On Beer Wars - Part 2: Jim

Sam Adams has always annoyed me.  Beer that's just not great, seasonals that can be downright atrocious, and ads that make people think they know beer.  Yup, brown bottles are better.  Yup, sunlight is bad for beer.  If you quote that in your argument to me as to why Sam Adams is a superior beer, you might get smacked.  However, after Beer Wars, I've got a new found respect for them.
There are a very few select Sam Adams beers that I enjoy.  Noble Pils is one of them.  White Ale is another.  That's about it.  I'm just not a fan, I think they're improperly hopped and often dumbed down and lacking in flavors that would properly exemplify the style they're representing.  There are a few like the cherry wheat that baffle me.  What were they thinking when they made that beer?  It tastes like stale robitussin, yet apparently it sells.  What?


So why the change of heart?  Jim Koch.  As far as I can tell, he's a co-founder of Boston Beer, and if Beer Wars is painting an accurate picture of him, he cares about the beer.  I'm almost certain that he genuinely believes he makes good beer.  I don't get it, but I can respect it.  All but one of the people I've discussed his beer with don't really care for it, yet it remains the number one craft brewery in the country.  I'm guessing a part of it is marketing, a part of it is the difference in tastes on the eastern seaboard, and the rest I just don't understand, but it works for him.  No problem with that.

I also attribute some of the increase in my respect for him to the decrease in respect for Rhonda.  I don't blame him in the slightest for not wanting to get involved with her beer.  He obviously has a good amount of business acumen (at the very least a solid support staff) and dodged a bullet by passing on Moonshot.

Anyway, there's not a ton more to say.  I don't like many of his products but I like him as a person and a member of the beer community, so let's end this with a toast to Jim.  Bottoms up.