Samuel Adams

Why it matters

For a long period the largest American craft brewer, and the entry point through which a substantial share of American drinkers first encountered Vienna-style lager.

Details

Reference beers

• Samuel Adams Boston Lager5% ABV

  A Vienna-style amber lager that introduced a great many American drinkers to a beer with malt character, and a useful bridge out of mass-market lager.

BeerHQ carries only the products that anchor something. This is not the brewery’s full range.

Styles it is associated with

• Vienna lager — An amber lager built on gently kilned Vienna malt: toasty and lightly sweet, but finishing clean and dry.
• American IPA — The defining modern craft beer: intense citrus, tropical and resinous hop aroma over a lean malt base, finishing firmly bitter.

Traditions

• American craft brewing — The post-1980 American movement built on intense hop character, reinterpretation of European styles, and rapid categorical change.