Sam Adams Patriot sampler

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Mr. Blues
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Sam Adams Patriot sampler

#1 Post by Mr. Blues » Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:02 pm

Review from the last week of July from another board:


Here goes a week after I've had 'em & without the bottle labels & packaging to remind me of the details.

First off--ten bucks (YES!--$10!) for four (4) twelve (12) ounce (oz.) bottles------(YOW! $2.50 apiece but hey, we've all paid a lot more than that in a bar/restaurant right?)

the 4 beers are:

1759 (Don't know if I remembered the # correctly) Root beer brew (think it was 5.5%alcohol)

Traditional ginger honey ale (again, think the bottle said 5.5%)

James Madison Dark Wheat (no alcohol content listed)

George Washington Porter (no alcohol content listed)


Sooooooooooo

I really, really wanted to like the root beer & the first few swigs weren't too off-putting but they used sarsaparilla (naturally) and (too much)vanilla & I think I remember honey as well which by the end of the 12 ounces made me glad it was over. Waaay too sweet and vanilla--y for my bitter and dark tastes. Wouldn't buy it again but would try just one (1) more bottle if presented to me just to make sure I got the same reaction.


The Traditional ginger was the one I bought the sampler for in the first place as my best (I believe) homebrew is a ginger porter/stout so I was really curious to see what Sam Adams would come up with. Disappointing. Think there was honey in this one as well but it just came off as a sweet ginger beer without any of the bitter hop flavor for balance & also tasted 'thin' without any real malt body/mouth feel. Compared right before my "Bluesblaster Ginger Porter/Stout" I'll take my homebrew every time. Like the root beer, wouldn't think of buying this one again.


The George Washington Porter said it was brewed with licorice as in olden times and I found it to be a very good porter. At the end of the glass I'd had enough of the licorice (never been a fan of black licorice) but if they would just back it off a tad I'd really consider buying this one on a regular basis. Don't misunderstand I WILL buy this if Sammy puts it out in a 6 pack at a reasonable price I'm just sayin' that ya better like the taste of anise if yer gonna have a couple Georges.


As far as the James Madison Dark Wheat remember I'm the guy that don't like most wheat beers due to sweet and overall taste.
Went into this one intrigued by the dark description as well as the fact they claimed to use toffee and mocha kinda malts or something like that (should've done this last week with the labels present). DAMN GOOD BEER! The hints of toffee and mocha along with using dark malt all mixed up together left me with an idea of what I'd do if I ever decided to homebrew a wheat beer. Would definitely buy a 6 pack of this one even if it was all the way up to ten (10!) dollars for 6 twelve (you tired of the parentheses yet?) ouncers.

So to sum up, based on the descriptions on the outside of the box, Sam Adams DID brew what they were shooting for on all four beers.

They said up front that they were using old recipes and ingredients that would have been available to the founding fathers when they brewed back in the 1770s (much like when Free State brewed the Ben Franklin made out of corn earlier this summer).

Kudos for the attempt and 2 out of 4 does pan out to 50/50 but I sure wish they'd offer the 4 packs around 8 bucks. Only time will tell if they offer any of the 'original recipes' as stand-alone product.

Now pardon me as I open up a 25 ounce bottle of Bluesblaster (6%) that cost pennies on the dollar per ounce & was made fresh at the hovel de Guinness azules.

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