Samuel Adams Summer Ale

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts
Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Sam Adams Summer Styles, from Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Wheat Ale, 5.3%

Tonight I'm drinking a beer I've had a million times. This beer is an obvious part of the Sam Adams' Summer Styles mix-pack, and has been around since 1995, making it one of the brewery's older brews. I'm referring to Sam Adam's Summer Ale, a crisp, refreshing, American Wheat Ale. Before we get started, let me give some props to Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also 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.

The Summer Ale is an American Wheat Ale. This isn't a defined style by the BJCP, and a reminder that the BJCP needs to roll out new guidelines. But then, guidelines are only semi-useful. There's some good info on Wheat Ales from the Home Brew Talk wiki. The "American Wheat Beer" features similar flavors to German Weizens, but are often brewed with clean American ale yeasts instead of the Weizen yeast used in German brews. American Wheat Ales also tend to feature more hop flavors, and can have a greater variety of malts. Classic examples include the beer we are drinking tonight, Bell's Oberon, Pyramid Hefe-Weizen, Three Floyds' Gumballhead, and Goose Island's 312 Urban Wheat. 

If you check out Sam Adams' Summer Ale page, you can get some info on this beer. This is an American Wheat Ale, brewed for the summer. The beer uses malted wheat, lemon peel, and Grains of Paradise. Grains of Paradise are apparently a rare pepper from Africa that create a crisp taste, spicy flavor, and medium body. Clocking in at 5.3% ABV, 7 IBUs, and 166 calories per bottle, this beer also uses Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble hops. The real star of this brew are the special ingredients, the Lemons and the Grains of Paradise. This beer was first brewed in 1995, and has been around forever. As I said, I've had this beer a million times. So let's pop one open and get on with the review.

Samuel Adams Summer Ale

The beer pours a hazy, straw color, with 2-fingers of reasonably thick, foamy, white head. There's that nice wheat beer thing going on where the beer is a little more gold/bronze as there is more body, and a bit more yellow/straw as you get to the edges of the beer. In bright light this is hazy, with moderate carbonation (YAY! A hazy beer! Good job, Sam Adams). There is a nice centimeter of white head sticking around, and there is some lacing...in bright light the beer is a wheat/straw/yellow color. Good looking stuff...or maybe I'm just biased because I really love this Petrus glass. Either way.

This beer smells good...fresh, crisp. You pick up on some citrus, and wheat, and some hints of fruit and malt. I'm picking out lemon zest and grass, a hint of wheat/grain, a hint of corriander and some spice, a bit of mango, and some hints of malt. Really light, and crisp.

The taste is all about the lemon zest, with a nice grain/wheat note driving through everything. I'm getting lemons, sweet fruits, wheat, hints of grainy malt, thick, meaty mango, and a note of honey that couples with the slightly thick body.

This is a medium-light beer. It's crisp, supported by good/medium carbonation, but has a slight thickness about the mouthfeel. You do get some notes of honey which add to that thickness. This has good palate depth and okay complexity. Up front is carbonation, honey, wheat, lemon; the middle is wheat, grain, lemon; the back is lingering grain and citrus. The finish is refreshing, maybe a touch astringent/grainy.

Rating: Above-Average

 

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average for this beer. I've always enjoyed this beer, and it accomplishes everything it sets out to accomplish. I know there are much better Wheat Ales out there...but I've been at one too many barbeques or summer events where this beer has made me happy. Call it nostalgia. But there's some good stuff going on with this beer...it has a nice rounded mouthfeel, with that slight thickness from the wheat, and those hints of honey. And that mouthfeel is balanced by some nice citrus notes. My only complaint is that there is a hint of astringency...but otherwise, this is a great beer to pair with any barbeque, or just to drink casually on a hot summer day. I would pick up a 6-pack of this. So until next time, don't drink and pilot.