It Started With One Beer, but Samuel Adams Is So Much More

In 1984, Jim Koch walked away from a career at a prestigious Boston consulting firm to start brewing beer in his kitchen—an ambition even his father, a brewer himself, called “the dumbest f—ing idea he’d ever heard.” Back then, most microbrews were of dubious quality, made using decommissioned dairy equipment. (Home brewing had only been legalized nationwide in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter.) Koch wanted to make something different, and he wanted to make it good enough to be a business. “I'm the sixth oldest son in a row to be a brewer, so I knew about beer," he said. "Beer is food. Beer is perishable. Beer requires sanitation. It brought a whole new mentality to beer.” Just six weeks after its debut, Samuel Adams Boston Lager was voted Best Beer in America by attendees of the 1985 Great American Beer Festival. It went on to win three more times. Samuel Adams wasn’t the first major American craft brewer—that would be Yuengling. But Koch’s dedication to making flavorful, unique beers while most mass producers were churning out pale lagers ignited a movement. When Koch started Samuel Adams, there were about 50 craft breweries nationwide. The following year, that number had shot up to 100. By 1996, there were 1,000. As of 2023, the craft industry stood at around 9,900 breweries, with Samuel Adams second largest by sales, breaking $2 billion in revenue in 2020, selling over 50 varieties nationwide and in 20 countries. But establishing a whole new beverage category was not smooth sailing. Most notably, the nascent microbrewing industry weathered an all-out marketing and distribution war by then-Anheuser Busch owner August Adolphus Busch III in the mid-1990s, with ads specifically targeting Samuel Adams that led to the FTC getting involved. Industry consolidation, tax inequality between imported and domestic beers, and a worldwide hops shortage in 2008 also challenged craft brewers. And through it all, there was the rapidly changing American palate. To keep up, Koch became a relentless innovator, scouring grocery aisles for trends and always looking to make something new and different. Twisted Tea came on the scene in 2001, in response to the popularity of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and is now the company’s strongest-selling product. Koch's interest in hard cider led to the immediately successful Angry Orchard in 2012. Samuel Adams jumped on the hard seltzer craze with Truly Spiked & Sparkling in 2016; it also partnered with PepsiCo to create Hard Mtn Dew, which hit shelves in 2022. For the past two years, spirits have edged out beer in total sales, with canned cocktails growing the fastest. Samuel Adams has an answer for that, too: Sun Cruiser, a vodka-based hard tea, launched in March. At 75 years old, Koch remains a steady presence at Samuel Adams’ home brewery in the Jamaica Plain suburb of Boston, tasting and encouraging his brewers to keep pushing boundaries. He also remains the public face of the company in his trademark denim shirt and khakis, always with a Boston Lager in hand. He drinks two a day, according to the company’s annual report—that’s about 29,300 so far. Brewing something bigger As far as applicants for small-business loans go, Koch (no relation to the Koch brothers) seemed like a sure bet: Harvard business grad, worked at Boston Consulting Group, sixth-generation brewer. But in 1984, a craft brewery was seen as too big of a risk for “every bank in Boston,” Koch said. So he raised the money from friends and family, and now ensures other small businesses across the country—from chutney makers to fellow craft breweries like California's Crowns & Hops (above)—don’t have the same struggle. His program, Brewing the American Dream, has provided loans and coaching in everything from marketing to payroll to over 15,000 entrepreneurs since 2008. Craft is a community As big as Samuel Adams has gotten, Koch retains the mentality of a craft brewer. In 2008, the second year of a worldwide hops shortage, he shared Samuel Adams’ stockpile with fellow craft breweries, keeping some 300 businesses afloat. And when the pandemic closed ballparks, restaurants, and other places where beer is sold, Samuel Adams fundraised $8 million for hospitality workers. “What I've learned over the years is we're all dependent on each other,” he said. “Craft brewing began as a movement that became a community, as well as a business.” The brewery's latest nonalcoholic offering is a "fruit brew" called General Admission. Keeping up with Gen Z Drinkers’ tastes are always changing, and it’s not just for new beer styles. Younger consumers are drinking less, or not at all—according to NielsenIQ, the nonalcoholic beverage category grew 30% in 2023—and Boston Beer Co. has produced two N/A beers to give them an alternative. The most recent, cheekily called General Admission, came out just before summer and is a “fruit brew” that crosses a traditional beer with flavored seltzer. It’s available DTC at drinkga.com. Koch named his signature beer after the rabble-rousing patriot Samuel Adams (1), who processed barley to extract malt, one of the four foundational ingredients in every beer. The brewery makes over 150 new beers every year, many of which can be tried at its taproom in downtown Boston (2). Koch likes to play in what he calls the "fourth category": not traditional beer, spirits, or wine, but something new—like the whiskey barrel-aged Utopias (3).

Perspective

It Started With One Beer, but Samuel Adams Is So Much More

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Jim Koch's pioneering craft brewery has stayed relevant as tastes changed

Eva Kis

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications