Samuel Adams Winter Lager

I had the pleasure of drinking this beer the other day at a party. Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of drinking it warm, but also cold. Obviously the cold beer was better, and all in all it was not a bad beer. It is not my favorite, but I would never turn it down.

The first thing you see is the bottle. It's a dark brown color, which I hear is a good thing for the taste of the beer since apparently light does bad things to the beer (I'm not sure of the actual chemical reason for this other than maybe light providing some activation energy for some oxidation reactions, but that's besides the point). So I guess beer fans would really love this just for that (as opposed to the green Heineken and Rolling Rock bottles and the clear Newcastle bottles).

But the taste is nice. It was definitely bitter, but not nearly as much as the Piranha Pale Lager at BJ's or Sierra Nevada. If you've just had a relatively non-bitter beer like a Newcastle, though, you'll definitely taste the difference. Still, though, it's not a bad taste. It's a quality beer and has a very clean taste.

I would talk about the pour, but as I was drinking straight out of the bottle I couldn't really tell you. I am interested to know if there is any difference in drinking a beer out of the bottle as opposed to drinking from a glass, but I'll defer to any experts on that. I did get to smell it though, and it was nice. It's not sour like Heineken, but it's not sweet like Hefeweizen. This smells like a real beer.

Finally, this is a nice, strong taste. I know Samuel Adams always prides themselves on the amount of hops they use, and this is no exception. This is a full, robust flavor unlike the weak, watered-down taste of the big American breweries.

It's a solid beer, I'd definitely approve it. It isn't my favorite, but a good beer nonetheless.