I find this story very insightful and basically agree with the author…
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/article/2015/01/05/jim-koch-sam-adams-beer/
Untappd knows what craft beer is about for me. It’s about trying new beers all the time.
I love Sam Adams and buy lots of mix packs. I don’t by BL six packs. Been there done that and they’re in every mix pack.
Great article, sad but true. While I don’t drink SA often anymore, Koch certainly carved out a path for future brewers. Great side story on how he sold shares of the company on six packs of beers.
His whole problem, though, seems to be that he’s stuck in the past. If he’s as good a businessman as his degrees would lead you to believe, he would have seen the market shift and moved with it. But he seems to only want to do what he’s always done.
Maybe he didn’t eat enough yogurt and bakers yeast that morning. 
Solid read overall. I do hate when articles don’t give a nod to Fritz Maytag, Ken Grossman and Jack McAuliffe.
Yeah, he needs to modernize his strategy quickly. Truth is, he puts out too many mediocre beers, period, at a time when many breweries are putting out great stuff. I have a soft spot for SA and Koch (and Sierra, Anchor) for the change he helped bring in - what we take for granted now. IMO he should keep selling his BL , scrap most of the other semi regulars, and replace them with a handful of well designed, top notch beers. And if he can’t sell them at the $ 8.99 price point, who cares ? Sell them for what they’re worth in the market and people will buy if it’s worthy.
EDIT - They’ve done some really good things with some of the ‘small batch series’ beers, but that needs to be the rule now and not the exception.
It’s probably near impossible to be continuously innovating.
Sam Adams helped clear the way, but compared to what’s available and popular today they’re pretty staid offerings.
I started out drinking BL, it got me away from Bud and got me started on craft beer. Everything from SA now seems to be pretty middle-of-the-road safe plays while his competition is cutting edge. Makes you wonder the future of SA when he is ready to retire with no successor. I think I know…
Still,
He is a pretty nice guy to meet, and I do enjoy some of his beers from time to time, but last time I had a Boston Lager it was the best “free” choice at a casino…
Big beer is big business…and I have been increasingly skeptical of the business of craft brewers getting bigger. It isn’t that the beer isn’t good, but it increasingly has gotten more impersonal. That small brewery now has a humongously popular new tap room, distributes in 12 states and isn’t so glad to see me if anyone there recognizes or misses me at all.
I am feeling even more compelled to brew my own small batches…not sure what that means for craft brewing.
Personally, I’d rather drink Sam Adams Boston Lager than about 80% of the craft brew IPAs that I’ve tried lately that are out there, but that’s just me. I just don’t get the whole “dank” hops thing. But I am old.
I’m not sure what you guys are talking about. They have all these “New World” beers in the fancy bottles that should be competing just fine with other craft beers. They are doing the things that should keep them relevant. I haven’t had any of them, but I see the beers out there and I am sure people are buying them because I see them in peoples’ carts at Costco and Publics.
Sam Adams Boston Lager is not a beer meant to compete against local craft beer. It is built to compete again Bud and Miller and Stella Artois and that crowd.
I just meant that they waste so much time and effort on all those mediocre beers in the middle - cherry wheat, blackberry whatever, spring kolsch, O fest, white IPA,etc., when they could drop all that and sell 4 or 6 packs of those much better Batch One beers instead of just single mini-bombers.
Very interesting read, thanks for posting. It does seem from the article that he is stuck in his ways and doesn’t want to change. Really strange behavior he presented at that beer bar and certainly didn’t help his cause. When I see people act out like that, especially the face of a company, it doesn’t sit well.
I tried Rebel IPA this past summer and I enjoyed it. Had it at the clubhouse of a golf course and after a round it hit the spot. And with it being paired next to Bud, Coors and Miller it definitely stood out. I feel like SA is kinda stuck there, the “unique” beer next to Bud, Coors and Miller at most establishments. And when I am at one of those places and want a beer, I’ll go with the SA. Sorry Jim, breweries have passed you up. If you still want to be relevant with those sour beer drinking “hipsters” then try to create something else.
sidenote: If I can remember correctly SA/Boston Beer Company was at Avery’s Sourfest. Didn’t try their beer as you only had so many tickets and there was plenty to try, but they were there. I got the same vibe then as seeing Miller or Budweiser at GABF.
Yeah, kind of hard to argue about that. But what about the “Long Shot” beers? Who else is doing that? That’s crazy support for homebrewers! Krazy with a kapital K!
That’s an awesome thing for him to do, and they are good beers - nobody else. I root for Koch.
I am a fan of the brewery and its founder. They made it possible a decade ago to find a decent beer even at the most remote quickiemart. Before Sam Adams you had to find a specialty store to find a good beer.
They spend a lot of time and dollars on the Long Shot competitions even sending reps to the regional sites to help organize and coordinate. That’s not just marketing. It’s goodwill to the home brewing community.
I buy some of their seasonals including the occasional Rebel IPA, sort of a “light” IPA, and their Pils.
The specials in the big ugly bottles are pretty special too.
Wow, they are actually going to release a DIPA… I may have to try that. Their Rebel IPA is not too shabby, more balanced and less up front harsh bitterness you get from some other craft IPAs…
Oh, and their Chocolate Bock is a solid beer.
I find that in much of my business development career that passion and creativity is often incompatible with solid business sense and practice. I left marketing because of the compromises and fantastic exaggeration (lies) necessary to be successful were draining my soul. Feeling the same about my current career.
SA has responded to the market, but now they are a little fish in the ABV and Coors world, rather than a big fish in a formerly tiny craft market. Far different challenges, and predictable with their growth vectors. Koch needs to recognize that, and decide if he wants to stick around or jump off and start something more inline with his passions and ego. And frankly, be more aware of his behavior when drinking. Seems the stories are a bit more extreme and less charming than ten years ago.
Never met him, but would happily shake his hand and praise his contributions to craft beer and homebrewing.
Matt Chrispen
Bastrop, Texas
Jim Koch isn’t going to release a beer unless he likes it? That smacks of a certain amount of arrogance. For him, the more important criterion should be whether or not you & I like it! After all, we’re the ones plunking down our hard earned money for his beer. If he’s not going to change when the market changes, he shouldn’t complain. When he started, I’m willing to bet the people in the boardrooms that were his competition were saying they weren’t going to release a beer unless they liked it, too!
+1000
Boston Lager is a better brewed beer than most of the hipster IPAs on the market. One can cover a multitude of brewing sins with hops.