Boston Beer Company

Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams)

Founded	1984
Founder(s)	Jim Koch and lead investors Harry Rubin and Lorenzo Lamadrid
Headquarters	Boston, MA (Administrative Offices and Brewery); Breweries in Cincinnati, Ohio and Breinigsville, Pennsylvania.
Industry	Alcoholic beverage
Products	Beer
Production output	159,358,000 Liters (1,358,000 barrels)
Owner(s)	Publicly owned (NYSE: SAM)
Website	http://www.bostonbeer.com/ http://samueladams.com

The Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) is an American brewing company founded in 1984 by Jim Koch and lead investors Harry Rubin and Lorenzo Lamadrid in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The beers were originally contract brewed by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, though today, approximately 66% of its beer is produced at the company's Cincinnati brewery.^[1] The brand name for the beers is Samuel Adams (often abbreviated to Sam Adams, even in advertisements), after Samuel Adams, an American patriot famous for his role in the American Revolution, who, according to tradition, was also a brewer.^[2] It is the largest American owned brewery.^[3]

History

The Samuel Adams brand began with Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The original recipe was developed in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri by Louis Koch, who sold under the name Louis Koch Lager until Prohibition, and again until the early 1950s.

In 1984, Jim Koch, the fifth-generation, first born son to follow in his family’s brewing footsteps, brewed his first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen, using the original family recipe for Louis Koch Lager. At the time, Koch was working at Boston Consulting Group after receiving BA, MBA and JD degrees from Harvard University. In December 1984, Koch left his career at Boston Consulting Group to focus full-time on brewing craft beer. Shortly thereafter, he optimized the recipe with the help of Joseph Owades, the man credited with the invention of light beer in the 1970s.

Jim chose the name Samuel Adams after the Boston patriot, who fought for American independence, and who also had inherited a brewing tradition from his father.

In April 1985, the beer was re-introduced as Samuel Adams Boston Lager, at the re-creation of the first battle of the American Revolution on Patriot's Day. Three months later, it was voted “Best Beer in America” at the Great American Beer Festival, in which 93 national and regional beers competed. The publicity that followed helped the Boston Beer Company's sales grow to 7,393,000 liters (63,000 barrels) in 1989. The beer was first put on tap at Doyle's Cafe in Jamaica Plain.

In the mid-1990s Jim Koch returned to his hometown of Cincinnati to purchase the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery, where his father apprenticed in the 1940s.

Boilers at the Samuel Adams brewery

The company's success occurred as the U.S. craft brewery movement was exploding. By 1995, some 600 craft breweries were producing specialty beers in the United States. That year The Boston Beer Company went public, selling shares of Class A Common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under SAM. Despite the appearance of competitors, the company remained the largest craft brewer in the United States with nearly 141 million liters (1.2 million barrels) sold in 1996. Sales leveled off after that, and Boston Beer tried to continue its growth by offering alternative beverages, such as Hardcore Cider (1997), and Twisted Tea (2000).

The brand was first produced under contract by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, best known for their Iron City brand of beer. Over the years, the brand has been produced under contract at various brewing facilities with excess capacity, ranging from Stroh breweries, Portland's original Blitz-Weinhard brewery (shuttered in 1999), Cincinnati's Hudepohl-Schoenling brewery (eventually purchased by the Boston Beer Company in early 1997), and industry giant SABMiller. The Boston Beer Company also has a small R&D brewery located in Boston (Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, where public tours and beer tastings are offered. The brewery occupies part of the premises of the old Haffenreffer Brewery,^[4] which had a tap which poured out free beer day and night.^[5]Today, more than 35% of its beer is produced at its own recently renovated Cincinnati brewery. One-third of Samuel Adams beer is still produced under contract at breweries in Rochester, NY and Eden, NC. It is also being brewed in Latrobe, PA in the former Rolling Rock facility. According to the Company, its own employees, ingredients, and brewing processes are utilized at these contract sites.

With Anheuser-Busch's takeover on July 13, 2008 by Belgian-Brazilian giant InBev, and the subsequent approval of the takeover on November 12, 2008, The Boston Beer Company has become the largest American-owned brewery in the United States^[3][6].

As of late 2009, The Boston Beer Company has over 350 employees and owns breweries in Boston, Cincinnati and Breinigsville, PA. Jim Koch remains actively involved in day-to-day operations, including making annual trips to Bavaria to select hops for the Sam Adams brews.

Products

As of 2007, the company produces twelve varieties of beer year-round: Boston Lager, Sam Adams Light, Boston Ale, Pale Ale, Cherry Wheat, Cream Stout, Brown Ale, Hefeweizen, Scotch Ale, Black Lager, Honey Porter, and Irish Red. The Sam Adams Boston Lager contains 4.75% abv, roughly average for its style. Other styles have pushed the physical limits of alcohol content for the brewing process - in 2003 one batch of Utopias contained 25.6% abv, beating the records that Samuel Adams Triple Bock and Samuel Adams Millennium had set before it.

Additionally, the company brews four seasonal beers per year, as follows:

• White Ale (January - March)
• Summer Ale (April - August)
• Octoberfest (August - October)
• Winter Lager (November - January)

Samuel Adams also runs a "Winter Classics Mix Pack" near the Christmas Season, consisting of Old Fezziwig Ale, a spiced ale introduced in 1995; Holiday Porter, which is very dark but smooth, introduced in 2004; and Cranberry Lambic, which tastes like cranberries, but is not actually a Lambic-style beer.

The company has also produced several limited-run "Extreme Beers", which are meant to be enjoyed more in the manner of an aperitif or cordial rather than a beer. These include Millennium, Utopias, Triple Bock, and Chocolate Bock. Because of the extremely high alcohol volume in these brews (as high as 25% for the Utopias), their sale is restricted by several states. In November 2005, the brewery continued extreme brewing innovation by releasing a limited release (60,000 units) "Imperial Pilsner Harvest '05" brew.

As of 2008, the Sam Adams brand had 20 styles of beer available in 12 oz. bottles - Boston Lager, Light, Double Bock, White Ale, Summer Ale, Octoberfest, Winter Lager, Old Fezziwig Ale, Cranberry Lambic, Holiday Porter, Boston Ale, Cherry Wheat, Cream Stout, Scotch Ale, Black Lager, Brown Ale, Hefeweizen, Pale Ale, Honey Porter, and Irish Red. One of the most recent of these is Samuel Adams Octoberfest, which won a gold medal in the Marzen category at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival. Samuel Adams Irish Red and Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock^[7] were released in 2008.

Five Samuel Adams products are available on draft towers across the country. Boston Lager, with its trademark blue-flame tap handle, is the most widely distributed Samuel Adams draft. However, the seasonal draft line up of White Ale, Summer Ale, Octoberfest and Winter Lager, grows in popularity each year. Also available from the keg in select locations are Boston Ale, Hefeweizen, Cherry Wheat and Black Lager.

In 2009, Samuel Adams released a new variety called Blackberry Witbier. The flavor, like Irish Red, Brown Ale, and Honey Porter in previous years, was the winner of The Boston Beer Company's annual beer competition, which was voted on by over 50,000 people around the country. The new flavor beat out a Coffee Stout option. Blackberry Witbier is sold in its own six pack and in Brewmaster Collection variety packs.

In 2009 Samuel Adams began its Imperial Series, beers with better quality ingredients and higher alcohol contents. Beers in this series include Double Bock, previously a seasonal brew, Imperial Stout, and Imperial White. Each style is sold in its own four pack.^[8]

In summer 2006, Sam Adams released a limited-run Brewer Patriot collection that included four beers which "honor the fine American Brewing Tradition of our founding fathers."

The Brewer Patriot collection included:

• Traditional Ginger Honey Ale
• James Madison Dark Wheat Ale
• George Washington Porter
• 1790 Root Beer Brew

The Boston Beer Company also produces Twisted Tea hard iced tea and HardCore hard apple cider, which are intentionally separate from the Samuel Adams brand.

In early 2009, Boston Beer Company released a limited-brew known as Boston Brick Red, a red ale in the European tradition. It is presently only available at select bars in the Boston area, and is only available on tap. Proceeds from its sale go toward an entrepreneurial fund the company sponsors to support new business ventures.^[9]

In October 2009, Sam Adams announced the addition of the Barrel Room Collection to their products line. This series contains, for now 3 beers: Sam Adams New Tripel World, Sam Adams American Kriek and Sam Adams Stoney Brook Red. Those beers, like some previous experimental products, are aged in a wood barrel for a special finish. Each beer is sold in a 750ml stylized bottle with a champagne cork. These beers are available at the Sam Adams brewery gift shop.

Utopias

Samuel Adams Utopias, which went on sale in February 2002, was claimed to be the strongest commercial beer in the world, at 27% alcohol by volume. The beer was stronger than Millennium, a single release brew made by Sam Adams in 1999, at 21% alcohol.

Utopias are made with caramel, Vienna, Moravian and Bavarian smoked malts, and all four varieties of noble hops: Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger, Spalter, and Saaz hops. The beer is aged in scotch, cognac and port barrels for the better part of a year. It is described as having a "distinctive smell of cinnamon and vanilla with subtle hints of floral, citrus and pine."^{[citation needed]}

The beer was packaged in a copper-finished kettle designed to resemble those used in the brewing process. 8,000 twenty-four-ounce bottles of Utopias were produced in all, with a suggested price of US$100 a bottle. The beer is considered by some to be more comparable to brandy, sherry, cognac or port than to other beers.

Because of legal restrictions, Samuel Adams Utopias are not offered in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, or West Virginia. ^[10]

Utopias are still being made and have been released in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009. Samuel Adams produced just 12,000 bottles for the 2007 holiday season.^[11][12] Most recently, 53 barrels (approximately 9,000 bottles) were released in November 2009, at a suggested retail price of $150.

Weihenstephan partnership

Announced in October 2009, the Boston Beer Company has teamed up with German brewery Weihenstephan to jointly produce a new craft beer to be marketed in Germany and the U.S. next spring. The companies have been working on the project for nearly two years. The beer has yet to be named, but will be sold in cork-finished bottles, and will contain more than 10 percent alcohol.

The new beer is described as a Champagne-like “crisp pale brew” and follows Germany’s Reinheitsgebot, or purity law, which stipulates that beer can be brewed with only four ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. The Weihenstephan brewery was founded by Benedictine monks in 1040 and is owned by the state of Bavaria.^[13]

Current family of beers

Core beers

Seasonal beers

Holiday beers

Extreme beers

Imperial beers

Barrel Room Collection beers

^[14]

Samuel Adams Boston Lager pint glass

In 2007, The Boston Beer Company collaborated with TIAX laboratories of Cambridge, MA to develop a new type of pint glass. The glass is designed to bring out the flavor of a Samuel Adams Boston Lager and features a curvier shape, thinner walls, a beaded rim and outward-turning lip. One feature of the glass is a neck-and-lip design that helps sustain the head of the beer, which enhances the release of signature Noble hop aromas found in Samuel Adams Boston Lager. A laser-etched nucleation site within the glass maintains flavor release during the drinking experience. ^[15]

Boston Beer Company In The Community

2008 Hops Shortage

In early 2008, amidst a worldwide shortage of hops -- a key ingredient in beer – Boston Beer Company agreed to share 20,000 pounds of its hops, at cost, with craft brewers throughout the United States. In random drawings, the company selected 108 craft brewers to receive the 20,000 pounds of hops it could spare. This prevented many craft brewers from having to reformulate recipes – or worse, going out of business.^[16]

Long Shot Competition

The Boston Beer Company encourages smaller craft brewers – channeling Jim Koch in 1984 – by participating in programs like The Longshot Competition. In this annual competition, homebrewers submit their brew to a series of judging and taste tests with the chance to see their creation in larger-scale production and sold on store shelves as part of a Samuel Adams mixed 6-pack the following year.^[17]

New breweries

According to the company's 2006 Annual Report, Boston Beer Company is considering a possible new brewery in Freetown, Massachusetts. The estimated cost would be between $170 and $210 million.

A December 2006 article from SouthCoastToday.com indicated that the proposed Freetown site was still being considered for a brewery location. The facility would be built in the Campanelli Business Park and would cost an estimated $200 million. The new brewery would be estimated to produce between 82 million and 117 million liters (700,000 - 1 million barrels) of beer.

On August 2, 2007, it was announced that instead of building in Freetown, the company would purchase an existing brewery in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley.^[18]

Criticism

Five years after the Company's "Sex for Sam" promotion on WNEW's Opie and Anthony show, the company again found itself under scrutiny. In October 2007, in an incident referred to by the Wall Street Journal as, "Sam Adams v. Sam Adams,"^[19] the Boston Beer Company demanded control of the domain names, samadamsformayor.com" and “mayorsamadams.com" be turned over to the company.^[20] The domains had been purchased by Portland, Oregon radio station NewsRadio 1190 KEX for the campaign of Portland mayoral candidate, Sam Adams.

In a cease-and-desist letter^[20], the company expressed concern that consumers might confuse the mayoral candidate with their beer. In an interview with the Associated Press^[21], the company said it was willing to discuss Adams' use of his name on his Web sites, "probably for the length of the time the election is being held."

2008 recall

In April 2008, the Boston Beer Company issued its first recall, because of defects found in certain 12-ounce glass bottles manufactured by a third-party supplier which supplies about a quarter of the bottles the Boston Beer Company uses. The Boston Beer Company stated that they believed fewer than 1% of bottles from the supplier could contain small pieces of glass and issued a recall for the safety of consumers. There were no reports of injuries.^[22] News of the recall led to shares of the company dropping by over 3%.^[23]

References

External links

• Samuel Adams - Official Website
• Boston Beer Company Website
• The Boston Beer Company Financial Information from Yahoo!