Game Day Beer Review: Boston Beer Sam Adams Summer American Pale Wheat Ale

Memorial Day is the traditional kick off to summer here in the United States -- even if the weather in the northeastern part of the country will make it feel more like a rainy spring weekend....  But that's of no concern to us, as we live in Florida, where summer is well underway.  And we've managed to get a good head start on the beers to try this season:

The first of these was Sam Adams Summer, which we tried when it was poured at Morton's steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale. The beer arrived a nice copper color with a beautiful, thick head, as shown above

Sam Summer was all mild hops and citrus on the nose.  The beer initially started off dry and while the wheat shone through, it finished with a nice lemon twang. It was very refreshing; and even though it's not officially summer yet, when you have one of these in your hands it feels like it should be....  B

Game Day Beer Review: Boston Beer Porch Rocker Fruit Ale

Boston Beer's Porch Rocker pours a clear-as-a-bell orangish gold color with a thin white head that quickly dissipates.

It smells of a combination of hops and a bright lemon scent. On tasting the beer, it starts out sweetish  but finishes moderately off-dry. The malt flavor is recognizable, as is the lemon. Its nowhere near as sweet as the shandies being turned out by some competitors -- namely Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. Porch Rocker still tastes like a beer.

It's effervescent on the tongue and medium bodied. Sam has produced a beer that is eminently sessionable for the dog days of summer. B

Game Day Beer Review: Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) Latitude 48 India Pale Ale

(6.00% ABV).  I haven't seen this for sale before, so I was looking forward to trying it more than I typically look forward to Boston Beer's offerings.  Not that I don't like them, but Sam Adams has become the most "coprorate" of the craft brewers, based on my unscientific sense of size and corporate attitude, and so I'm rarely as jazzed about having a Sam as I am about something from some brewer a bit smaller and more daring. 

Drunk from a bottle (due to the lack of an available cup) while on a recent trip to New England, Latitude 48 IPA was mildy hoppy on the nose, although it's hard to say how it would have smelled if it had been properly poured into a glass, so don't hold me to this.

On tasting, the beer was more citrusy than hoppy, almost like a dumbed-down IPA for the novice beer drinker. I am getting strong grapefruit and mild pine, though, kind of like Boston Beer was teasingly trying to mix my home state of Florida with the tall pines surrounding our bed and breakfast in Maine. The prototypical Sam malts are identifiable up front, as well. 

It's decent and different, and it didn't give me an immediate headache like many other IPAs, so I'll give it a B.

Game Day Beer Review: Boston Beer Company's Samuel Adams Noble Pils Czech-Style Pilsner

(4.90% ABV).  Served on tap. Noble Pils pours a translucent golden yellow with almost no head. It has a mild but hoppy smell, with just a slight hint of sweetness. The beer is well carbonated and lively on the tongue.  It was served a little bit too cold for my liking -- making it difficult to discern the various flavors --  but it tasted mildly hoppy and mellow, with some grass or wheat notes added before the crisp, clean finish. Even as it warms the taste remains relatively mild. This is a nice Spring sipper, but not my favorite Sam: B.