Samuel Adams (beer) - History

History

The Samuel Adams brand began with Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The original recipe was developed in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri by Louis Koch, who sold under the name Louis Koch Lager until Prohibition, and again until the early 1950s.

In 1984, Jim Koch, the fifth-generation, first born son to follow in his family’s brewing footsteps, brewed his first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen, using the original family recipe for Louis Koch Lager. At the time, Koch was working at Boston Consulting Group after receiving BA, MBA and JD degrees from Harvard University. At Harvard, Koch met Harry Rubin and Lorenzo Lamadrid. Both Rubin and Lamadrid were graduates of Harvard Business School. In December 1984, Koch left his career at Boston Consulting Group and along with Rubin and Lamadrid, founded Samuel Adams Beer. As co-owners Koch, Rubin, and Lamadrid, all played different roles. Koch played the role of publicizer. This paved the way for Samuel Adams' trademark commercials, which featured Koch. Rubin assumed the financial and business management role in the company. Lamadrid played a major role as one of the lead investors in the company. Samuel Adams would be the first step for Rubin and Lamadrid who later became prominent businessmen in their fields. Shortly thereafter, they optimized the recipe with the help of Joseph Owades, the man credited with the invention of light beer in the 1970s.

Koch, Rubin, and Lamadrid agreed on the name Samuel Adams after the Boston patriot, who fought for American independence, and who also had inherited a brewing tradition from his father.

In April 1985, the beer was re-introduced as Samuel Adams Boston Lager, at the re-creation of the first battle of the American Revolution on Patriot's Day. Three months later, it was voted “Best Beer in America” at the Great American Beer Festival, in which 93 national and regional beers competed. The publicity that followed helped the Boston Beer Company's sales grow to 7,393,000 liters (63,000 barrels) in 1989. The beer was first put on tap at Doyle's Cafe in Jamaica Plain.

The brand was first produced under contract by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, best known for their Iron City brand of beer. Over the years, the brand has been produced under contract at various brewing facilities with excess capacity, ranging from Stroh breweries, Portland's original Blitz-Weinhard brewery (shuttered in 1999), Cincinnati's Hudepohl-Schoenling brewery (eventually purchased by the Boston Beer Company in early 1997), and industry giant SABMiller. The Boston Beer Company also has a small R&D brewery located in Boston (Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, where public tours and beer tastings are offered. The brewery occupies part of the premises of the old Haffenreffer Brewery.

In the mid-1990s, Jim Koch returned to his hometown of Cincinnati to purchase the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery, where his father apprenticed in the 1940s. This was also one of the first steps the company took to reduce reliance on contract brewing.

The company's success occurred as the U.S. craft beer movement was exploding. By 1995, some 600 craft breweries were producing specialty beers in the United States. That year, The Boston Beer Company went public, selling shares of Class A Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol, "SAM". These shares, however, have minimal voting rights. Instead, the company is controlled through its Class B Common Stock, of which Koch owns 100% of the shares.

Despite the appearance of competitors, the company remained the largest "craft beer" company in the United States with nearly 141 million liters (1.2 million barrels) sold in 1996. Sales leveled off after that, and Boston Beer tried to continue its growth by offering alternative beverages, such as Hardcore Cider (1997), and Twisted Tea (2000).

With Anheuser-Busch's takeover on July 13, 2008 by Belgian-Brazilian giant InBev, and the subsequent approval of the takeover on November 12, 2008, The Boston Beer Company become the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. As of sales in 2011, the Boston Beer Company is tied with Yuengling for largest.

The company has approximately 840 employees in its Boston, Cincinnati and Breinigsville, PA breweries. Each year, an annual trip to Bavaria is made where various hops are selected for Sam Adams brews.