Beer:30... Sam Adams Winter Lager.

Continuing the trend of winter beers, next up is this brew:

Sam Adams knows a thing or two about craft beer, starting in 1984 with the now famous Boston Lager. Being one of the craft pioneers, they continue to make beers a little outside of the box, but not too far out of the norm. That is where this beer comes in.

The Winter Lager is Sam's winter seasonal(obviously). This beer is smooth, with a nice flavor overall, but something is missing to me. It seems like a weak version of their Boston Lager, with a tiny bit of spice. The taste is very dulled down compared to other winter beers, which is quite the surprise here. I would venture to call it a Boston Lager without the bite. It is good, and it goes down smooth, but nothing spectacular. Sam puts out some good, different style beers, and I feel that this one misses the mark.

Sam Adams is a great company, with a long history in making great beers. I would almost consider them a "gateway" beer. Basically meaning that this beer, and others from them, could be a great entry into the craft beer market when just learning about your own palate. Sam Adams is also my go to bar beer in non urban areas, which usually has a horrible beer selection. It doesn't matter how far away from civilization that you travel, even the smallest, podunk country bar usually has a bottle or two of Sam Adams for the "city folk." I am okay with that, and I am sure that Jim Koch is too.

Beer:30... Sam Adams Double Bock.

Ever have one of those days that seems to drag on forever? Today was one of those days. With the upcoming feast of Thanksgiving in my mind, and also being my pseudo Friday, the clock seemed to stand still today. Luckily that is in the past, and in my present is a beer from the cellar: 2010 Sam Adams Double Bock.

Double Bocks (aka Doppelbock) are one of my favorite types of beer this time of year. I tend to judge all double bocks by one beer alone: Ayinger's Celebrator. That is the end all, be all of bock beers. But enough about that, let's get to the Sam Adams version.

This beer is part of their Imperial series of brews. Sold in four packs, and usually packing a little higher alcohol content. This beer weighs in at 9.5% ABV. The beer balances that high of an alcohol content with lots and lots of malt. According to their website, they use a half pound of malt per bottle. Yes, I said per bottle. This results in a sweet tasting beer, with a little alcohol taste, some light hop character, and a tiny bit of lager bitterness to finish it off. This is a delightful beer. This vintage, from 2010, has a little more alcohol taste to it, just from the aging process. Not overbearing, but just a little more kick than last year. This makes me happy that I finally have a place to store beer!

If you are wondering about the goat on the label, here is why: Almost all bock beers have a goat on the label. "Bock" in German means billy goat. There are many theories as to why they went with the term, but the one that I tend to agree with is that the beer has a kick like a goat. If being kicked by a goat is this awesome, then count me in.

On the topic of goats, I thought I would end this post with a funny goat video. The video posted below is not really funny, but absolutely amazing. Nature amazes me every day. That said, here is the bird tie in to this post, a Golden Eagle hunting mountain goats:



Nature is amazing.

Cheers!