that I've taken a bit of a shine to Sam Adams' limited release brews. I quite enjoyed both the Cinder Bock and Norse Legend, you can check out those posts by checking out the Samuel Adams tag here.This one is an imperial pumpkin ale brewed with Samuel Adams two-row pale malt blend, caramel 60, special B, and smoked malt, East Kent Goldings and Fuggle hops, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and 28 pounds of pumpkin per barrel. Sounds good to me! To the beer!

REVIEW: Samuel Adams Norse Legend

This beer has been sitting in the back of my fridge for a while now. I've been busy drinking a lot of summery beers and IPAs lately which taste awfully good in the hot weather we've been having lately. But the heat seems to have finally broken. Gone are the 100+ degree days and oppressive humidity. The weather has gotten a bit cooler. It's not fall yet, but it's certainly on it's way. Now, I'm not ready to get into Fall seasonals and pumpkin beers yet. I'll get there, be patient. So with the weather beginning to change it's time for some different styles of beer. Today's beer is a sahti. Now sahti is a beer style that you're probably unfamiliar with. It's a traditional Finnish beer style and is among the oldest beer styles still being brewed. In recent years craft brewers have begun to look back at the style. The only one that I've had prior to Norse Legend was Dogfish Head's Sah' Tea, a combination of a traditional sahti and a chai tea. It was incredibly tasty. Today's offering is a bit more of a traditional take on the style. To the beer!

REVIEW: Samuel Adams Cinder Bock

Lets keep the bock train rolling. I'll be honest. A lot of the time I overlook Sam Adams. I'm always on the lookout for new, interesting, weird beers. Most of the time that leads me away from Sam Adams. Which really isn't fair. I view Sam Adams is the old reliable in the craft beer world, not the new and fresh. There is a reason that Sam Adams has become ubiquitous: they brew damn good beer. I don't think I've ever had a bad beer from them. But for whatever reason I still often pass them up. I found myself at Kroger the other night perusing the beer aisle and saw this bobmer sitting there beckoning to me. I was already in a bock mood so there was one tally in the win column. But when I got closer and saw that it was a smoked bock? That's it. This beer was coming home with me. To the beer!