Samuel Adams 1790 Root Beer Brew

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Yummy. This is an awesome beer. I would hope that Sam would cosider making this as either a seasonal or a full time brew. I can’t begin to describe this, Just buy it and drink it.

PhillyBeer2112 has it right, it’s an interesting beer, a compelling one to drink but slowly so as to contemplate the flavors. It pours a hazy opaque ruby color. nice balanace of flavor in this one too. I’ve found other spiced beers, pumpkin etc to be overpowering, this was nicely balanced and subtle.

Strong sweet licorice and molasses aroma. I like this already. Dark honey in color with a white head. Taste immediately lives up to the nose’s expectations. What a nice licorice and sweet molasses ending. If you like Dutch licorice, you will love this bier. Full mouthy feel. Taste resides in the middle of your tongue. This is a truly filing bier, a solid brew. Just what you would expect from a root bier (sassafras) brew.

Bottle. Deep sassafras root aroma - licorice comes out as it warms - just like old fashioned sassafras tea (this brings back childhood memories of growing up in the midwest - if you’re not familiar with sassafras tea, it’ll just smell like flat root beer or medicine if you’re Australian). Cloudy orange brown color with small head. Sweet earthy sassafras root flavor with hint of wintergreen coming out - wood smoke and bitterness come out in the end. For most people, this will just taste like crappy root beer to them and that will be the end of it. But I think this is an absolutely brilliant beer especially given the historical significance. The natural sassafras and wintergreen flavor are absolutely mind-blowing - as I’ve had both fresh sassafras and wintergreen teas - you get both these flavors with this and they are definitely not artificial. This really isn’t going to fit into most peoples idea of beer, but as a midwestern boy, it’s like a drink of home.

This is an original root BEER. Unlike the sweetened, carbonated, artificially flavored sodas which we commonly refer to as root beer, this is actually brewed like a real beer. Throughout history brewing mainly served the purpose of purifying otherwise unsafe drinking water. Instead of the customary bitter sometimes a sweeter, more unctuous beverage was desired. The art of brewing can produce incredibly diverse results--as we can see in the diversity of beers alone. Congratulations to the Boston Beer Company for bringing this historical, authentic, unique, and throughly enjoyable beverage to us enthusiasts. This root beer certainly is different, but definitely rewards the daring and expirimental with a taste that I have encountered nowhere else. Thank you for this one-of-a-kind experience.

Pours a cloudy burnt orange very beautiful that leaves a very thin tan lace. The aroms is vanilla, licorise, some orange and a hint of lemon, followed by a distinct hops presence, sassperilla, orange molasses. The taste starts bitter, malty vanilla, orange, very herbal a flavor I assume all the beers in this series will be heavy on. The taste continues with a grapefruit bitterness and finishes sweet on the tongue. I like this beer, but this is a one and done treat for me def not an all night sipper.

Bottle. Murky reddish brown color with no real head, only white wisps. Root beer aroma with some sugary notes. Dry with ginger and root beer flavors. Slightly spicy. Leathery notes. As a fan of good root beers I can appreciate this beer for being different and not coming across as a Barq’s with alcohol added.

Bottle... Lightly hazed, orange ale with a small, frothy, off-white head. Excellent, everlasting retention. In fact, the head seems to get even larger, more creamy and even rocky as the beer warms. The nose is a cornucopia of spices and herbs: sassafras, licorice, mint, etc. Doesn’t smell at all like beer, but it’s interesting. Sweet, very spicy flavor with lemon zest and a mild, earthy bitterness. Medium-bodied with slight carbonation. Finishes sweet, earthy and spicy. An odd bird, this. Very rich. I couldn’t drink more than one, but I’m glad I drank THIS one. It takes balls to introduce something like this to consumers, especially when a brewer already has a huge, solid customer base and commercial niche. Jim Cook definitely likes to play and can apparently afford to do so.