Brewery Name and Location: The Boston Brewing Company - Boston, MA
Name of Brew: Sam Adams Winter Lager
Style of Brew: Dark Wheat Lager
ABV: 5.8%
I know some readers have gotten a little pissy before about me reviewing Samuel Adams because of my close vicinty to a shit-load of micro-breweries here in the Pacific Northwest, deal with it. I randomly picked some of this Winter Lager up last Friday because my kegerator was empty and I was to lazy to replace the barrel. I wasn’t really expecting much but I’ve got to admit I was more than pleasantly surprised. In fact I’ve bought more of it on two occasions since then. I’ve also since pulled my head out of the my ass and bought a new barrel of beer instead of blowing money on the small quantities.
I poured my Winter Lager from the bottle into a standard cupboard-warm pint glass. There was almost no head and what was there was gone pretty quickly. The beer has a brown color that almost matches the bottle that it comes in. It’s got a malty smell with hints of caramel coming through. What I really enjoy about the Winter Lager is the that it’s got a taste similar to Blue Moon. It doesn’t have the level of citrus that makes people stick a slice of orange into a Blue Moon but it’s got the same spice. I’m not an expert but I think it’s coriander. It’s got a nice hoppy flavor with some coriander, cinnamon and maybe a touch of orange right at the very end. Not enough orange to warrant fruit but just a enough to give it a refreshing taste on the way down.
This is just a great winter beer. Maybe I’m being biased because it reminds me of one of my favorite summer time BBQ beers. Actually one of my favorite things about the Winter Lager is that it’s deceptively light. I generally expect a seasonal winter beer to be heavy and make me feel bloated after only three or four. However my Halloween night can attest to the fact that you can easily put down six Winter Lagers and then head out to the bar for more beer and then end up at another Halloween party drinking random PBRs.
Product Page: Samuel Adams Winter Lager
