REVIEW 110: SAMUEL ADAMS BOSTON LAGER (REVISITED)

COUNTRY:  USA

BREWERY:  The Boston Beer Company

STYLE:  Vienna Lager

ABV:  4.9%

PURCHASE:  Draft (pint), $5.99 (first three); draft (20-oz.), $6.75 (fourth, at a different venue)

SERVING:  Pint/pilsner glass (could pass for either). Chilled glass for beer #1: Less than half an inch of head with so-so retention. Unchilled glass for beers 2 and 3: Roughly half an inch of head, with only slightly better retention. Went to a different venue for a fourth, for comparison/contrast purposes: This one was served in the Samuel Adams Boston Lager branded glass, and featured almost a full inch of head, but still only average retention. 

APPEARANCE:  Semi-transparent amber-copper body--a bit darker than the bottled version with which I opened this blog--and the usual off-white head. Little visible bubbling. Better than average, if somewhat irregular, lacing around the glass for the first three I had in the slender pint glass; outstanding lacing, however, in the fourth brew that I had in the Sam glass.

BOUQUET:  Smoothly multidimensional aroma comprised mainly of moderate floral hops, caramel, and toasted malt notes. Hints of citrus and a dash of spice round things out. The spice in question, aromatically, seems to be cinnamon, anise, and/or allspice. Hard to pinpoint, though.

PALATE:  A bit heavy for a beer that's less than 5%. The typical degree of carbonation that's easy to keep in check. Features what I call a "ride-like" palate; it starts at one place, goes for a ride, and ends up across town, but not in unfamiliar territory. The place of origin, in this case, is a sweet hop-malt balance. The destination (read: finish)? An ending of appleskins, lemon zest, moderate hop bitterness--which never left--and ever so subtle spice notes that are still a challenge to nail down. In the nose, I thought cinnamon, allspice, perhaps a bit of anise. Now I'm thinking maybe clove or even coriander. The aftertaste is toastier and yeastier, with a slightly more pronounced hop bitterness and a lingering lemon zest and citrus note. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  When I was a kid, like many other boys who eagerly followed sports, I collected baseball cards. I'm dating myself here, but when I first started collecting at age nine, Topps was still king, with relative newbies Donruss and Fleer just beginning to assert themselves. Then, in 1989, everything changed when Upper Deck showed up on the scene, introducing cards with much better photography, a glossier finish, and holograms to make counterfeiting all but impossible. They were pricier, but due to the higher production quality, they held their value much better, and became the most popular brand in a very short period of time.

However, the competition took note, and responded by upping the ante with even glossier cards of their own, featuring such things as gold stamping and ultraviolet coating. Topps introduced Stadium Club cards. Fleer released their version, called Flair. Score, another newer brand, offered Pinnacle. Donruss revamped their Diamond Kings subset to reflect this trend. As a result, Upper Deck was forced to respond in kind, releasing its "SP" and "Die-Cut" series. The average card was now much more expensive and much "nicer." On the flip side, the market became so flooded it was almost impossible to keep track of every single set from every single company.

Kind of like the craft beer industry today. Boston Lager is like that original 1989 Upper Deck baseball set. It's not the best ever made. It's not the most expensive. It's not the most famous. But it has rightly earned its place in the beer world as one of the first--if not the first--"craft" brews, developed in response to the North American industrial macrobrewing banality of Miller, Coors, Anheuser-Busch, and others. It has stood the test of time, despite the endless onslaught of American microbreweries, Belgian abbey ales, and other imports. It has been surpassed, but remains, simply, a classic. I just wish a case of it came with a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. 




ORIGINAL GRADE:  A

NEW GRADE:  A-