Monday, May 12, 2025

12x12 Review Samuel Adams Juicy IPA

Beer Included: Samuel Adams Juicy IPA

Purchased: 2 May 2025

Price: $17.99

Initial Impression 

I first tasted Samuel Adams New England IPA Jamaica Plain taproom in Boston back in 2017. This was before the beer was packaged for national distribution. At the time I thought the beer was excellent and if Sam could make an IPA that good at a lower price point than smaller taproom-type breweries, they would be onto something. Would people still buy a $20 4-pack if they could buy something just as good for less in a 12-pack? My comment at the time was "If I can find this fresh in stores its a game changer".

I first saw the new Juicy IPA at Fenway Park

That beer was eventually released in four packs, and I remember liking it if not quite as much as that trial batch. Then Wicked Hazy was released and now Juicy IPA is here. Is this the same beer that has undergone a second rebrand? The ABV and IBU of all three beers are the same. That doesn’t mean the beers aren’t all different in some way. I’ll be approaching this with an open mind. 

Beer Review

Best by date: 18 July 2025

Aroma: Very tropical. Pineapple and citrus zest

Appearance: Yellow, hazy but not murky or opaque. Foamy white head with good retention. 

Flavor: Quite juicy, melon and stone fruit with a hint of citrus in the background. Very floral and estery - verdant character, Low grainy and slightly floury grain flavor balanced with med low but sufficient hop bitterness. Does get a little sweeter as it warms - maybe I'm tasting the Golden Naked Oats

Mouthfeel: Med full body, soft, somewhat creamy, very smooth, Neutral finish

Overall: As a garage beer I found Juicy IPA more drinkable than the last IPA I reviewed, Thunder Funk. This beer is very smooth and at 7% could get you in trouble on a weeknight. Day drinking on a Saturday might be the best place for this beer. I'd have to see if the beer started to feel heavy after a few like New England IPA are at times.  

When I started doing 12x12 reviews, I was definitely going to review a New England IPA at some point to see how it compares with a more local or more hyped example I casually mentioned in my Allagash review that their Hazy IPA might not be as good as Trillium or Tree House without expanding on exactly why. Having one can left of the Allagash Hazy IPA left, I picked up a four-pack of a Trillium Detachable Face IPA for a side-by-side-by-side. 



Of the three Allagash was the lightest in color and least hazy. The Sam Adams had the best head and head retention. Allagash was the lightest-bodied, Sam and Trillium were both medium-bodied with Sam being a tick heavier. 

In terms of intensity of hop flavor, Trillium wins. It punches through the malt and crisps out the finish. Canned on 16 April 2025 (24 days before tasting), the advantage in freshness is apparent. If I look for oxidation long enough in the Allagash and Sam Adams, I find just a hint in comparison. 

Allagash Hazy IPA and Samuel Adams Juicy IPA are both core, year-round beers, whereas Detachable Face one of literally dozens of hazies produced by Trillium. Nationally or regionally-distributed Hazy IPAs aren’t going to veer too far from what the style has evolved into: Domestic 2-row malt with some combination of flaked oats and/or wheat; Citra, Mosaic, and maybe a couple other hop varieties; and a London III or Conan yeast variant. 

A brewery like Trillium that can venture beyond that. The hop flavor of Detachable Face did stand out. That beer is hoped with Citra and Motueka; the lime that Motueka throws out was really apparent in this test. 

I don’t want to overstate the differences here. I probably drank half of each can while working through the differences among the three beers. 

Can the big guys make locally-produced Hazy IPA obsolete? For the true IPA-lover, I’d say no. If you still love tasting different IPAs with different hop varieties, you’re going to want to go back to a local brewery that makes fresh hazy IPAs you enjoy. The Allagash and Sam were both well-packaged and tasted great, but the Trillium was noticeably fresher.

The 4-pack of Trillium cost about the same as the 12-pack of Samuel Adams Juicy IPA. A less expensive 12-pack could certainly appeal to a more casual drinker. That said, if you brought a 12-pack of Samuel Adams Juicy IPA to a party and handed a can to a hop snob, I don’t think they would turn their nose up at all. 

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