Samuel Adams Summer Ale
Brewed By: Samuel Adams
Brewed In: We’ll call it Boston, MA but probably Ohio
ABV: 5.3%
Type: American Wheat Ale
What They Say: Samuel Adams® Summer Ale is an American wheat ale. This summer seasonal uses malted wheat as well as lemon zest and grains of paradise, a rare pepper from Africa first used as a brewing spice in the 13th Century to create a crisp and spicy flavor and body. The ale fermentation imparts a background tropical fruit note reminiscent of mangos and peaches. All of these come together to create a quenching, clean finishing beer perfect for those warm Summer days.
Website: Sam’s website pretty much never changes. It’s rather run of the mill for a corporate website. The two separate birthyear confirmation screens are still incredibly annoying and ultimately useless. Negative points because the entire application is a Flash application and stalls at 70% loaded way too much and causes the site to freeze. People — Flash is a bane on all existence and should not be used for real websites.
Why I Picked It: I’ve been a fan of this beer for quite some time. After sampling Shipyard’s Summer Ale recently, I wanted to finally get this beer’s Snob Score.
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Presentation (5): Sam’s presentation is approaching iconic, I suppose. All of the core and seasonal beers are the same design with different colors. There is nothing amazing here and they certainly aren’t competing with a lobster toasting a distant ship. I’m sure there is a branding/marketing/corporate reason to have all labels exactly the same, but seriously, how much cooler is the old label? 2
Originality (5): Every craft brewery has a summer offering. Sam is no different. Nothing huge here but I can’t give it a one because they have to compete. 2
Body (10): The beer pours a hazy golden color with a large, quick-fading head. Lacing is minimal. The body is a bit heavier out of the bottle (as opposed to the draught variety) then I like in a summer wheat. The weight makes the beer a bit less refreshing. The most noticeable and identifiable aroma is citrusy lemon. While I do like heavy beers, and the weight of this beer definitely makes it an overall more satisfying drink, I’m just not a huge fan of heavy beers in the summer. I want refreshing in summer ales and the heaviness just isn’t refreshing. 6
Taste (10): They make a big deal to talk about the inclusion of “grains of paradise.” I’ll be honest, I’ve read about them and seen them on Good Eats, but I’ve never actually tasted them. I can neither confirm nor deny their presence in this beer. What I can confirm is a solid taste of lemon zest and healthy amount of carbonation. My main issue with this beer (and many Sam offerings) is a bit-too-dry finish. Unfortunately, this is amplified in a summer wheat. The taste is satisfying, but not quite as refreshing as I’d like in a summer. 7
Efficiency (10): Sam manages to push a little bit of extra alcohol in to the American wheat than most other breweries. It comes in at 5.3% instead of the more standard 5.0% or 5.1%. Unfortunately, the extra alcohol is counteracted by the heavier texture and dry finish. This little extra syrupy weight kills any efficiency gained by the extra ABV. 7
Versatility (10): Again, American wheats are amongst the most versatile beers on the market. They’re tasty, gentle, and flavorful while having an alcohol content that won’t knock knock a person out. As I also discovered this week, mixing it with some lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, honey, mustard, garlic, and onion powder makes a mean brine for chicken or pork. Sadly, I didn’t quite figure out how to reduce it in to a sauce quite yet. Project for next summer. 10
The Snob Says: Sam’s summer offering is probably my second favorite Sam seasonal behind the unbelievable awesome Octoberfest and was my favorite Summer before recently discovering Shipyard’s. It’s still my favorite readily available summer.
Final Score: 34 (of 50) — Good beer
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