The Armchair Quarterback’s Guide To The NFL: Week 6
The Armchair Quarterback Food/Drink/Tailgating Suggestion Of The Week
The Samuel Adams Seasonal Harvest Collection
A couple of weeks ago I looked at some of the seasonal pumpkin beers that are out right now. This week I’ll take a look at the seasonal “Harvest Collection” that is put out by Samuel Adams. This 12 pack is made up of 2 bottles of 6 different types of beer. Those six beers are: Boston Lager, Octoberfest, Harvest Pumpkin Ale, Hazel Brown Ale, Lattitude 48 IPA, and the newest addition Ruby Mild.
For each beer, I’ll give you a few short thoughts, a personal rating on a scale of 1-10, and the beer’s rating from beeradvocate.com (which is a great place to go if you want really detailed reviews of beers by people that know what they’re talking about). Let’s start with Sam Adams flagship, their Boston Lager.
Sam Adams Boston Lager
This beer has received some backlash from the craft beer diehards because of how mainstream it is. The idea being that the bigger the production of a beer is, the less credible that beer is. I find that line of thinking a little pretentious. There’s a reason Sam Adams made a name for itself, and that reason is that the Boston Lager is a good beer. It’s not flashy, but it has a nice malt taste balanced with some hop bitterness and enough carbonation that it’s crisp and very drinkable. It may not be exotic or extreme, but if you are into lagers, you just don’t get a whole lot better. That having been said, it’s obviously available year round, so it’s the one beer in the collection that isn’t a fall seasonal.
My Score (1-10): 8
Beeradvocate (1-100): 85
Sam Adams Octoberfest
In my opinion, Sam Adam’s Octoberfest is the best regular beer that they brew (they have some premium brews that have a steeper price that I like more). I really like the Oktoberfest (how the authentic German style spells it) style, and I think the Sam Adams version is one of the best brewed here in the states. I tend to lean more towards the malt flavors in beers than those with a real strong hop presence. That’s probably why I like the Octoberfest. It’s brewed using 5 different malts so it’s got a nice full malt flavor. I think it’s similar in some ways to the lager, but with a little fuller and complex flavor. This is my favorite of the collection and the only Sam Adams seasonal that I go out of my way to drink every year.
My Score (1-10): 8.5
Beeradvocate (1-100): 83
Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale
This is a pretty run of the mill pumpkin ale. It’s not great, but it’s not bad either. I’m scoring it right in the middle of the four pumpkin beers I rated a couple of weeks ago. It has the same cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices as the typical pumpkin beers. The pumpkin taste is okay, it’s not very pronounced, but it’s there. If I was in the mood for a pumpkin ale and this was all that was available, I would drink it, but I wouldn’t specifically seek it out. I actually slightly prefer the Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin to this. A fall seasonal collection wouldn’t be complete without a pumpkin beer and this one fills that roll.
My Score (1-10): 7
Beeradvocate (1-100): 80
Sam Adams Hazel Brown
I have mixed feelings about this one. I prefer darker beers and the description of this one sounded fantastic. Here’s the actual label description:
“This flavorful dark brown ale has a distinct hazelnut aroma and taste. Slightly sweet caramel and toffee malt notes accentuate the pleasant roasted hazelnut character. This medium-bodied brew finishes smooth with an underlying spiciness from the hops. Cheers!”
Based on that description I expected this to be my hands down favorite of the pack. It was good, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It was like a movie that all your friends have told you is SO GOOD that you build it up too much and it’s a little bit of a let down when you see it. If you like dark brown ales, you’ll like this. It was good with a combination of roasted malts, hazelnut, and a little bit of sweetness in there. There was just something about the flavor combination that fell a little short for me.
My Score (1-10): 7.5
Beeradvocate (1-100): 82
Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA
This was the anti-“Hazel Brown” for me. I’m usually not a huge IPA drinker. I appreciate them, and like one now and then, but I’m not one of the “hop heads” that likes my beer as bitter as possible. So while I went in thinking that the Hazel would be my favorite, I thought the IPA would probably be at the bottom of my list. However, that wasn’t the case. The reason I don’t care for some IPAs is because I feel like they don’t even try to give the beer any type of balance. The bitterness of the hops dominate the beer to an extreme, and that’s not my thing. However, while this beer definitely had a crisp hop bite of citrus and pine it was balanced by the malts and actually was extremely refreshing and drinkable. While people who like the “extreme” IPAs may not think much of it, for anyone new to craft beers that is looking for a first IPA to try, this would be a great introduction to the style. Other than the Octoberfest, this may be the only other one in the collection that I seek out to drink again.
My Score (1-10): 8
Beeradvocate (1-100): 81
Sam Adams Ruby Mild
This is a new addition to the Harvest Collection this year. While it shouldn’t be a surprise based on the name, this was a little too “mild” for my liking. It wasn’t bad, there wasn’t anything I tasted that I didn’t like, but there just wasn’t a lot there for me. There was some smooth malt taste combined with just a little fruit sweetness, but it just wasn’t enough to get my attention. I guess the best word to describe it for me was “forgettable”. Not exactly what you’re looking for in a beer.
My Score (1-10): 6.5
Beeradvocate (1-100): 79
Overall Thoughts On The Harvest Collection
Overall this was a nice fall seasonal collection. If you are like me and don’t drink in bulk, but have a beer here and there while watching a game, this is a nice mix for this time a year if you like some variety. There weren’t any beers that I disliked, but some were just okay. In the future, I don’t know that I’ll feel like I HAVE to buy this collection again. I would probably be fine just picking up a six pack of Octoberfest. That having been said, I’m glad I tried it because I probably wouldn’t have ever tried the Latitude IPA if I hadn’t. I will drink that again as well if given the chance and highly recommend it to anyone that is thinking about trying an IPA, but has been scared off thus far by the thought of the strong hop bitterness.
Well that’s it for this week’s Armchair Quarterback. If you read anything you loved or hated, feel free to let me know in the comments below. Until next week, kick back in a comfortable chair and enjoy some football “armchair style”.