Samuel Adams Winter Lager

sweatmachine

sweatmachine

moped
This stuff is incredible....do yourself a favor and try a sixer.

Question for the beer geeks (ok, question for Ben):

Samuel Adams beers taste more like Ales than Lagers to me, so what makes them Lagers?

Another beer I really like is Anchor Steam's Christmas celebration. Hell, any winter beer is good.
 
Sal Paradise

Sal Paradise

Hooligan
Hi Sweat,

You have good taste in beer. Both of those are on the top of my list. I used to brew my own beer but then I had a SA and realized that it was exactly what was trying to brew.

Anyway to answer your question, I believe lager means "longer" and refers to the type ofyeast which works slower. "Ale" also refers to the type of yeast used.

+1 on the Anchor Steam

Sal Paradise
 
ssjones

ssjones

750cc
There's nothing that tastes better to me than standard Sam Adams lager on draft - but I've never cared for the Winter Lager. Unfortunately, most of the establishments around here seem to only carry the Winter Lager on draft, so I guess it must be pretty popular.

My local liquor store had a display of Sam Adams "Chocolate Bock", which is their extreme line. $16/bottle so I passed. I don't want to get used to drinking that kind of stuff (sort of like smoking $20 cigars to me..)
http://www.samueladams.com/world_of_beer.aspx

sweatmachine said:
This stuff is incredible....do yourself a favor and try a sixer.

Question for the beer geeks (ok, question for Ben):

Samuel Adams beers taste more like Ales than Lagers to me, so what makes them Lagers?

Another beer I really like is Anchor Steam's Christmas celebration. Hell, any winter beer is good.
Click to expand...
 
RowleyBirkin

RowleyBirkin

Banned
OK, Ale is basically fermented at warmer temperatures, using a "top fermenting" yeast. The fermentation happens roughly between 64 and 75°F, some different yeast strains are happier at different points in the range.

Lager is a bottome fermenting yeast, and requires colder temperatures - usually some modest refrigeration is required to keep it happy. These also tend to ferment longer and result in a "cleaner" flavour, that is to say less flowery if you like. It's all open to interpretation really, flavour wise.

There are also variations between ales and lagers in terms of ingredients, but only in subtelties. Lagers are brewed from one type of barley malt, ales from others. Some lagers also use malt made from wheat (then again so do some ales).

At the end of the day, both ale and lager start from 4 key ingredients, malt, hops, water and yeast. There are many varieties of all 4 ingredients - including the water, so the range of beer possibilities is endless. :cheers:

That SA brew is indeed pretty good. for more info on brewing check out www.northernbrewer.com - they are a home brew supply shop, with a good website. Even if you don't want to brew your own, there is some good info there, written a lot better than I can put it.
 
wolfie

wolfie

Two Stroke
Rowley got it dead on.

Ales are fermented at warmer temps,

and lagers are aged (lagered) for a period of time at low temps.

As a general rule, the warmer the fermentation, the more fruity the aroma. For example, belgian ales are generally fermented around 75* F which gives them their fruity aroma, often notes of orange or banana.

The four ingredient rule is true of German beers where it is law. Many brewers do add other ingredients ie other grains, spices etc.

beer3.jpg


Mmm... Beer! This is one of mine. The frothy stuff on top (krausen) is mostly the yeast doing it's thing. That's what is meant by top fermenting. When it's done, it will all have settled to the bottom. (usually about 7 - 10 days)
 
RowleyBirkin

RowleyBirkin

Banned
Aye true enough. The Belgians are especially happy to throw all kinds of fruit into their beers, and they make good stuff as a result. I tend to stick to the 4 ingredient rule, but have been known to throw a few mulling spices into winter ale for a bit of zip.
 
neuroboy

neuroboy

750cc
the sam seasonals are my go to if i don't know what you order. fortunately here in boston pretty much *every* bar has the seasonal on tap.

and, yeah, i've always understood the top v. bottom fermenting to be the major diff between ales and lagers.
 
W

wiseanhyzer

Two Stroke
Arrogant Bastard Ale is great!!!!!
I had it a couple of years ago when I was hiking in Kalifornia. Last week, I saw it for the first time in a package store here in Athens, $14.99 for a six pack. I didn't remember it being that expensive in the republic. Arrogant Bastard is definitely one of the tastier beers I tried.
 
Sal Paradise

Sal Paradise

Hooligan
recipe for homebrew boilermaker

I used to brew my own,and being a cheap and creative guy, I would save my leftover malt in bags and then make a batch of leftovers. Then I got a book, I think it was called "The Joy of Brewing" or something like that - it was full of recipes and it said that if you put honey in the wort, it turns to pure alcohol.

So one day I made a wort with all the leftovers, about 4 times the usual amount of malt. Then I added two full jars of honey,let it ferment and bottled it, etc.... well I was just finishing one batch and this new batch was ready and they were all mixed up on the shelf... I didn't have any labels or anything and without knowing it I started drinking the new stuff. It tasted like dark beer. I would come home from work about 6 and open a beer like usual and halfway through it I would start getting buzzed. Thats funny, I thought.... The next thing i knew, I'd wake up 2 am on the floor dry mouthed and head pounding . This kept happening the whole week and I had no idea why(my wife thought I had the flu) until I opened one up and smellled the bottle and it smelled like 4 shots of whiskey in a beer!

strong stuff..
 
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