As a law student on a tight budget, I’m a huge fan of events with the word “free” attached to them. So when I heard that I could take a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery for free I got excited. Being excited about a brewery tour caught me by surprise because I had never had a beer before the tour. My fiancé was in town and he loves beer so it seemed like a win-win situation. He could try beer for free and I could see how it’s made and satisfy my curiosity. It was really easy to get to the brewery. We just walked to the T stop in Harvard Square and after one transfer we were there.
When I opened the door to the brewery, I was overwhelmed by the smell of beer. I quickly got over it, after all, what did I expect from a brewery if not the smell of beer? The employees/tour guides checked our IDs and stamped a huge “Samuel Adams Brewery” on our hands. It took me two days to get it off so thank goodness I didn’t have to go to class with it. Anyway, we joined the tour and got to see the enormous tanks where the beer ferments. We learned about the bottling process and then finally we were taken to the taste testing room. Everyone on the tour sat on both sides of one really long table and the tour guide passed a pitcher down the table. We each poured a sample into our complimentary glasses.
This was the best part of the tour – and not because of the actual beer tasting. I didn’t really like the tasting part of it too much. I kept passing about half my sample to my fiancé. (It’s a good thing we took the train there.) The tasting was the best part because our tour guide explained what we should look for in a beer. Things like clarity and color and important in depending on the brew. She also elaborated on what kind of glass will make your beer taste the best and that most people miss the sweet part of the beer because of the way we drink out of glasses — apparently the sweet taste buds are on the very tips of our tongues. That part surprised me. So we tried a few other brews and then the tour was over. It was fairly simple and straight forward but I did learn a lot. My taste for beer isn’t exactly something I want to cultivate, but at least now I know what to look for if I ever change my mind.
– Elizabeth
