Comments on: Sam Adams Summer Ale

By: Boog

Boog — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:55:22 +0000

This years (2011) Summer Ale is the best yet. Try it on tap. So much better. Bottle is OK but 3 clicks less than on tap. I drink it with a burger or such and it is an excellent complement to a great burger.

By: John

John — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:00:39 +0000

Paul – “Beer is supposed to be very Hopi” – well said, just like the American beer marketing machine wants you to believe it. Keep allowing those marketing messages to come on in with no filtering!

By: Paul Sullivan

Paul Sullivan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 06:13:21 +0000

I find it funny that so called experts whom obviously have a hard on for then Sam Adam’s line are so hard on REAL BEER. Beer is supposed to be very Hopi but yet you still haven’t grasped that concept, pity…

I’ll keep drinking Real Beer, you all can stick with the O’Doules of the world!!!!

By: steve petty

steve petty — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:52:40 +0000

I just tried your summerfest and it was very bitter. Not very good. My wife also put her’s aside. Dis you have aprob. with one of your batches?

By: Goose

Goose — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:19:06 +0000

I think the Sam Adams seasonals and other special SA brews are intended for the occasional sipper. If you alone are going to blast through a sixpack, these beers aren’t for that.
But the Summer Ale paired well with a nice ribeye, grilled, and topped with a grilled garlic/jalapeno “relish” I make. I’m normally a stout/porter guy, but this beer and the blackberry witbier make me reconsider my summer months default imbibe.

By: zxcvb

zxcvb — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:39:16 +0000

I absolutely agree that this beer is meant to be taken with food. It’s a *summer* ale — something light (in calories as well) and refreshing while you’re scarfing down burgers and chips.
For that, it’s perfect. On its own…not so much.

By: John

John — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:41:59 +0000

Thanks for the comments Dave – I think the key for you tasting this beer is that it was with food. I tried it again recently and it just doesn’t sit well by itself for me. It just needs something with it to help balance it and to me that just doesn’t bode well. It should be able to stand alone like some of their other seasonals do so well.
Dave is further expounding on some comments I left at his beer blog on Beer Cellar Aging – check his site out in our Beer Links section – Fermentedly Challenged – good stuff.

By: Chipper Dave

Chipper Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:26:33 +0000

I tried some of this beer at a Sam Adams beer dinner a couple months ago and really enjoyed it. Perhaps you had a bad sample.
thx for your comments over on my blog about beer cellaring. I think you’d have to do a little of both (spreadsheet and sharpie marking the bottle), particularly if you bought more than one of the same kind of beer and if you bought some on different dates and you needed to distinguish between bottles. I am personally a big fan of spreadsheets for tracking stuff. I’d want to know the date I bought it and cellared, the planned dates for next sampling, and (if available) the date the beer was bottled. Some breweries put a date on their bottles but most don’t. So perhaps you may need to ask your store owner how long a bottle has been sitting in his cooler. If it has a layer of dust on it then you might expect it’s sat there for a few weeks at least.
I’m sure there are a ton of other things I’d like to track (like cost) and perhaps the conditions under which it is stored. Lots to think about.