Beer Lovers Thirst For Samuel Adams(R) Noble Pils; Brewers Choose It As The New Spring Seasonal Beer

BOSTON, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2005 the brewers at Samuel Adams have been offering drinkers a voice in choosing one of the new beers they will introduce in the coming year.  Last year, voters in the 5th annual Samuel Adams® Beer Lover's Choice® contest were decisive in choosing Samuel Adams Noble Pils, a hoppy pilsner beer brewed with a recipe that calls for all five varieties of Noble Hops.  

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100113/NY35960 )

The voters' response to the new Noble Pils was so enthusiastic that the brewers have decided to make Samuel Adams Noble Pils the new spring seasonal brew.  It joins Samuel Adams® Summer Ale, Samuel Adams® OctoberFest and Samuel Adams® Winter Lager in the brewery's year round seasonal line-up.

"I love the complex layers of hoppiness of this beer," said Brewer and Founder Jim Koch. "But what makes our Samuel Adams Noble Pils a great beer is that the spicy bitterness of the hops is perfectly balanced by the sweetness of the Bohemian Pilsner malt, which adds a honeyed malt character and full body to the brew.

"We know that Samuel Adams' drinkers look forward to each season's new arrival.  Samuel Adams Noble Pils is an excellent beer to help people get from winter's chill to the warming weather with a crisp and spicy beer for spring," Koch added.

This beer is special because of the quality and quantity of the hops in the recipe. Of the 100 plus hop varieties in the world only five are judged "Noble hops", and this beer uses all five.  Four are from Germany and one from the Czech Republic. The German hop varieties in Noble Pils are: Hallertau Mittelfrueh, Tettnang Tettnanger, Spalt Spalter, and Hersbrucker Hersbrucker.  The Noble hop variety from Bohemia in the Czech Republic is Saaz.

The Hallertau and Tettnang hops are the hops used in Boston Beer's flagship style, Samuel Adams Boston Lager®.

Last summer, the Beer Lover's Choice program had the highest number of tasters in its five year history, with more than 68,000 votes cast during more than 1,300 tasting events held across the country. The other beer in competition this year was an IPA. Voters rated the beers on five characteristics: color, aroma, taste, mouth-feel and finish.  The Noble Pils garnered 55% (or 37,855) of the total votes.

Samuel Adams Noble Pils will be available nationwide beginning in mid-January and replaces Samuel Adams® White Ale as the spring seasonal offering.  Samuel Adams White Ale will be available as one of six styles in the 2010 Samuel Adams® Winter Classics variety pack. Samuel Adams Noble Pils has a suggested retail price of $7.99–$8.99 per six-pack and $13.99–$15.99 per 12-pack.

THE BOSTON BEER COMPANY BACKGROUND:

The Boston Beer Company began in 1984 with a generations-old family recipe that Founder and Brewer Jim Koch uncovered in his father's attic. After bringing the recipe to life in his kitchen, Jim brought it to bars in Boston with the belief that drinkers would appreciate a complex, full-flavored beer, brewed fresh in America. That beer was Samuel Adams Boston Lager®, and it helped catalyze what became known as the American craft beer revolution.  

Today, the Company brews more than 21 styles of beer.  The Company uses the traditional four vessel brewing process and often takes extra steps like dry-hopping and a secondary fermentation known as krausening. It passionately pursues the development of new styles and the perfection of its classic beers by constantly searching for the world's finest ingredients. While resurrecting traditional brewing methods, the Company has earned a reputation as a pioneer in another revolution, the "extreme beer" movement, where it seeks to challenge drinkers' perceptions of what beer can be. The Boston Beer Company strives to elevate the image of American craft beer by entering festivals and competitions the world over, and in the past five years it has won more awards in international beer competitions than any other brewery in the world. The Company remains independent, and brewing quality beer remains its single focus. While Samuel Adams is the country's largest-selling craft beer, it accounts for less than one percent of the U.S. beer market. For more information, please visit www.samueladams.com.

SOURCE Samuel Adams