Hello Everyone,
Saw this article in the NY Times over the weekend and thought I’d post a link as an FYI…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/your- ... -moneyemb2Jim Koch why do you have a beer moustache if your pint is full?
I dont care how many barrels they make a year, they shouldnt be considered a craft brewery - especially after going public. I’ve slowly watched their quality slip in the last few years and its a terrible disappointment to me. They used to be my go-to for commercial brews. Congratulations to Jim on all his success, though. He’s living the dream.
I’ll never understand why people get so down on Boston Beer. I think they’re like the punk band that signs a major label deal, sell a million records, and then everybody who used to like them decides that they’re no good anymore.
I may be a little biased because a ran a wine shop in Boston in the eighties and I met Jim and Rhonda Kallman when they were first starting out. Nobody ever worked as hard as Jim did getting that business started. He fell asleep sitting on a stool behind the counter in my store once, he was so tired and he had a promo to do at a bar down the street that evening.
A brewery that makes the Imperial Series, Utopias, and some fine more “ordinary” beers should be admired.
Do you guys know the story about how during the depths of the hop shortage, Jim offered 20,000 pounds of hops that he had contracted for to anyone who wanted to buy the at his very low cost?
Just because he’s big, doesn’t mean he’s bad.
I do admire Jim Koch and have no doubt that he worked and probably still works very hard. I do love Boston Lager (it’s never bad on tap) and quite a few of the company’s offerings. I buy alot of SA beer, one year (2008?) I bought 8 cases of Winter Lager to last me through the year when I realized it was an exceptionally good batch, however I do agree with Taypo that the quality of some of their brews has gone down the last few years.
Sclinchy, i agree with you. You have that group of people that seem to think that anything commercial must be junk and that non mainstream must be better. I never understood that concept. I like sam adams, to me it is a great all around beer. They are way better than AB, coors, and miller. Those brands are the reason why the rest of the world associated the US with junk beers.
Boston Beer kicks butt. I don’t think their quality has gone down one iota. If anything, the selection has gotten even better over the years. And if it hadn’t been for Jim Koch and his delicious brews, who knows – I might not be a 12th level beer nerd today.
Good article, I lost interest on the second page when it starts talking about different IPO’s and all that stuff, but the way Jim handled the whole process was awesome. Definitely a nice “from one beer drinker to another” helping hand, much like the homebrewer community. I do like me some SA!
Totally agree.
Boston Beer (and while we’re at it, Sierra Nevada) are just as “craft” as anything coming out of the smaller brewers. And both have maintained kickarse quality despite their incredible growth. If anything, I think the quality has improved.
Anyway, I still maintain that “craft” is what you enjoy in your glass, not what some increasingly tiresome marketing term insists on defining it as.
Great article…thanks for sharing it! Its always nice to see someone who remembers the folks who helped make his business successful…and this IPO was just one way Boston Beer Company did so! I love most of their products and look forward to seasonals as they come around…I don’t see much slip in quality or offerings at all…and I think they “give back” to the community in several ways! Cheers! :cheers:
Has anyone had their new Alpine Spring? It’s a Bavarian Lager and it’s fantastic. Alpine Spring, Boston Lager and their Oktoberfest are some of my favorites from Sam Adams.
Just had one last night - it’s awesome! Biggest hop flavor in a lager I’ve had to date that doesn’t clash with the lager yeast flavor.
Like several others in the thread, I don’t agree with the negative feelings that some beer geeks give SA just because they have grown to a certain size. They were one of the founders of the craft beer resurgence, and Jim is always a great friend to others brewers and the hombrewing hobby (e.g. selling hops to small breweries during the ‘hop shortage’, the FREE annual SA homebrewing competetion). And if anything, the beer quality has gotten better over the years with improved freshness, at least around here.
Is quality really a measure of a craft brewer? I know a couple of local breweries that make terrible beer, but they are considered craft brewers. And on the other hand, shock top and blue moon now consume 10 spots in the grocery store cooler aisle with their original and offshoot styles, but are made by AB and Coors, respectively. Are these craft beer? Their quality is excellent I’m sure (i.e. free of defects, consistent).
In order to exclude these made up breweries from the craft beer club, we have to use other criteria like size, independence, and tradition per the BA. Size is a convenient distinction now because craft beer has less than a 10% share of the beer market, but as this market grows you’re going to see larger and larger craft breweries. As far as I’m concerned, breweries like SA and Sierra Nevada will always be craft breweries no matter how big they get, provided that they keep running the show with the same enthusiasm for beer and innovation that they always have.
I’ve met dozens if not hundreds of brewers and beer industry people over the years and Jim Koch is the only one who acted like a prick to me.
Everything I’ve heard and read about him indicates he is a nice guy, but there is a saying about first impressions.
I was talking to someone the other day that met him and they said he was pretty cool, maybe he was having a bad day.
I like their bottles and they peel off easily when soaked in hot water.
I also like whats inside of the bottles.
[quote=“nyakavt”][quote=“AverageJoe”]
Like several others in the thread, I don’t agree with the negative feelings that some beer geeks give SA just because they have grown to a certain size…the [Sam Adams] beer quality has gotten better over the years with improved freshness, at least around here.
Is quality really a measure of a craft brewer? I know a couple of local breweries that make terrible beer, but they are considered craft brewers…Size is a convenient distinction now because craft beer has less than a 10% share of the beer market, but as this market grows you’re going to see larger and larger craft breweries…[/quote][/quote]
I like averageJoe’s concept…Boston Beer has been a trailblazer for the craft beer movement and hopefully will continue for time to come. Simply because a brewery produces several hundred thousand barrels a year does not mean that they lose their place as pioneers. In 1985 when they got started there were only a few brave souls around willing to lay down the risk for good Craft beer…Let’s see the was Jim Koch, Larry Bell, Ken Grossman, Fritz Maytag, Fred Schumacher…I’m sorry but i can’t name them all but they numbered zero compared to the nearly 1800 breweries we have today…more than pre-prohibition days…what a feat. I have worked in the industry for many years and exited due to the insufficient wages that the craft provides. With that particularly in mind, I take my hat off to ALL the folks who SACRIFICE day-in and day-out for the great beers that we can now enjoy as staples on the shelves at our local purveyors. It was not that long ago that such selection was non-existent.
You can snob about a bit as a home brewer…bit don’t bite the hand that feeds us…good beer.
my 2C
+1 to that. I don’t like every beer that SA does, but it has nothing to do with quality, it’s preference. I love their cherry wheat, not so much on the blackberry version. Alpine Spring, not so much; Boston Lager, great beer. I think the company does a great job championing beer, whether it’s the craft scene or the mega scene. Not every beer they make is going to be a hit; but again, I’m not sure you can point to quality as the issue.
