It’s hard to imagine a world where craft beer wasn’t readily accessible, but that was the beer landscape forty years ago. Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams Brewing Co. sought to challenge the status quo and bring a more flavorful beer to the average American beer drinker. Coming from a line of brewers, he found his great- great- grandfather’s beer recipe and brewed and perfected the first batch of Boston Lager in his kitchen back in the 1980s. This batch was a spark for a craft beer revolution and now Sam Adams is as synonymous with craft beer as it is with the American dream. We grabbed a beer with Megan Parisi, Head Brewer at the Sam Adams Boston Taproom to discuss beer, Boston and brewing.
Being a brewer, I love getting to make the beer! And I love getting to come up with recipes and work with my guild and my coworkers. We pick each other’s brains about ideas, techniques and ways to do something new and better.
Boston’s got a history of shaking things up. What [Koch] wanted to do was to start a revolution, and what better place than one of the seeds of the American Revolution? Doing it your way, and rebelling against the status quo.
We started off as disruptive – we disrupted the whole American beer scene, because it was very monochromatic, you saw a lot of the same thing. Being a disruptor is still at the heart of our spirit. Just about anywhere you go in the US, you can find Samuel Adams Boston Lager, but no one would have imagined that 30 years ago. That’s not the only beer that we do, but that is the heart of it. That’s our Constitution, it is the founding document, it is what inspires us – what a revolutionary change it was to beer! That’s what inspires us to keep disrupting the market and keep innovating.
So, there’s two different things: there’s the beers that are releasing under the national distribution and then there’s beers that we’re doing here at the Boston Taproom, which are not necessarily ever going to see the light of day outside of the taproom. There’s a ton of things I’m excited about here because we can do things one at a time and not have to think about distribution. Concept rotation is a constant change. It’s not going to be something that you’ll find on the shelves.
The huge draw is the unique experience that travelers are going to get here at the Sam Adams Boston Taproom. They’re going to come for the Boston Lager and they’re going to stay for everything else. You come here, you go away, you come back and there’ll be new things to try the next time you’re in town. There’s always something different. You can still come and get your north star, Boston Lager, but you’ll have 18 other things to try. It’s a wonderful gathering place. We receive travelers from all over the world.
Are you ready grab a beer at the Sam Adams Boston Taproom? Book your stay at Best Western Adams Inn Quincy-Boston, only a few stops away on the red line of the T. Best Western Adams Inn Quincy-Boston boasts waterfront suites with ample views of the Charles River, vaulted ceilings, and homemade, complimentary breakfast. After a day of exploring, go relax with a pint of Sam Adams Boston Lager at the Adams Pub, found conveniently within the hotel.
Book your stay at Best Western Adams Inn Quincy-Boston now.