Samuel Adams Brewery Tour, educational, fun, boozy.

A visit to the Samuel Adams Brewery was on my To Do list last year when I was in Boston for PAX East, but it never happened. With a day to ourselves, we opted to fill up Saturday with as much as possible.

After a delicious brunch at True Bistro, we explored Harvard Square for a few hours and eventually made our way over to the Samuel Adams Brewery. According to Barnivore, most of Samuel Adams beer is vegan with the exception of Cherry Wheat (which has honey in it). So that was a big plus. And I just generally like the oddly friendly impression I get from them as a brand (i.e., their marketing department is doing a great job.)

The Brewery (30 Germania Street, Jamaica Plains, MA) is easy to get to by public transit (and by subway specifically.) There was even a helpful MBTA transit employee letting people know how to get over the the brewery, which in case you’re wondering is Left – Right – Left as you exit Stony Brook station on the Orange Line.

We arrived fairly late in the day, but we squeaked by with tickets to the last tour of the day. Unfortunately (or fortunately) that meant we had around an hour to kill. Conveniently there is a cafe in the area called Ula (284 Amory St., Jamaica Plains, MA), so we went over there in search of food.

A minestrone soup and a hummus wrap later and we were two happy people. Normally when I hear hummus wrap/sandwich I think… oh boy… borrrring. This wasn’t the case at Ula, it was delicious, and I’d recommend it. Their regular whole wheat sandwich bread has honey in it, so we got it on a tomato wrap. Plus, JC and I caught up on our interneting with the free wifi in the cafe. Score.

We wandered through the Ula building back to the Brewery. The tour was interesting and was lead by a dynamic speaker that made the science of beer interesting, I think even to many people that came just for the free samples of beer we would eventually get. For me, it got me further interested in trying my hand at some home brew work.

He told us about the different plants and seeds that were involved in brewing beer like hops, malted wheat, and chocolate malt (still wheat.) Samples of each were passed around, and we could experience them each ourselves.

I found the whole thing really interesting, and he explained the brewing process simply and concisely. The Samuel Adams website has an explanation of their brewing process on their website.

Then it was time for beer sampling and we got to try three of their beers, the Boston Lager, the Pale Ale, and the recent release the Summer Ale. The Summer Ale is probably my favourite, with notes of lemon, spiciness (I imagine from the grains of paradise,) and a light malt taste.

We left with three giant bottles of beer and two Samuel Adam’s beer glasses. All in all, we had a great time, and not just because of the alcohol. Though afterwards I was ready to hide out in the hotel for a few hours before we found a place to eat dinner.

Next up… Peace O’Pizza!