Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts
Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from Sam Adam's Harvest fall mix-pack purchased in Chicago, IL; 2011
Style/ABV: Irish Red Ale, 5.8%
It's hard to believe I have come this far without reviewing a Sam Adams beer. Last year I tried out Sam Adam's Harvest mix-pack and their Winter Classics mix-pack. At that time I wasn't documenting my beer adventures, so I don't remember very much. I do remember I loved the Sam Adam's Dunkelweizen. That was some good shit.
Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from Sam Adam's Harvest fall mix-pack purchased in Chicago, IL; 2011
Style/ABV: Irish Red Ale, 5.8%
It's hard to believe I have come this far without reviewing a Sam Adams beer. Last year I tried out Sam Adam's Harvest mix-pack and their Winter Classics mix-pack. At that time I wasn't documenting my beer adventures, so I don't remember very much. I do remember I loved the Sam Adam's Dunkelweizen. That was some good shit.
Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently Sam Adams is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States (in contention with Yuengling). Sam Adams is also, by far, the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info, but be warned you get a double prompt asking to verify your date of birth (I could go on a rant about how retarded the Age prompt is...).
Samuel Adams is well respected among beer drinkers for being one of the earliest companies to rise up and challenge BudMillerCoors. Sam Adams have revolutionized craft beer, and Sam Adam's Boston Lager is available everywhere these days (and Boston Lager is delicious!). So there's that. Sam Adams also are known for helping other craft brewers by supplying hops and malts and other ingredients. There are a lot of reasons to love Sam Adams: and that includes their beer. Sam Adams makes a lot of great baseline beers, and they brew a lot of different style of beers. While many of their beers are average affairs, you have to give them a ton of credit for constantly trying new things and making their product available and cheap.
Tonight I'm mulling over Samuel Adam's Irish Red Ale. Irish Red Ales are malt-focused ales with lots of caramel and toffee notes. They often have a light buttery quality, which lends itself to toffee or butterscotch flavors. These are easy drinking beers that are supposed to be clean and smooth. The BJCP calls these easy drinking, but 4.0% to 6.0% ABV is a big range insofar that a 6.0% ABV beer is not as easy drinking as a 4.0% ABV beer. Especially after you have three or four of them under your belt. Sam Adam's Irish Red clocks in at 5.8%, so let's see how she holds up.
This pours more like "Irish Rust" than Irish Red. The beer has a red-copper-rust color to it. This beer is quite transparent and is clearly filtered. Carbonation is pretty light, but there are a few bubbles rising upwards here and there. I was able to get a huge three-plus finger head when I poured the beer. The head is thick and creamy, leaving lacing on my glass, and has a nice orange-tan tint.
The aroma is lots of sweet malts, sweet caramel, some toast, maybe a hint of nuttiness, light grain, metallic, slight buttery-ness, stewed vegetables and cabbage.
My impression upon first sip is that this is a nice and smooth beer. Very smooth, not carbonated, and quite buttery. I am tasting butter, toffee, butterscotch, sweet caramel, slight metallic notes, stewed vegetables, light toast, light grain and pulls towards fruitiness here and there. There's really impressive lacing being left around my glass as I work my way down.
This is medium-bodied and smooth with a slightly buttery quality to the mouthfeel. This has really good depth across the palate. This style of beer is not inherently complex, but there is actually quite a bit of things going on with this beer. The front end is smooth, buttery, malty, and I'm getting some light fruit. The middle is where a lot of the toffee, toast, light grain, metallic, and stewed veggie flavors are coming from. The back end is slightly drying and very buttery. This is very drinkable and you don't notice the alcohol, at least not after two of these.
Rating: Above-Average
Score: 83%
I was mentally preparing to type up my "Sam Adams makes so many average beers" speech. But this is actually pretty tasty for the style, and this is widely available. So I'll put that speech on the back burner for now.
This was pretty, pretty, pretty....pretty good.
Samuel Adams is well respected among beer drinkers for being one of the earliest companies to rise up and challenge BudMillerCoors. Sam Adams have revolutionized craft beer, and Sam Adam's Boston Lager is available everywhere these days (and Boston Lager is delicious!). So there's that. Sam Adams also are known for helping other craft brewers by supplying hops and malts and other ingredients. There are a lot of reasons to love Sam Adams: and that includes their beer. Sam Adams makes a lot of great baseline beers, and they brew a lot of different style of beers. While many of their beers are average affairs, you have to give them a ton of credit for constantly trying new things and making their product available and cheap.
Tonight I'm mulling over Samuel Adam's Irish Red Ale. Irish Red Ales are malt-focused ales with lots of caramel and toffee notes. They often have a light buttery quality, which lends itself to toffee or butterscotch flavors. These are easy drinking beers that are supposed to be clean and smooth. The BJCP calls these easy drinking, but 4.0% to 6.0% ABV is a big range insofar that a 6.0% ABV beer is not as easy drinking as a 4.0% ABV beer. Especially after you have three or four of them under your belt. Sam Adam's Irish Red clocks in at 5.8%, so let's see how she holds up.
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| Samuel Adams Irish Red Ale |
* * * * * *
The aroma is lots of sweet malts, sweet caramel, some toast, maybe a hint of nuttiness, light grain, metallic, slight buttery-ness, stewed vegetables and cabbage.
My impression upon first sip is that this is a nice and smooth beer. Very smooth, not carbonated, and quite buttery. I am tasting butter, toffee, butterscotch, sweet caramel, slight metallic notes, stewed vegetables, light toast, light grain and pulls towards fruitiness here and there. There's really impressive lacing being left around my glass as I work my way down.
This is medium-bodied and smooth with a slightly buttery quality to the mouthfeel. This has really good depth across the palate. This style of beer is not inherently complex, but there is actually quite a bit of things going on with this beer. The front end is smooth, buttery, malty, and I'm getting some light fruit. The middle is where a lot of the toffee, toast, light grain, metallic, and stewed veggie flavors are coming from. The back end is slightly drying and very buttery. This is very drinkable and you don't notice the alcohol, at least not after two of these.
Rating: Above-Average
I was mentally preparing to type up my "Sam Adams makes so many average beers" speech. But this is actually pretty tasty for the style, and this is widely available. So I'll put that speech on the back burner for now.
The buttery, vegetable stew flavors in this beer are going to undoubtedly turn some people off. But this beer has a lot of flavor and would pair well with a lot of Autumn or late winter/early spring foods. This beer would go well with some hearty potatoes, a good beef stew, lots of German or Irish cuisine, or just for getting piss drunk on the weekend.
This was pretty, pretty, pretty....pretty good.
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