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Samuel Adams Brewhouse


DonRocks

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You have an hour until your flight leaves, and you see it.

"Oh, man! Finally! REAL beer in an airport!"

Seeing that homey picture of Samuel Adams in his little wig just conjures up notions of colonial purity, of farm-fresh eggs, of a guy "hand-crafting" his own beer back before the days of mass production.

Microbrew!

And now I'd like you to get a stock quote on ticker symbol SAM, and you'll see that the Boston Beer Company has a market cap of over $300 million.

The last flight I took from Dulles Airport I made the mistake of spending some time at the Samuel Adams Whorehouse there. The first beer I had came from the tap, and it was so clearly damaged that I apologetically sent it back. Ever left a beer out in an open glass for two days and then taken a whiff only to detect rotting and fecal aromas? That's what this smelled like - round two was a Summer Ale from the bottle, which was also amazingly bad, not just bad, but really really bad. I finished it like I would have finished a pan of dishwater, but then looked down at the "best drunk by" date and it had expired by several months - several months!

The food at this place? Don't even go there... let's just say TGIF is a much better dining option, and I'm not kidding. It's simply not edible.

Samuel Adams has gone the way of Starbucks: it sold out long ago, and much of it tastes like mass-produced swill, and that's when it hasn't been damaged by improper handling.

Don't be fooled by marketing,

Rocks.

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I've always found the beer at the airport Sam Adams places drinkable, but the food inedible.

Better bet at Dulles is the Vintage Virginia Wine Bars, or whatever the hell they call them. It's not like it would be if say, Beaune International Airport offered up an array of the local products by the glass, but it's not mass-produced, foul-tasting generic swill, either. Pretty drinkable, in fact, and they usually offer a variety of wines.

Also, don't they have a non-Sammy micropub at Dulles?

Edited by Busboy (log)

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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Don't be fooled by marketing,

You mean the ad where the snotty Euro chick at the Temple of Beer Worship gives the Dartmouth-looking guy an "I'd do you" nod when he skips the 200-page brew menu and goes straight for a Samuel Adams? Next you'll be telling me that naked women actually won't come and wrestle in my back yard even if I do drink Pawtucket Patriot. Leave me some illusions.

"Mine goes off like a rocket." -- Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, Feb. 16.

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This is disappointing. I admit, the last time I was in the Sam Adams place at Dulles was about 5 years ago, but the beer was good and fresh-tasting. Didn't try the food though -- that would only counteract the beer, and I still had to get on the plane.

Rick Azzarano

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There are Old Dominion brewpubs in concourses B and C, as well as unspecified "Brew Pubs" in the Main Terminal and concourse A.

"Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cookbook! Little Red Cookbook!" --Eddie Izzard
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Samuel Adams has gone the way of Starbucks:  it sold out long ago, and much of it tastes like mass-produced swill, and that's when it hasn't been damaged by improper handling.

Don't be fooled by marketing,

Rocks.

Sorry you had to go through that. It was much better 5 years ago when John W. and yours truly needed a beer at 8:00 am prior to boarding (yes, they were open!).

Instead of Samuel Adams, you should try a Samuel Jackson:

http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/chap...l?startIndex=25

Edited by Minister of Drink (log)

"Whenever someone asks me if I want water with my Scotch, I say, 'I'm thirsty, not dirty' ". Joe E. Lewis

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There are Old Dominion brewpubs in concourses B and C, as well as unspecified "Brew Pubs" in the Main Terminal and concourse A.

Yeah -- when I had to kill some time before putting my daughter on a plane to Boston last month, since I don't drink beer, I had a glass of wine at one of these establishments -- $9 for a-glass-o-swill. Talk about taking advantage of a captive audience....

Oh, J[esus]. You may be omnipotent, but you are SO naive!

- From the South Park Mexican Starring Frog from South Sri Lanka episode

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I can't believe there are people out there who can actually afford to drink in airports.  :wink:

Given the time many people spend in airports due to delays, security, etc..., drinking there is where it's at, save for Crapuel Adams of course. Cheers and safe travels!

Edited by Minister of Drink (log)

"Whenever someone asks me if I want water with my Scotch, I say, 'I'm thirsty, not dirty' ". Joe E. Lewis

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Just so I understand, this thread is about the Sam Adams establishment at Dulles and should not be characterized as a slam on Sam Adams's beer in general?

Perhaps partially.

IMO, Sam has gone downhill since it started going national. Same thing with Pete's (which is a real disappointment because I loved it when I first tried it in '93).

THe larger issue, though is the airport "pubs". It would not surprise me to find out that the smegma in their lines is as old as the beer is. Dirty lines=bad beer.

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

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This why I stick to Jack and Coke, expecially on my way home

:wub::wub:

I don't know, I like the Sam Adam's Seasonal lineup (With regard to 'the beer itself' aspect of the thread, as opposed to the brewpub, which I've never been to and indeed didn't know about until this thread)! As long as you don't get a bad bottle, which happens occasionally, they're pretty tasty, and generally availible as a happy hour special (Thursdays at Froggy!), so they're relatively cost-effective. Picked up the first Oktoberfest of the season the other night! Was non-trivially exciting!

Edited by Chef Shogun (log)

Matt Robinson

Prep for dinner service, prep for life! A Blog

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