Brewery Visit: Samuel Adams

The grave of Samuel Adams beer namesake

 Justin and I went to the Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston as part of a larger trip to Boston.  I was very excited to go as I know little about beer but this is one of my favorite brands!  I had never previously been to a beer brewery before or been part of a tasting and appreciated that a craft brewery would be my first experience rather than a bigger name, less creative brand.  Sam Adams is based out of Boston but most of the beer is brewed in a different facility.  The facility we toured supplies the Boston area only.

The stamp showing we are over 21 and allowed to sample!

They take their beer very seriously!

I was interested to learn that Samuel Adams beer did not exist until 1984, as I had been under the impression that it was extremely old and well established.  The original Boston Lager was an old family recipe that the founder discovered in his attic.

Three different types of barley on the left and hops on the right

The four main ingredients in Sam Adams beer:

Barley!

-Malted barley-This ingredient adds sweetness to the beer.  There are two different types of barley based on the way it grows on the stalk, either six row and two row.  Sam Adams only uses two row barley even if it is less economical because it forms a less harsh taste in the beer.

-Hops- I never truly understood what hops were until this tour.  It turns out they are little flowers that smell great.  They add bitterness and flavor to the beer.  As the tour guide said, hops are to beer as grapes are to wine.  She also described how in advertisements the brewers tend to rub it between their hands and urged us to do the same.  Crushing the hops in this way really helped bring out the wonderful smell of the plant.

-Yeast- Just like wine, yeast is obviously a very key ingredient in the brewing process.  There are two versions, bottom fermenting for lagers or top fermenting for ales.  As in wine, they simply break down sugars and convert it to alcohol and CO2.  But unlike wine, the beer is intended to keep its carbonation.

-Water- Water is unsurprisingly such an important part of beer that most historic breweries are located very close to freshwater sources.

The four main steps to make Sam Adams beer:

-Brewing

-Fermentation

-Finishing
-Packaging

Machines in the brewing process

-Mash tun- Water added to the malt and heated so it turns into ‘wort’ where starches break into sugars to help the yeast do their thing

-Cooker- Part of the mixture is boiled to produce more flavor and then it is returned to the original machine

-Lauter tun- It is filtered by gravity to separate the solid part, called mash, from the sugary liquid called malt

-Brew kettle- Hops are added to give it bitterness and a more distinct smell while it is boiled

-Whirlpool- The proteins and tannins are removed, it is cooled and given oxygen to start fermentation, and fermentation proceeds until the beer is ready

-Storage- The beer may be aged up to several weeks and is cooled during this time.  Sometimes wort is added to allow the beer to ferment for a second time, which Sam Adams thinks increases the balance of the beer

-Filtration- to remove cloudiness from the yeast

We were given three beers to sample:

-Boston Lager- This wasn’t overly bitter, which I appreciated and I knew it was their original product, so that was to be appreciated, but it mostly tasted just like most other beers I have had

-Winter Lager- this one tasted very different from the Boston Lager and I liked the color more.  The spices added a lot to the beer rather than just a ‘beer’ taste as with the Boston Lager.

-Pumpkin Ale- I do not usually like beer that much but this one I enjoyed a lot.  And trying three flavors in a row was really helpful in tasting the subtle differences between the three.  Of course the pumpkin in this beer is not exactly subtle, but I had tried it once before and mostly only tasted the bitterness, as usual.  But I could easily taste the sweet pumpkin this time.  I might even go out and buy this when it come out again for the season!

All in all a very successful trip!

Happy beer tasters!