Sam Adams' Future Beers - Reviewed by the Five Paragraph Bitter Beer Critic

Last night, several of your esteemed DCFUD writers met at Murphy's in Woodley Park for a pint or three and good ole' fashioned pub grub. (mini-review - the Murphyburger rocks, the seafood bisque is dandy, and the meat pie was fine; avoid the overly spicy and greasy shellfish soup. Avoid musicians baffled by feedback coming through the sound system).

We were approached by a marketing rep from Sam Adams who asked if we'd like to sample a few of their future beers. We said "Yes!" faster than Jennifer Lopez accepts a marriage proposal. The rep poured us samples of the classic Boston Lager and their Light to get us started. A wise move, as none of us were drinking a Sam Adams' product beforehand, and the small samples would get us prepared for the brands' general taste. She then poured us Type A and Type B - two potential beers that they'd release next year. "A" was a Honey Porter, and "B" was a Smoke Ale.

"A" was delicious, with ZAF summing it up that "(we) could get along nicely." It's a nice, smooth beer, not terribly heavy, and the honey notes add a softer touch. Amazingly, it doesn't taste sweet, but a little less acidic than the standard Sam's.

"B, " however, was an alcoholic travesty. Comments from the table ranged from "it tastes like smoked ham" to "it tastes like smoked gouda" to "it tastes like they added that Liquid Smoke stuff." As a rule, beer should not be described as tasting like a barbecue sauce. The best we could say is that it would make an excellent marinade for the Thanksgiving turkey.

In the interests of full disclosure, The FPBBC used to work for Harpoon Brewery in Boston, and has always been partial to his former employer. The Sam Adams' rep said that a survey found that over 72% of Bostonians preferred Sam Adams over Harpoon as "the" Boston beer. The FPBBC calmly pointed out that Leno has higher ratings than Letterman, proving that popularity has no bearing on taste.

Murphy's
2609 24th Street NW
Washington DC 20008
202-462-7171