Call me corpulent or shanghied, but halitosis be damned… Sam Adams Light is a very good beer. Jim Koch, the founder and chief of Sam Adams breweries deserves a star on every star-studded walk in this country. The man started a brewery that has flooded our country and much of world with ubiquitous deliciosity. You can find at least one of Sam Adams myriad kinds of brau in most any liquor store or grocer’s mart you enter. And you won’t be let down. Their ales are hoppy and well-balanced, their stout toasty and dark, their Summer Ale refreshing and tart etc. Masters of brewing, man. Masters.

Samuel Adams Light beer, as the legend goes, has won gold medals in beer competitions where there was no light beer category. By legend, I mean that’s what happened. Now… that says about as little for the competition as it says a lot for this beer, to be honest, but I don’t mean to detract from it–not at all. While there are more flavorful, more hop/malt rich ales around… this beer manages to be light and smooth while maintaining a full, rich ale flavor.

The Captain, of course, doesn’t give a rat’s ass or a hoot in hell or what have ya about the caloric content of his beer. If you decide beer based on calories, well, you suck. You don’t really… count. Plain and simple. BUT… when a beer manages to be lighter, like this’n, there is a balance between lightness and taste that is sometimes nice to straddle. Now, I’m not going to have 3 or 4 Sam Adams Cream Stouts in a night* but Sam Light? Aw yeah. Basically, this beer tastes as good as a lot of the heavier lagers or lighter ales out on the market that aren’t as light or smooth. It has a good hop aroma and finish that lingers for just long enough on the tongue. The body is, of course, light, with a nice maltiness that balances out the bitterness. The color (this beer deserves a picture of it poured out into the glass) is a nice light amber/brown. Clear enough to catch the light, but far from transparent.

All in all… I stand in awe and in gratitude before Sam Adams’ beers. If they want to hire me as official taster and groveler… I’m there like shareware.

*yes I am.