Sam Adams Now the Largest American Owned brewery!

[dave ziegler]

Well Since Bud was bought out Sam Adams is Now the Largest American owned brewer in America and Yuengling is Number two. I was first told this by the tour guide at Yuengling the other week when I went on a vacation day to see them caning Beer. Because City Brew makes other things on contract besides Beer It gives Yuengling the Number two status. Speaking of Beer How many have had the Sam Adams Black Lager It is wonderful looks like Porter but tastes like Lager beer with a slight Sweetness. it is very Balenced and For the Most part it is Hard to beat sam Adams products!
Wondering If Gary or any of you have tried this Black Lager Beer?
Dave Z
Beer Its Not Just A Beverage Beer Is Food
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[Gillman]

I have Dave and it is very good. I like most of the Sam Adams products, recently in Cinci (where they brew them amongst other places) I had their Stock Ale and Oktoberfest beers which were excellent. The lager is made from an authentic 1800's recipe used by Jim Koch's ancestor.

Gary

[Attila]

Well Since Bud was bought out Sam Adams is Now the Largest American owned brewer in America and Yuengling is Number two. ---------------------------------------------

I thought Sam Adams was a listed company. Doesn't that mean it is owned by a vast array of annonymous shareholders of an assumably wide variety of countries?

[Rughi]

With the same logic that Chuck Cowdery has used to try to cast doubt on every bourbon producer who hasn't proven the provenance of their whiskey to his satisfaction, Sam Adams is probably _not_ the largest brewer in the country, but may indeed be the largest American Owned SELLER of beer.

If their business model has remained the same as it was when I paid attention to such things, they have the one small brewery in Massachussetts where all the R&D happens, and contract brew the vast majority of their beer around the country. G Heilemann used to be the largest player in contract brewing and may still be.

There's nothing wrong with contract brewing in terms of the juice in the bottle, as G Heilemann probably has/had as good of equipment, skilled personnel and quality control as any other.

But I would guess that there may be some formerly "micro" breweries that actually _make_ more beer than Sam Adams. If Sierra Nevada is American owned, maybe it's them. If Redhook weren't partly owned by Bud (which I believe they are) it might be them. Perhaps Red Tail. But I suspect it isn't Sam Adams.

Roger

[barturtle]

A quick check (Wikipedia) shows that Sam Adams/Boston Beer Co. brews 60% of its 1.3M barrels in its own brewery in Cincy for a total of ~760K barrels edging out Seirra Nevada by ~80K. New Belgium is third according to this list of Craft Brewers at ~430K. Where the "mass market" brewers such as Pabst (all contract brewed, but domestically owned), Yuengling and others fall, I have no idea.

[Gillman]

Boston Beer Company does own a sizable brewery in Cincinnati.

Gary

[dave ziegler]

With the same logic that Chuck Cowdery has used to try to cast doubt on every bourbon producer who hasn't proven the provenance of their whiskey to his satisfaction, Sam Adams is probably _not_ the largest brewer in the country, but may indeed be the largest American Owned SELLER of beer.

If their business model has remained the same as it was when I paid attention to such things, they have the one small brewery in Massachussetts where all the R&D happens, and contract brew the vast majority of their beer around the country. G Heilemann used to be the largest player in contract brewing and may still be.

There's nothing wrong with contract brewing in terms of the juice in the bottle, as G Heilemann probably has/had as good of equipment, skilled personnel and quality control as any other.

But I would guess that there may be some formerly "micro" breweries that actually _make_ more beer than Sam Adams. If Sierra Nevada is American owned, maybe it's them. If Redhook weren't partly owned by Bud (which I believe they are) it might be them. Perhaps Red Tail. But I suspect it isn't Sam Adams.

Roger

Just A quick Note Sam Adams has just bought the old Schaefer Brewery in the Lehigh Valley Rt 100 & I - 78 and has spent 50 Million redoing it and upgrading and Has reopened it I think in Mid July and per Jim Koch's Orders has Hired 200 Former Brewery People that worked there when it was running back then to their old Jobs! From What I have read they now can make 1.6 Million barrels a year. May Be wrong but from what I read online in the local News Paper that is what they said. It delights me to see another Large Brewing Company back in Pa. And also that the good Hard working People of the Lehigh Valley get their Jobs back. The Paper stated that Jim Koch wanted the expericnce they had back in the brewery to insure a great product. To Me a smart Move by a Very Smart Man.
Dave Z
Beer Its Not Just A Beverage Beer Is Food
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[jesskidden]

If their business model has remained the same as it was when I paid attention to such things, they have the one small brewery in Massachussetts where all the R&D happens, and contract brew the vast majority of their beer around the country. G Heilemann used to be the largest player in contract brewing and may still be.

Heileman went out of business in 1995 (some brands and breweries were bought by Stroh, which closed shop 4 years later) and a new company, City Brewing Co., now runs the formerly headquarter brewery in Wisconsin.

As others have noted, Boston Beer Co. now owns the former Schoenling brewery, bought from the then-owners of the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Co. in the late 90's.

Recent BBC annual reports have noted that the percentage of beer brewed in Cincinnati is less than 50% (a few years ago, they were indeed predicting the 60% figure- but despite expansion, they've never seemed to reach that amount). The contract brewers who currently also make the Sam Adams brands include High Falls (Genesee), the City-Latrobe facility (formerly Rolling Rock) and Miller breweries (in particular, the NC one). Some BBC products are also made in the City-Lacrosse site, but by the way reports are worded, it's probably just the "Twisted Tea" and/or their hard cider (name?) brands.

As Dave notes, they are bringing the former Schaefer brewery in PA. online. That brewery was expanded several times in the 1970's after Schaefer opened it- some reports from that era say it had a total capacity of 5 million barrels. Indeed, Schaefer brewed and sold close to 4 million barrels of beer in the late 1970's IIRC- after they'd closed all their other plants (Brooklyn, Baltimore, Albany) and before Stroh bought the brewery.

[Rughi]

It's great that Adams has secured their position by buying their manufacturing plants. I liked their beer okay either way.

[Gillman]

Jess, when did Stroh close the Schaefer Lehigh brewery?

Gary