The Guy Who Brews Sam Adams Is Officially A Billionaire

[onehandle]

The billionaire hunters at Bloomberg have found another one — a billionaire born out of the bottom of a glass.

Jim Koch, the founder of Boston Beer Co., brewer of Sam Adams, rode the craft beer wave to wealth with a family recipe.

When he started, though, the United States was basically a "beer wasteland." He told Bloomberg, "nobody wanted my beer."

So Koch, a Harvard graduate and sixth generation brewer, knocked on doors at bars across the country to get them to carry his beer.

http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-adams-creator-now-a-billionaire-2013-9

Not a fan of his beers, but anything that cuts into InBev and Coors' bottom lines is fine by me.

[OnyxCollie]

1. Better than Miller/Busch/Coors,

but he still can't brew a decent IPA.

[trumad]

3. Lager...

my beer of choice and Sammy makes it the best.

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. I once dropped a pine cone in a vat of piss

and let it sit in my trunk for a few days.

Instant IPA.

[alfredo]

25. You need a bottle of Hopslam to bring you around to the hoppy side of life.

[Dreamer Tatum]

38. No thank you. Lagers and an occasional pale ale are enough for me.

I don't get why people think the more bitter, the better.

[alfredo]

44. It's not just the bitterness, it is the different flavors and aromas. Hopslam tastes like

Donald Duck Grapefruit juice.

[bmbmd]

37. How did it taste?

?

[Dreamer Tatum]

40. Exactly like the IPAs my friends rave about.

Dogfish Head may as well be called Dogshit Head.

Lagunitas Pils is good, as are many others.

[dionysus]

47. try the dogfish iBa before you slam em. the indian brown kicks the indian pale's ass.

[alfredo]

62. Or Founders Centennial IPA. It's a laid back IPA. A dry hopped ale

Schlafly's APA would not be as bitter. Same goes for their American IPA (big orange A on the label). That's an excellent drink.

[Dreamer Tatum]

65. Allow me to retort, Sam-I-Am.

I do not like it,
Sam-I-am.
I do not like
fucking IPAs.

Would you like it
Here or there?

I would not like it
here or there.
I would not like it
anywhere.
I do not like
fucking IPAs.
I do not like them,
Sam-I-am

Would you like them
in a house?
Would you like them
with a mouse?

I do not like IPAs
in a house.
I do not like IPAs
with a mouse.
I do not like IPAs
here or there.
I do not like IPAs
anywhere.
I do not like IPAs.
I do not like fucking IPAs, Sam-I-am.


Clear?

[alfredo]

66. Great! Maybe you are a super taster.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/taste4.htm.

I haven't found any style of beers other than chocolate stouts, that I don't like.

[alfredo]

11. Their Noble Pils is pretty good. Pilsners are Lagers too.

[OnyxCollie]

22. Lagers are the off-white of craft brewing.

Brown ales are the beige.

I don't drink lagers often, but my favorite (as well as my dog's) is fresh (within two weeks; the canning date is on the bottom) Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yella Pils.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[trumad]

29. yum

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. I tried the Sam Adams "IPL" recently. Pretty bad. I like their regular brew, though.

[OnyxCollie]

17. I think their Boston Ale is better than Boston Lager.

Their Blackberry Wit is godawful.

[OnyxCollie]

39. Great Lakes Silver and Gold IPL

came out this past July, and it was delicious.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Unfortunately, it's a seasonal.

[frylock]

2. i used to drink Sam Adams till a buddy of mine up at UC Davis turned me on to Sierra Nevada..

now I rarely drink anything that's brewed outside of CA. I can remember getting into a few bottles of Sammy's back in the 90s that tasted a bit "off," and haven't had one since.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

10. Yup. Sierra Nevada pale ale. Stone Brewery in San Diego, Deschutes Brewery in Oregon....so many

superior ones to choose from. When I've had a draft Sam Adams at an airport or other place....yechh...just too flat. No body. No nothin'

[Brother Buzz]

16. Hush! Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is our west coast secret

Let the rest of the nation drink that Sam Adams stuff.

[KansDem]

5. "...the United States was basically a 'beer wasteland.'"

I remember when we had essentially "The Big Three": Coors, Anheuser-Busch, and Miller. If you wanted something else, you could choose a Guinness or Olympia, but not much else.

But now there is so much selection! I like Sam Adams Light and occasionally Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA

Also, if I remember correctly, Sam Adams was one of the first (American) imports to get into the German market. And Germany has a strict German beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot I assume Sam Adams met the restrictions.

Now I'm thirsty for a beer!

[jmowreader]

21. The Reinheitsgebot is pretty easy to understand

"Thou shalt not make beer from anything but barley malt, hops, water, salt and brewer's yeast." Sam Adams is a pure-malt beer, one of the few made in the US at that time.

In Germany, the US Army bases hold annual German-American Volksfests. I assume they all have casinos; the casino at the Berlin Volksfest was run by Field Station Berlin. The command decided that if we could be trusted with classified information we could also be trusted with that much money. In the casino was a bar; we assigned soldiers to work the table games the entire run of the Fest but the bar was run by volunteers who came in on our break days to sell beer and, of course, drink for free. There was the extra bonus of seeing the looks on the Germans' faces when they learned Budweiser comes in bottles with twist-off caps. German beer does not. The German Phrase of the Day ist "abschrauben, mein Herr!" - "twist it off, sir."

I was told repeatedly by old Germans who'd put away quite a few that Samuel Adams was mislabeled - "there's no way this is American beer." Sam Adams sells for shit at German-American Volksfests; Germans who go to them to drink American beer want it to TASTE like stereotypical American beer, which Sam Adams doesn't. (You have not lived until you've seen a German come to a Volksfest with a hand truck to buy and haul off cases and cases of Bud, and we had enough of them we tried to get the Army to send us a beer truck so we could sell cases out of it instead of depleting our bar stock. Turns out US Army Europe doesn't own a beer truck and they couldn't find anyone who'd rent us one.)

[Baitball Blogger]

6. My daughter's favorite.

Anyone from Boston knows this line:

"This is the only place where you can drink a cold Samuel Adams while looking at a cold Samuel Adams."

Also, the picture on the Samuel Adams bottle, really isn't Samuel Adams.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

8. does he have a brother?

lol. Yeah. I hate Sam Adams beers, Budweiser, Miller, etc. etc. I am amazed anyone can enjoy drinking that swill when there are so many great microbrews out there.

[jmowreader]

23. Because some of us don't like IPA?

We have two supermarkets with huge craft beer selections in Coeur d'Alene. One guy has nothing but bottled beer; the other has some draft selections that people use growlers to buy. Both places are about 90-95 percent IPA.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

27. then head over to Spokane Valley to a Fred Meyer and try a pale ale or stout among others

[KamaAina]

32. Craft beer comes in every style you've heard of

and some you haven't.

[jmowreader]

46. Maybe in YOUR town it does...

In this rathole it's row after row of IPA.

I think it's a vicious circle, actually.

In February I went to this very famous Cd'A bar (Capone's - Guy Fieri was there once) and asked for a beer you could "see through." They had Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light and Miller Lite...and a whole shitload of stouts, porters and IPAs.

[KamaAina]

50. That's Coeur d'Alene?

I'd be more worried about the white supremacists than the beer selection.

[jmowreader]

59. The white supremacists are mostly in Bonner County, not Kootenai

The Aryan Nations has disbanded, and Richard Butler is dead.

What I'm really worried about is this:

http://www.maryformayorcda.com

[KamaAina]

60. "Souza" does not sound like a very American name.

Perhaps she should consider self-deportation.

[alfredo]

63. Some Breweries specialize. We have a new one in town that seems to like German Lagers.

http://bluestallionbrewing.com/beers/

[Throd]

64. IPA: The Kardashians of craft beer.

Please go away.

[bullwinkle428]

9. So a non-evil billionaire Koch exists?

Not my favorite beer either, but WAY preferable to the mega-macro brews when selection at a restaurant or bar is somewhat limited.

[denverbill]

12. Good for him. He is a great success story IMO.

It's mighty rare for someone to literally start brewing beer in their garage and turn that into a billion dollars. And they advertise that he funds small entrepreneurs as well.

Sam Adams beer is a HUGE step above the typical American lagers I grew up with. I prefer Colorado craft beers though.

[alfredo]

15. Give thanks to Jimmy Carter. He made this industry possible by making home brewing legal.

[denverbill]

19. Cheers to Jimmy! That reminds me I have grain in the freezer and hops on the fence!

[alfredo]

24. I used to make honey wine, but never tried beer.

[Crimson76]

13. Octoberfest FTW, if you ever come to Boston, take the tour of the brewery.

[alfredo]

14. My favorites come from Great Lakes, Founders, Bells, Stone, Sierra Nevada, Schlafly.

I do like Mackeson's Triple Stout from Trinidad.

Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold is a good Lager, so is their The Wright Pils. Their Eliot Ness is a Vienna Lager and is very good.

[OnyxCollie]

18. +1. nt

[onehandle]

26. Dortmunder Gold is heaven. nt

[Gidney N Cloyd]

42. Bells :thumbsup:

[geek tragedy]

20. Ommegang, now and always, nt

[dionysus]

49. how do you like their 3 Philosophers?

*strong* but tasty

[geek tragedy]

51. I like 'em all, Three Phils is a winter beer. nt

[dionysus]

52. i even like their limited edition game of thrones blonde ale, Iron Throne Ale

"...suitable to serve Kings, or pretenders to the iron throne..."

[geek tragedy]

53. Eagerly awaiting the Take the Black stoudt. nt

[dionysus]

54. are they making that, for real? i love stouts.

[geek tragedy]

56. Get ready to contain yourself:

[dionysus]

57. oh shit is it out yet? the iron throne ale was sold out in less than a week at my supermarket.

[phantom power]

28. I remember when Sam Adams was still pretty exotic by American standards

They aren't my favorite brewery, but they aint shabby either. He was one of the early craft brew pioneers.

[Turbineguy]

30. He makes a product that people desire.

That's how it's supposed to work.

[thelordofhell]

31. Boston Beer Co. is the largest American owned brewery

All the bigger ones are owned by foreign interests............

[CANDO]

41. Not so fast....

Yuengling Beer Billionaire Beats Sam Adams in Craft Craze

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-17/yuengling-beer-billionaire-beats-sam-adams-in-craft-craze.html

I prefer Yuengling's Traditional Lager to Sam Adams. Sam Adams is too hoppy and slightly bitter for me to want to crack open another. I'm not sure how far it reaches geographically, but you go anywhere in PA and ask for a Lager... you'll be served a Yuengling Lager. On another note, I despise Dick Yuengling and have from time to time personally boycotted his beer. He's a conservative Republican who's just recently voiced his support for right to work (for less) legislation.

[AwareOne]

45. Yuengling also busted thier union years ago

Coors is a Nazi so I wont drink his beer. When I see someone drinking Coors light I always tell them its Nazi beer.

[CANDO]

58. I'm back into boycott mode...

These business owners really shouldn't reveal their politics. It just serves to piss off possible customers.

[TlalocW]

33. I prefer Samuel Jackson

TlalocW

[BainsBane]

36. I think they should make a movie with Samuel Jackson as God

That could be awesome.

[BainsBane]

34. Good for him

He makes a decent beer too. I'm assuming he's not related to the infamous Kochs since they were born rich.

[Bunnahabhain]

35. Kiltlifter is currently my favorite

A nice Scottish style ale.

Old Canadian joke: how is sex in a canoe and American beer the same? Both fucking close to water.

[malaise]

48. Hope he sends some of that money for Jimmy Carter's

Habitat for Humanity.

[Buns_of_Fire]

55. He produces a good product, that people want to buy, and it's made him a billionaire.

More power to him. That's the way it's supposed to work.

Here's to you, Jim. <--(Actually, that's a Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery Milk Stout. But I drink Samuel Adams too! Promise!)

[pinboy3niner]

61. Achieving his dream was his most ferment desire