Rant with a few beers in me.
Screw Sam Adams. I tend to drink seasonal. Sure they put out some descent brews. But if I'm shoveling my driveway in February, I want a porter or stout. Because of Sam Adams, my local brewery has to release their Sping Batch in February, to compete with Cold Snap. I'm sitting by the pool in August, let me reach for a nice refreshing Oktoberfest!!! Fu$k that. Sure Boston larger is the best choice at a chain restaurant, but I'm done with it. No more Sam Adams for me. Who's with me?
I'm a big fan of Sam-even got a copper 18" Sam logo grill. SOME Sam. I'm about 6 miles from the brewery and get to sample a bunch of stuff that never makes it to generally available for most people, either at a close bar or at my at least annual visits to the brewery. They are also PHENOMENAL for the community, as not only do they do things like support essentially any charity that asks with products to raffle off, but they also support small businesses through programs as well as fledgling microbrewers and home brew specialists. A few years ago, during a hop shortage they cut into their own supply to share with a bunch of microbreweries. To say nothing of the fact that they remember where they came from (they try to drum up business for a local pub that was one of/the first places that took a shot at selling the beer back in the 80s by including them on the tour, giving them special beers, etc..) and there's a lot of little things they do with no press that are just the right way to do things (crafting a special Veteran's Day brew and having a bunch of serviceman to a party stocked with it on tap at no charge).
All that being said, WTF Sam with the seasons of beer not correlating to the actual damn seasons! Come August I'm sick of the Summer Ale because it's been on shelves since March, but not ready for an Oktoberfest, which is on sale for about a month, then in November, when I'm really ready for an Oktoberfest, its all Winter Lager, which will be around until March, when whatever the spring beer of the year (they've changed this at least 4 times in the past 10-12 years) is, and then poof, summer ale again. Their rotation is really about 6 weeks of Oktober, 6 weeks of spring, and 4.5 months each of Summer and Winter.
My other problem with them is WAY too many new beers being introduced. For years, it was an event when Sam came out with something new. My buddy would call me from Philly telling me to look out for something, and I'd scope it out, let him know my thoughts, pick up some extra for him and it was overall, a thing. Now, there's like 15 new beers a year. If you like it, you might never see it again because they aren't equipped to make 250 different brews, and more often than not, I feel like now I don't like them because they've been launched before being perfected.
Boston Lager though, still one of my favorite beers ever. Dogfish head also consistently one of my favorites, and a newer local called Jack's Abbey is really doing some interesting things, particularly with hoppy lagers. My buddy from Rhode Island raves about a few new breweries that don't even bottle stuff yet and I love a good real German anything. Finding new cool stuff is a lot of fun, and the main problem is that there's so much, it can be overwhelming figuring out what to try!
