Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Irish Red

Tonight's Sunday Night Suds review looks at one of the Boston Beer Company's newest offerings - Samuel Adams Irish Red.

I found this brew in a Brewmasters Collection box which I purchased at Sam's in downtown Chicago. The box contained two bottles of this interesting beer along with two bottles of five other varieties (I'll save those for another time). I put one of these in the 'fridge in Chicago to enjoy over the first days of Sukkos and saved the other to bring home.

During the first days of yom tov we were fortunate to have many meals in the sukkah with my wife's extended family. When my sister-in-law Naomi asked whether we had any darker beers, I wasn't sure whether she was humoring me or whether there was hope that some of the family might drink something other than lagers. After I poured it for her and she began to rave about it I tried it and was forced to concur - this is simply one of the best beers ever produced by the Sam Adams brewers.

The beer itself is a classic Irish ale, I found it somewhat reminiscent of Bass Ale, although a little richer in color and after taste. It went very well with YT roasted beef dishes and equally well with the chicken and pasta stew that my wife made on the eve of Hoshana Rabbah. I tried to find sixers of this at a few of my local beer stores over the last week, but was unsuccessful. If I could find more I would try it again and again with an eye on adding it to my all time top 10.

Samuel Adams Irish Red is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Please note that although the Irish Red does not bear a Star-k on the label (for reasons that I have never understood, only some of the kosher Sam Adams products carry the Star-k on the label), it is under the Star-k. (To see the Star-K LOC indicating which Sam Adams products are under supervision, please click here - http://www.star-k.org/loc/kosher_letter_6635_bostonbeercompany.pdf ).

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Irish Red, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/38365.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

because of this post, I went out and bought two bottles. They raised the prices at the local beer place, unfortunately.

I dislike it, but I can't stand beer in general. Oh well.

Neil T said...

Sorry that you had a negative experience with it. Ales are not necessarily the best place to start if you are not into beer. Send me an e-mail with your address, and we'll see if we can swap them for something more your speed.