Samuel Adams (beer) - Controversies

Controversies

Since 1990 the company has produced a seasonal fruit beer labelled "Cranberry Lambic". Because "Lambic" describes a spontaneously fermented beer generally produced in Brussels or the nearby Pajottenland region, and the Samuel Adams product is not spontaneously fermented, consumers and brewers charged that "Cranberry Lambic" is mislabeled and could cause consumer confusion. (Michael Jackson, a leading beer critic, called it "a misleading name".) Grant Wood, Senior Brewing Manager at Boston Brewing, defended the name, saying, "I wouldn't consider it mislabeling. Whenever I have served the Cranberry Lambic, I have always been really up front about it. Is it a true lambic made in that region in Belgium? No. Does it taste like one? Yes. So it's sort of our homage to the style without the pain and agony of it."

In 2000–2002, the company sponsored a radio promotion called "Sex for Sam", in which WNEW radio hosts Opie and Anthony encouraged couples from various states to have sex in notable public places in New York City. On August 15, 2002, a Virginia couple was charged with public lewdness after attempting to have sex in a vestibule at St. Patrick's Cathedral; this led to the suspensions of the radio hosts a week later.

In October 2007, in an incident referred to by the Wall Street Journal as, "Sam Adams v. Sam Adams," the Boston Beer Company demanded that control of the domain names "samadamsformayor.com" and “mayorsamadams.com" be turned over to the company. The domains had been purchased by Portland, Oregon radio station NewsRadio 1190 KEX for the campaign of Portland mayoral candidate, Sam Adams. In a cease-and-desist letter, the company expressed concern that consumers might confuse the mayoral candidate with their beer. In an interview with the Associated Press the company said it was willing to discuss Adams' use of his name on his Web sites, "probably for the length of the time the election is being held."

In April 2008, the Boston Beer Company issued its first recall, because of defects found in certain 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 ml) glass bottles manufactured by a third-party supplier which supplies about a quarter of the bottles the Boston Beer Company uses. The Boston Beer Company stated that they believed fewer than 1% of bottles from the supplier could contain small pieces of glass and issued a recall for the safety of consumers. There were no reports of injuries. News of the recall led to shares of the company dropping by over 3%.