Sam Adams is not Craft Beer

I know Boston Beer and Jim Koch like to say they are pioneers of craft beer, but they are not.

During the Brew Dogs’ final Esquire Network show, they must have mentioned Jim Koch 5-6 times as a “pioneer of craft brewing.” They said it so often it sounded as if it had been a condition of getting Jim on the show.

Don’t get me wrong. Sam Adams is good beer. It’s just not craft beer. I know in recent years Boston Beer has been trying to add craft-brew like offerings to their lineup, but their flagship remains Sam Adams, which is basically a variation of a fairly standard German style lager.

Stone Brewing and Dogfish head, on the other hand, created a new style of beer (double IPA or aggressively hopped IPA) and their flagship brews broke entirely new ground. In fact Brew Dogs is basically a copy of Stone Brewing. At least it is pretty clear that Brew Dogs was inspired by Stone and Dogfish, as have been many many others new craft breweries around the world. (Brew Dogs is great beer, BTW, and yes, I have been to their bar in London.)

Jim Koch proved that any brewery can make good beer if they want to. The first brewery they contracted with was Pittsburgh Brewing, know for Iron City and Old Miss Frothingslosh (the beer with the foam on the bottom) among other crimes against malt beverages. But the Sam Adams brewed there and at many other breweries around the country was good beer, and still is.

However Sam Adams is basically a copy of a well established European style, while the new beer recipes actually pioneered at Stone, Dogfish, and the like have been copied worldwide, resulting in American beer now being the best in the world. Boston Beer has had no such influence.

The “official” definition from the Brewers Association reads like it was written specifically to include Sam Adams. The size of a brewery is not relevant for craft beer. I can accept this for the previous characterization of Boston Beer, with which I can still agree: microbrewery. “Micro” and “nano” are terms reflective of size, but “craft” is not.

The best analogy I can think of is to compare craft brewers to chefs – the best of both are celebrated for their innovative new recipes and contributions to food culture.

Boston Beer is like a Chipotle or Sonic Burger – they are taking mass produced items and turning out high quality versions of them. But they are not breaking new ground.

Marketing researchers from Boston Beer set up shop at Rattle n Hum one night a year or so ago, and I was among those invited to participate in their survey. I told them I tended not to buy Sam Adams unless the only other selection was from Anheuser Busch (InBev now of course) or the equivalent. Years ago I stopped buying Sam Adams because it’s primarily contract brewed. I would rather support the local breweries. And I still can’t forgive A-B for ruining Budweiser, but that’s another story.

Anyway, I gave the Boston Beer researchers the celebrity chef analogy, but I don’t think it sank in. Sam Adams is not craft beer, and unfortunately for them at least, never will be.