Samuel Adams Golden
Pilsner
Review Date 9/25/2000
Try?
Re-buy?
How old is that
beer you're drinking? Do you know? Sure, Budweiser has a "Born-On" date (and
ironically is the beer that probably needs it least), but most beers don't.
Just where did they get the idea from anyhow? Why from Jim Koch and Boston
Beer, of course, and his concept of freshness dating.
Most beer is fragile, and should be drunk as fresh as possible. Fritz Maytag put it extremely well when he said "You brew it, and then you drink it." This being the case, how can you tell how old that beer you're buying is? For the longest time, you couldn't. Buying beer was a game of chance, and to this day still is in some cases. Sure, dusty bottles sitting on the top shelf of a 70 degree store are a dead giveaway, but those bottles can be wiped so clean you'd never know the difference and shoved in a cooler waiting for some unsuspecting beer lover to snap them up.
Boston Beer made a campaign out of offering their beer as an alternative to stale old imported beer, and along those lines they began to place a "Best By" date on their bottles. This gave the consumer a general idea of how old the beer he was buying was, something truly revolutionary in the beer world. Jim Koch even made a spectacle of himself being dunked into a small vat of his own beer that had been collected from retailers when it had passed it's best by date.
Soon, other breweries caught on and added a similar best by date system to their brew, or perhaps a bottled on date. At one point Boston Beer took out advertisements asking consumers to support breweries that freshness-dated, even listing them by name in the ads. Many more microbreweries, however, didn't follow suit, and some even scoffed at the concept. It was a risky proposition to be sure, since out-of-date beer would be a liability for small brewers. In the end, it worked well for Boston Beer, and is a helpful tool for the consumer, especially with delicate brews the likes of a Golden Pilsner.
Samuel Adams Golden Pilsner
pours to yellow-gold color with a large, steady
and thick head formation. The nose is hoppy and just a touch fruity (from
the hops, not from any yeasty esters that would be inappropriate in a
lager.) The palate is crisp and light, delicate but malty, with a nicely
bitter and slightly grassy hop finish (Hallertaus, Spalts, Saaz, Northern
Brewer used). When this beer was first introduced back in 1996, I thought it
more of a Munich Helles as the malt body was firmer and the hops less
apparent. Today, this fine beer is a dead ringer for fine German pilsners
the likes of Bitburger or Konig-Pilsner.
Try it with a pork roast and oven-roasted potatoes or spicy buffalo wings. It's a match for many a fine dish.
Most beer is fragile, and should be drunk as fresh as possible. Fritz Maytag put it extremely well when he said "You brew it, and then you drink it." This being the case, how can you tell how old that beer you're buying is? For the longest time, you couldn't. Buying beer was a game of chance, and to this day still is in some cases. Sure, dusty bottles sitting on the top shelf of a 70 degree store are a dead giveaway, but those bottles can be wiped so clean you'd never know the difference and shoved in a cooler waiting for some unsuspecting beer lover to snap them up.
Boston Beer made a campaign out of offering their beer as an alternative to stale old imported beer, and along those lines they began to place a "Best By" date on their bottles. This gave the consumer a general idea of how old the beer he was buying was, something truly revolutionary in the beer world. Jim Koch even made a spectacle of himself being dunked into a small vat of his own beer that had been collected from retailers when it had passed it's best by date.
Soon, other breweries caught on and added a similar best by date system to their brew, or perhaps a bottled on date. At one point Boston Beer took out advertisements asking consumers to support breweries that freshness-dated, even listing them by name in the ads. Many more microbreweries, however, didn't follow suit, and some even scoffed at the concept. It was a risky proposition to be sure, since out-of-date beer would be a liability for small brewers. In the end, it worked well for Boston Beer, and is a helpful tool for the consumer, especially with delicate brews the likes of a Golden Pilsner.
Samuel Adams Golden Pilsner
pours to yellow-gold color with a large, steady
and thick head formation. The nose is hoppy and just a touch fruity (from
the hops, not from any yeasty esters that would be inappropriate in a
lager.) The palate is crisp and light, delicate but malty, with a nicely
bitter and slightly grassy hop finish (Hallertaus, Spalts, Saaz, Northern
Brewer used). When this beer was first introduced back in 1996, I thought it
more of a Munich Helles as the malt body was firmer and the hops less
apparent. Today, this fine beer is a dead ringer for fine German pilsners
the likes of Bitburger or Konig-Pilsner. Try it with a pork roast and oven-roasted potatoes or spicy buffalo wings. It's a match for many a fine dish.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
