REVIEW 170: SAMUEL ADAMS COLD SNAP (REVISITED)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA (Jamaica Plain, MA)

BREWERY:  Boston Beer Company

STYLE:  Witbier

ABV:  5.3%

PURCHASE:  Case (two 12-packs) of 24 12-oz. bottles, $36.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. Much headier from the bottle than it was on tap; took up over half the glass, initially, before "settling" into the three-inch range--and that was with a standard pour of roughly 20 seconds. A slower pour of roughly 30 seconds didn't get much less. Great retention.

APPEARANCE:  Murky, golden-orange body; "hazy" wasn't quite an adequate word here. Off-white, spongy and dense head bordering upon cream. Ever so faint bubbling visible if you look hard enough. No lacing.

AROMA:  Mostly wheat and coriander. Some orange peel and citrus notes round things out. 

TASTE:  Not fully fleshed out at the forefront; shy citrus notes are evident but not much else. Very smooth, medium-thin body with soft but still conspicuous carbonation. Fairly even, orange zest/coriander palate until the somewhat yeasty finish, when more complexity takes hold. Slightly peppery uptick at the back. Aftertaste is "wet" (as opposed to "dry" or "clean"), with orange, lemon, and a continuance of the various generic spices. (Note: This is supposedly brewed with plum as well, but I found it hard to make out. Also, I didn't notice any real banana presence as I did when I reviewed this on tap in one of my earliest entries on this blog.)

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  I still maintain this is a better version of Blue Moon. It's versatile and never out of place, and though it's marketed in late winter, I find it equally suitable to late spring and summer drinking. It's an outstanding thirst-quenching brew, and what I call a "juicy" beer (for obvious reasons).

That said, my original impression remains unchanged in another respect. Like a lot of Sams these days, Cold Snap is ultimately not a very memorable experience. There's too many out there like it, for one thing. More importantly, it just seems to settle in that oh-so-familiar good-but-not-great territory that, lately, seems to be Sam's hallmark.

You know what "cold snap" actually refers to? A sudden, brief spell of cold weather. Which is what we experienced yesterday in my neck of the woods (if you consider the 40s "cold").

It's also a Chinese herbal supplement.



ORIGINAL GRADE:  B

NEW GRADE:  B