Samuel Adams Boston Ale (Stock Ale) - Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

Jason

Massachusetts

3.28/5  rDev -10.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Served in a 12oz frozen mug, pale amber hue shows a good clarity and lacing is thin but retains well. Faint aroma of caramel and grain, little hop in the nose … clean to say the least.

Solid crisp carbonation, light bodied and very refreshing. A bit watery in the malt department showing some grain and sweetness, touch of hop oil and bitterness easily keep things balanced. Clean after taste with some grain in the back.

One of the few beers that has any kind of real beer flavour at most Pizzeria Uno establishments. Very easy to drink … a no brainer beer.

Serving type: on-tap

02-12-2003 12:44:13 | More by Jason

Todd

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Presentation: 12oz brown bottle. Freshness date clearly scored on the side of the label.

Appearance: Pours an amber coloured beer with orange-red hues. The white head is thick initially and very foamy, creamy and sticky. Excellent head retention throughout the beer's life in the glass.

Smell: Soft hops, a bit fruity with herbal / spice aromas.

Taste: Relatively smooth, however there's a unique hop coarseness to the brew that is leafy initially. Hop flavour is spicy and herbal, with a raw, fresh hop backbone flavour. Bitterness is medium, slightly citrus, although there is an initial bite to awaken the palate. Nice fruity, estery flavour too. Malt sweetness comes around the edges and helps to round this beer off. Body is medium. Finish has some dry grain flavours and a touch of herbal / flowers, but nothing out of balance.

Notes: In my opinion, Boston Ale still stands as one of the best of its kind in America. You simply cannot go wrong with a fresh one. Perfect balance. Perfect drinkability. The perfect fridge beer or fall-back beer, and chances are ... you can always find one.

Accoring to Grant Wood @ Boston Beer Co., Boston Ale is more like an English Pale Ale, "I suppose it is more like an English Pale Ale, more Bass-like. We actually call it a "Stock Ale". It has been krausened and stored on dry hops for 2 weeks."

---
From Sam Adams:
Samuel Adams Boston Ale was the second beer on the Samuel Adams roster, a robust and spicy ale brewed in 1988 to celebrate the opening of the Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston. The recipe for Boston Ale is from the Koch family archives. Jim's grandfather kept careful brewer's notes which were stored in the family's Cincinnati attic.

Stock ale is one of the few classic beer styles to have originated in the United States, and the style has a strong New England heritage. Stock ales were brewed and fermented in the traditional ale manner and then aged in cool rooms called "stock cellars." The special ales were called "stock" ales because of this extra aging, which gave them a characteristic body and smoothness.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2001 00:00:01 | More by Todd

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New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

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4/5  rDev +9.3%

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3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

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3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

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4/5  rDev +9.3%

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3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

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3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

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4.25/5  rDev +16.1%

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3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

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3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

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3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

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3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

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4/5  rDev +9.3%

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3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

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Kentucky

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

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