 | Rob Miller
owns and operates Goebel Liquor, family owned since 1971, located at the corner of Maple and West Streets. Rob's World of Beers selection, offers over 450 microbrews and imports. Rob has worked hard to make his beer selection the best available, short of taking a drive to Dallas or Denver. When not on the road prospecting new products for the store to introduce to Wichita, you can usually find Rob at a sporting event, or any activity involving one of his five children. You can contact Rob at Goebel Liquor, e-mail: stoutsman@aol.com, or by phone at (316) 943-2911. |
Beer, Wine & Spirits
2003-06-01 10:13:00
Who is Sam Adams?
: Who is Sam Adams?
ANSWER: Samuel Adams was one of the most prominent Bostonians during the Revolution. He organized the Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party. And he made his living as a brewer. He had a brewery on State Street. Samuel Adams was a firebrand of the American Revolution. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a patriot who dreamt then of establishing American independence in government -- and in beer today. It's lucky for America that Samuel Adams was a better brewer of dissent than of beer. His father's brewery business languished, but Samuel thought it was more important to ferment revolution, not yeast, in a young country increasingly beset by the tyrannies of England. No one was better at being a revolutionary than Samuel Adams. His cousin, John Adams, who would later become the second President, was the first to use the term "working the political machine", and he believed Samuel was a master. Historians recognize Samuel Adams as the architect of the Boston Tea Party, an event that hardened the lines between England and the colonies and led to the American Revolution. A skilled propagandist and writer, Adams was a militant champion of democracy. Samuel was rumpled and unpretentious. He avoided the fashion of the day, a powdered wig. Harvard-educated Samuel (no one but his enemies called him "Sam") and his fellow revolutionaries, the Sons of Liberty, spent their days and nights in the taverns and on the streets educating and inciting the colonists against the tyrannies of King George III. As a brewer, Samuel Adams was at home in these taverns. They were, after all, his customers for his hearty, robust ale. Drinking and plotting against wicked England were young ship owner John Hancock, who was to help fund the revolution, and silversmith Paul Revere, who later united the colonies with his midnight ride. When England's tyranny extended to the sale of tea, Samuel Adams had found a popular cause. On the night of December 16, 1773, 150 men dressed as Mohawk Indians and blackened their faces with cork. Samuel Adams led them to three tea-laden ships in Boston Harbor and requested the keys to the ships' holds. Watched by a large crowd and the Royal Navy, the men worked for three hours, hatcheting open the cases of tea and dumping it into the sea. When the party was over, 342 broken chests floated in the water and 35,000 pounds of tea swirled in the harbor. The revolution had begun. In later years, Samuel Adams went on to sign the Declaration of Independence and be elected Governor of Massachusetts. But he is best remembered for the pre-Revolutionary crusade to which he gave his heart, mind, and voice. Today, the amber lager named after Samuel Adams continues to lead its own revolution: the exploding demand for great, fresh, full-bodied American beer. Samuel would be proud that his namesake lager has stirred the revival of an all but bygone brewing tradition - small craft brewing, using only the finest ingredients. A beer that sells for over $100? In 1999, Samuel Adams Triple Bock set the record for the strongest beer ever to be sold with 17.5% alcohol by volume. Then, Samuel Adams Millennium, a brew which commemorated the year 2000, was introduced with an even higher alcohol content of 21%, setting a new record for the world's strongest beer ever sold. With Utopian MMII, Boston Beer Company sought to create an even more astonishing brew by upping the alcohol content again to make the strongest beer in the world! Samuel Adams' Utopias is the rarest beer ever. It is packaged in a special collectible brew kettle-shaped bottle reminiscent of larger copper kettles used by brew masters for hundreds of years. Only 8,000 bottles were produced. Of that, only 138 bottles were released to Kansas. Of those 138 bottles, Goebel Liquor received 40 bottles. When was the last time you tasted a $129.99 beer? Just remember at 50% alcohol, it's definitely a sipper! Utopias starts with some of the world's finest ingredients, which give the beer its earthy, herbal taste with the hops adding a spicy note. Caramel and Vienna Malts add a rich amber color. A variety of yeasts were used during fermentation, including the same yeast used in Champagne. They were able to achieve this result (without killing the beer) by feeding (injecting) the barrels with sugar every 9 minutes during the fermentation stage for a specific amount of time. The amount of time, however, remains a secret. As a result of this unique brewing process, this flavorful, slightly fruity brew has a sweet, malty flavor that resembles the deep rich taste of Vintage Port, Cognac or old Sherry and exhibits flavors of the scotch, cognac and port barrels in which it was aged. Serve Utopias at 55-57ยบ. To fully enjoy its uniqueness, serve it a bit colder and taste it as it warms down. Every sip offers a different flavor. It is a beer by definition, but like no beer you've ever tasted!
