What's the Sam Adams story?
Stuart Alexander Ridgway
been reading about the brewing world that much, just what Sam Adams
Brewery had done to piss off so many people. I gather it has to do
something with being somewhat litigious, but a detailed chronology
would be appreciated...
-- Alex Ridgway
Michael Johnson
like to know why most beer lovers are rather annoyed with Koch and
crew, so here goes...
Stuart Alexander Ridgway writes
> I wonder if someone could explain, for the unenlighted who haven't
> been reading about the brewing world that much, just what Sam Adams
> Brewery had done to piss off so many people. [etc]
Sam Adams beers are brewed by the Boston Beer Company. They chose that
name so they could legally put "BOSTON brand BEER" on their labels,
despite the fact that they started brewing in Pittsburgh, PA and only
years later started a token Boston operation.
Recently, several (IMHO great) brewpubs have opened in the Boston
area: Cambridge Brewing Co., Commonwealth Brewery, and Boston Beer
Works. Boston Beer Co. is suing both Commonwealth and BBW for putting
the word "Boston" on the labels of their bottled varieties, and also
for using "Boston" in some of the beer names. In BBW's case, the word
Boston is on the neck label, and is not even part of the title--as if to
announce where the beer originated.
Boston Beer Co., in their infinite stupidity, claims that people
will confuse these brewpub beers with BBC's Sam Adams products,
despite Massachusetts law stating that pubs which brew their own
beer may not serve anyone else's beer.
Ironically, or perhaps not, the beers served by the various brewpubs
are actually significantly better tasting than any Sam Adams
offerings.
Well, now you can join the fun slagging Boston Beer Co.! Just remember
your netiquette and always post something useful along with your
diatribes.
Cheers!
Mike Johnson
mic...@monitor.com
Rob Davis
Hi,
Well, I noticed something yesterday. During that annoying Samuel Adam's
commercial on the radio, Jim Koch never mentioned the word "Boston" one
time. The commercials used to advertise his "Samuel Adam's Boston Lager",
but the new version of the commercial only says "Samuel Adam's Lager".
Hmmm, maybe he's been reading this thread?
-Rob
Jeff Frane
>-- Alex Ridgway
An interesting challenge, that. Jim Koch, owner of SA, is a master
salesman who has, as you say, managed to piss off a number of people
over the years. This list isn't exhaustive, and I'm frankly a little
vague on dates, but here are a few of the reasons:
Deceptive Promotion: Samuel Adams has continuously been promoted as
"hand-crafted", and the name itself "Boston Lager" certainly implies the
beer is brewed in Boston. In reality, the beer was contract brewed,
first at a brewery in Pittsburgh then at Blitz-Weinhard in Portland,
Oregon. As far as I've been able to determine, the process in these
breweries is the same as that used for their other beers, except that SA
is an all-malt beer (so no cereal cooker is used). Hardly "hand
crafted" and certainly not by Jim Koch, although he passes himself off
as a brewer.
More Deceptive Promotion: Early on in the history of the Great American
Beer Festival, Koch took advantage of opportunities in the popular
voting used to determine the "best beer in America". Swarms of thirsty
Coloradans were treated to various promotional gifts, and beer poured by
women chosen more for their, er, bosoms than their knowledge of beer,
and exhorted to vote for SA. They did, for several years, until the
Association of Brewers (read AHA) bowed to considerable outrage from
other breweries and discontinued the practice. No matter. Koch has
been using those votes ever since to whoop up his beer.
Cheesing Off Homebrewers: Within the last few years, Koch was quoted in
Newsweek magazine knocking the efforts of homebrewers and their
inability to produce anything as good as SA: clearly bullshit,
especially given that Koch isn't even a brewer.
Litigation, litigation, litigation: Koch has decided, or his lawyers
have, that they somehow cornered the market on the word "Boston", at
least as it pertains to beer. He apparently was unsuccessful in his
attempt to prevent several much smaller breweries -- all legitimately
using the name and brewing _only_ in Boston, by the way -- from using
the word in their products and promotions.
Almost forgot: More Deceptive Promotion and Labeling: Koch introduced a
beer containing fruit, and palmed it off as a Cranberry "Lambic", when
in fact that term refers only to beer from a small area in Belgium,
using spontaneous fermentation and ancient techniques. True lambic
aficionados were outraged, not that Koch cares.
--Jeff Frane
--
"Ultimately, you must forget about technique. The further you progress,
the fewer teachings there are. The Great Path is really No Path."
--Morihei Ueshiba (O-Sensei)
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Jay Hersh
mic...@monitor.com (Michael Johnson) writes:
>Recently, several (IMHO great) brewpubs have opened in the Boston
>area: Cambridge Brewing Co., Commonwealth Brewery, and Boston Beer
>Works. Boston Beer Co. is suing both Commonwealth and BBW for putting
>the word "Boston" on the labels of their bottled varieties, and also
>for using "Boston" in some of the beer names. In BBW's case, the word
>Boston is on the neck label, and is not even part of the title--as if to
>announce where the beer originated.
The Commonwealth Brewery pre-dates the Boston Beer Co., also a distributor
named Boston Beer Brands (also being sued) predates them as well.
I know that Commonwealth produces a beer called Boston Burton Ale
whose label conatins the word Boston in the tiniest of print. I do not
think the newly opened Boston Beer Works markets any bottled products yet.
The Boston Beer Works suit was a separate suit from the one filed against
Commonwealth and Boston Beer Brands. The BBW won the initial suit (over their
pubs name) and also an appeal. The other suit against Commonwealth, et. al
is to my knowledge still pending.
JaH
--
Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts