Saturday, February 25, 2012

A Landmark: Samuel Adams Belgian Session

I got this sample in the mail yesterday. Samuel Adams Belgian Session, Boston Beer's new summer seasonal, coming in April. Here's the description they sent along:
Samuel Adams Belgian Session is a crisp, bright version of a traditional Belgian beer with fruity, slightly spicy flavors from the Belgian yeast. After many trial batches made from a finicky Belgian yeast, the brewers redefined the typical session beer style, using subtly sweet toffee and caramel notes from a blend of pale and honey malts to harmonize with the yeast's distinct fruity and spicy flavors. By definition, session beers contain no higher than 5% ABV (Belgian Session is 4.3%), allowing the drinker to enjoy multiple beers during a "session."

Okay, I'm not overjoyed about the "By definition" part, but you know, Jim Koch lives too close to BeerAdvocate's Alström brothers, so I'll cut him some slack...because you undoubtedly notice that while they quote the BeerAdvocate definition, the beer actually goes by the SBP definition you see over there to the right. Nicely done.

I'd give you a quick tasting note, but we're cleaning the oven right now, and all I can smell is burnt sugar and meat drippings, so I'll put that off and add it tomorrow. Meanwhile, as I said to Cathy when I pulled this out of the box and caught the name...we've moved the earth. Okay, we've moved American craft brewing. If Boston Beer makes a Samuel Adams label out of a type of beer you've been championing, that's a good day.

Next up: why session beer pisses off beer geeks.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Strike Brewing's Brown Ale

Great post on a new brewery -- Strike Brewing in the SF Bay Area -- that rolled out a Brown Ale as one of their first beers. A sub 4.0% brown ale! Read what "Beer Runner" Derrick Peterman has to say about it.

Ramblings of a Beer Runner: Beer of the Month: Strike Brewing's Brown: