Pouring Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Our Story

Explore the history of Boston Beer

1984 Jim Koch inspecting the hops
1984

How it started

Jim Koch discovers his great-great-grandfather's recipe for Louis Koch Lager in his family’s Cincinnati-area attic.

A test batch back in his Boston-area home stripped the wallpaper off his kitchen cabinets. Try, try again, and Jim knew he was onto something with what we now know today as Boston Lager with that very recipe.

Soon after, he establishes the company you know today: The Boston Beer Company. Every bank in Boston turns down his request for a loan, so Jim raises a couple hundred thousand dollars from family and friends.

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Early deliveries
1985

Boston Lager debuts

April 15, Samuel Adams Boston Lager makes its public debut at about 35 restaurants and bars mostly in Back Bay and Downtown Boston.

June 1, Boston Lager is voted “Best Beer in America” at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, competing against 100 other beers from big and small breweries.

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Jim Koch
1989

Brewery opens its doors

June, The Samuel Adams Boston Brewery opens to the public with a visitor’s center and brewery tour at the site of the historic German Haffenreffer Brewery in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

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1995

$SAM

November 21, We go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE symbol: SAM). About one third of the shares are offered earlier to Sam Adams drinkers through a novel consumer offering announced on six-packs. Talk about "initial public offering!"

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Sam Calagione and Governor Tom Carper
1995

Craft beer comes to coastal Delaware

Brewpubs were outlawed in Delaware until Sam Calagione wrote a bill and brought it to Governor Tom Carper.

Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats opens in Rehoboth Beach as Delaware’s first brewpub and America’s smallest commercial brewery.

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1997

Back to Jim's Roots

Jim returns to his hometown of Cincinnati to purchase Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery, a place where his father had apprenticed in the 1940s.

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Sam Calagione invents continuous hopping
1997

The Hop Don’t Stop

Sam Calagione invents Continuous Hopping after watching a cooking show on TV and retrofitting an electronic football machine to a brew kettle.

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Hardcore Cider
1997

Going Beyond Beer

We launch Hardcore Cider, marking our first foray outside of the beer space.

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Twisted Tea
2001

Things get twisted

Bet you didn’t know that Twisted Tea was originally called "BoDeans Twisted Tea" when it first launched... We've been making real brewed tea with a kick for over two decades, so we’d say it worked out pretty well that we dropped the "BoDeans" back in '01.

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Dogfish Head Milton Brewery & Distillery
2002

Another off-centered location

Dogfish Head Milton Brewery & Distillery opens.

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Brewing The American Dream
2008

Something's brewing

We take ownership of a world-class brewery built by Schaefer Brewing in the 1960s with a distinguished history of brewing great beers, located in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

In the wake of his success, and driven by a passion to support entrepreneurs who are in the place he once was, Jim launched a philanthropic program, “Brewing the American Dream,” to provide support to food and beverage entrepreneurs with access to capital, networking and business coaching.

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Hops
2008

Hopping to the rescue

In the wake of an unprecedented worldwide hops shortage, we launch a hops-sharing program to aid other American craft brewers in need.

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Angry Orchard Hard Cider
2012

The pursuit of better

Hard Core Cider is struggling, so our team goes back to the drawing board and Angry Orchard was born; quickly skyrocketing to the No.1 cider in the country.

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Angry Orchard and Innovation Cider House in Walden, NY
2015

Cider finds its home

We open Angry Orchard and our Innovation Cider House in Walden, NY.

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Truly Spiked & Sparkling
2016

The start of a movement

We launch Truly (in clear glass bottles) as "Truly Spiked & Sparkling."

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Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom
2018

Settling down in Cincy

Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom opened in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, overlooking the Cincinnati brewery and a mural depicting Cincinnati’s rich brewing heritage.

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Dogfish Head Continual Hopping Machine is acquired for the Smithsonian collection
2019

A piece of history

Dogfish Head Continual Hopping Machine is acquired for the Smithsonian collection.

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Jim Koch and Sam Calagione
2019

A match made in beer heaven

BBC and Dogfish Head join forces, bringing together each company's unrelenting passion for brewing, authenticity and innovation.

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Samuel Adams Boston Taproom
2020

Revolutionary roots

We open Samuel Adams Boston Taproom in the shadows of Samuel Adams’ statue in Downtown Boston.

Jim said he would never forget those who helped put his beer on the map, and in March 2020, Samuel Adams was one of the first to step up and support one of the most vulnerable groups impacted by necessary Covid-19 closures: the bar and restaurant industry.

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Hard Mt. Dew
2021

Categories come together

We bring the iconic soda brand to alcohol by introducing HARD MTN DEW and collaborate with Beam Suntory for the launch of Truly Vodka and Twisted Tea Whiskey.

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Truly LA
2022

Truly goes Hollywood

We open the doors of Truly LA, establishing ourselves as America’s first-ever seltzery.

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