Sam Adams the patriot has a special place in American colonial history, so it’s fitting that Sam Adams beer has such a special place in American craft beer history. Boston Lager, their signature beer, was first brewed in founder Jim Koch’s kitchen using a recipe passed down from previous generations of Koch family brewers. Today it is not only the largest craft brewery in America, after Anheuser-Busch’s sale to InBev, it’s also the largest American owned brewery in the country as well. Sam Adams is actually poised to leave the craft brewery distinction as it continues to expand its operations, but there’s  no doubt they’ll still continue to brew great beers.

With all of this in mind, and the fact that the brewery is located right in Boston, we felt it was only fitting that Beeriety check the place out.

The tour starts in a room full of the brewery’s history:

Some of The Boston Beer Company's many awards

Then we learned how beer is made and the ingredients that go in it:

Learning about the ingredients that go into their beer

Then we got to see the brewing process in action:

Touring the brewing facilities

Finally we got to taste the end result of all this brewing magic. They were as fresh as you’re going to get:

Sampling the freshest Sam Adams around in their tasting room

We found it to be fun, educational and full of free beer at the end. Included in the free samples at the end are a taste of Boston Brick Red, a special brew that’s available only on draft in the Boston area, sales of which help fund local charities. We also got to smell, not taste, a bottle of Utopias, Sam Adams’ special 25% alcohol by volume experimental beer, which can retail for almost 200 dollars a bottle and holds the Guinness World Record for strongest beer in the world; it was a real treat. The best part of course is that the whole thing is free. If you’re in the Boston area, do yourself a favor and check out the tour for yourself.

To see more photos of our trip to Sam Adams take a look at our photo set on flickr.

As a Delaware native, I’ve long been proud of local craft-brew heroes Dogfish Head. So when the Beeriety team expressed an interest in touring their facilities, I called my parents and said I’d be home for the weekend – with a team of beer-experts in tow!

On Friday afternoon, Carleton, Ryan, Chris, and I left Boston behind us and hit the road for my home-town of Dover. We got into Delaware just before 10:00pm and decided to stop off in Newark for some food and a few beers at my favorite college haunts, Iron Hill Brewery. Iron Hill is a small, Delaware-based Brewpub chain with locations in DE, PA and recently NJ, known for their award-winning beers and their innovative cuisine (cheesesteak egg rolls? Yeah, they have that.)

The house flight at Iron Hill Brewery

Each of the guys got a flight, which consisted of 4 oz. pour of all EIGHT of their current taps, plus an additional pour of their cask-conditioned Pig-Iron Porter. [As the driver, I limited myself to one pint of their delicious Vienna Red Lager. Safety first.] The list consisted of their year-round brews and several seasonals, including a German Pilsner, a Hefeweizen and a Belgian Witbier brewed with coriander and orange-peel. Our waitress was knowledgeable and helpful, taking special care to explain the characteristics of each different beer-type (often offering comparisons to more well-known brews), what to look for when sampling each one, and a suggested-order for tasting specific beers. All in all, Iron Hill provided us with an excellent jump-start to a very beer-filled weekend!

Stay tuned for Carleton’s take on DFH’s Brewery and Brewpub!