Guest Contributor: "Touring Sam Adams Brewery, Boston, MA"

Bobby, in front of the Brewery

One thing I would like to start doing on a somewhat regular basis here on "The Beer Czar", is posting sort of "guest writer" pieces. I don't get a chance to travel as much as I would like, so I want to start relying on my friends, family, fans, and readers to contribute information on areas and breweries I have yet to have the pleasure of visiting.

For my first "guest contributor" piece, I was lucky enough to get the following from my good friend Bobby. Recently moved from Canada to Arizona to marry our good friend Daniell. Well, it seems Bobby was able to escape married life for a few days for a guys weekend in my favorite city of Boston. He sent me this little piece of his time visiting the Sam Adams Brewery. Enjoy, and thanks Bobby!


Sam Adams Brewery Tour
By Bobby Nadeau

Barrel Room

"My friends and I go on a boys trip every year. This year we ended up in Boston, MA, for what
we called "The Boston Bender". Part of the weekend activities were going to a hockey game,  Game 5 Leafs vs. Bruins at the TD Gardens which was pretty cool. Second was going to the historic Fenway Park to see the Blue Jays vs. Red Sox. But the highlight of the trip was the Sam Adams Brewery tour.

When you first walk into the entrance/waiting area you are greeted by the friendliest staff and given a free ticket for the tour (donation are accepted).
While waiting for the tour to start we walk around

Mmmmm

the front lobby which had different barrels of hops that you can taste. Ranging in flavors of burnt coffee to a beautiful summer butter. Once our tour guide arrived we were informed that the brewery was being renovated and that the tour would consist of us going straight to sampling room which got a big roar from the crowd. As you see through my pictures that we were able to see some of the holding tanks and barrel room but didn't get the ins and outs of their functions. After finding a seat in the Sam Adams Bar room we were treated to 3 different kinds of beer in a 7 oz glass which is the maximum they can serve. Our guide Stu who was wearing a name tag with the name Katy Perry which he thought would be funny because his boss told him he had to wear one but didn't specify that he had to have HIS name on it decided to be funny and put Katy

Bobby and Stu (aka Katy Perry)

Perry on it. Our samples consisted of the awesome Boston Lager, Summer Ale and I'm not too sure about the third one because I was too busy trying to refill my 7 oz. glass with the left over beer from the first 2 jugs. After being explaining how things work at the brewery by Stu he told us that the sampling glass was ours to keep which made everyone pretty happy. I was able to purchase a beautiful glass for my friend and connoisseur Ken Morrison which was specifically made for the Sam Adams Boston Lager beer. If anyone has the chance to visit the beautiful city of Boston, it's the cleanest city I've ever visited, and don't forget the "free" Sam Adams tour.

Pretty cool bar!

 Thanks again to Bobby! This is one tour I've been wanting to do for some time, thanks for allowing me to live a little vicariously through you!

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

If you would like more information about the Sam Adams Brewery Tour, you can find it on their website here.....

The brewery is located on 30 Germania St, Boston, MA 02130

Sam in a Can coming soon!

The Perfect Pint

Well, it only took 2 years, and a million bucks, but its finally coming to a beer store near you. That's right, come May, 2013, you can drink your beloved Boston Lager right out of, the can?

That's right. Boston Beer Company spent the last two years, and considerable amount of cash to develop a new can that will help you get the most out of you Boston Lager. A few of the things you may find different about this new can;

The lid is wider, allowing more airflow

The new Sam Can!

The lid has been moved away from the lip, to help promote and accentuate the hop aromas by moving it    closer to your nose.

The hourglass ridge creates more turbulence which pushes flavor out of the beer

Extended lip places the beer at the front of your palette.

Everything is better topless!

I guess all this is very cool, I just don't know how necessary it all is. I mean, after all, bottles don't afford us any of these "advantages" yet, they have no issue putting them in bottles. I mean, don't most "beer people" pour the beer into a glass before drinking it anyway? I would argue, if you are drinking beer right out of a can or bottle, you aren't going to get the most out of the beer no matter what the shape or design of the vessel. I can see this being an advantage to tailgating, or the beach, when bringing you Sam Adams Perfect Pint Glass isn't always an option. Not sure if the cost is worth the benefit in this case, but knows, I guess I will just have to wait and see! I think the topless can makes a little more sense to me.



Until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

Intreasting.....Micro Brew Incubator???

Just found this article on FB. Intreasting concept, I'll be watching these guys and thier progress pretty closely I think!

(click the link to read the article...)

Magic Hat founder launches craft brew incubator