Thanks to Target’s kick-ass “make your own 4 pack” promotion I snagged the three original American craft brews: Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Anchor Steam.

The key word in these brews is hops. Holy God are some of these hopped to shit.


Sam Adams:

A – Sammy poured a really nice, dark brownish amber color with a 1-finger head that left good lacing. Almost Yuenglingish in appearance, but perhaps a bit darker. I felt like it could have been more carbonated.

S – The hops are very apparent on the smell. This is my first experience with significant hops in a brew so they kind of dominated my initial impression. I could detect a little bit of malt and maybe a spiciness to it.

T – A really thicker, more solid brew than I’m used to in lagers. Mouth feel was very nice, but I was put off by the hops. The hops really dominated the taste to me and made the lager quite bitter. I think there were some underlying hints of spice in here but I couldn’t get a good grasp of them past the hop flavor. I could see this becoming a session beer if you get used to hops or already love them, but it was definitely one and done for me this time around.

All in all not bad, I see this a great fall/autumn beer when the weather starts to cool because of the spice, but due to the price not a staple in my fridge.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale:

A – Well, it lives up to the name I guess. Poured a pale golden color with a very fluffy, 2-finger head that left great lacing. Light yellow beer like this usually has a shitty head so it was neat to see one that delivers head-wise.

S – Whoa. Hops, hops, and more hops. It’s supposed to be a Pale Ale, so that’s correct in the context of the style, but I don’t think I’m going to dig this one.

T – My smell assessment was correct, insane amount of bitter hops. It tastes really crisp and clean to me, but the finish is goddamn bitter on account of the hops. I hate gin just for this reason, and this is way too foresty and piney for me. If that’s your thing you will love this beer though.

Won’t be coming back to Pale Ales for awhile, fuck drinking liquid pine needles and tree bark. Maybe someday when my palate is more developed I’ll give them another shot. One and done.

Anchor Steam:

A – An orange color with a great, thick, creamy head. Very creamy head for coming out of a bottle, probably due to their brewing process. I was excited for this one because apparently it is brewed using this weird “steam” process that originated on the West Coast due to lack of refrigeration. Cool.

S – This one reminds me a lot of Fat Tire. Very biscuity, bready malt scents. There is also the tiniest amount of hop bitterness. A little more bready than I would like, but let’s see how it tastes.

T – Eh, kind of disappointed in the taste of this one. It’s like drinking a liquid biscuit that isn’t very sweet, and then you get punched real hard with bitter hops on the finish. I didn’t particularly like this combination and I don’t feel like the brew is as well balanced as it could be. My roommate described it best when he said, “The aftertaste is wack, bro.” Another one and done.


All in all, I’m not too sure how I feel about the American Craft Brews. Sam Adams Boston Lager was probably my favorite out of all of them, and even as an autumn beer I’d probably prefer to grab an Oktoberfest brew instead. I guess I’m just not a hops guy, but I’m still really glad I tried all of these. If you’re at all interested in beer and an American you should give them a shot, because these three are where it all started for the American craft beer movement, and they’re the gateway into moving beyond the macrobrews.

Overall: ***