12x12 Samuel Adams Winter Break Variety Pack

Beers Included: Cold Brew Coffee Stout, Winter White Ale, Winter Lager, Old Fezzewig 

Purchase Date: 6 December 2025

Initial Impressions

I broke my rules and bought this pack in early November when I was up in New Hampshire for a weekend. It was cold enough that it felt like winter. Not taking tasting notes at that time, I had to go back and buy this one again. 

For some reason I was intrigued by the Cold Brew Coffee Stout. I love dark beers, but generally prefer what I call "stout-flavored-stout". I guess I was excited to see any kind of stout in this sampler. Winter Lager has always been a stalwart; even if the recipe has been changed like other Sam Seasonals.

Interestingly, the marketing company I work for doing brand ambassador work posted Sam Adams tastings with instructions to tell drinkers that Winter White was replacing Winter Lager as Sam's winter seasonal.

Beer, cigar, fresh air and lake views

Old Fezzewig is a beer I look for every year. 

12x12 Market Basket More for Your Dollar Lager

Beers included: Market Basket More for Your Dollar Lager, or is it just Market Basket Lager?

Purchase date: 6 December 2025

Purchase price: $12.99

Initial impressions

As much as I respect the business Market Basket runs, we don't shop there for one simple reason. As Yogi Berra once said, "Nobody goes there, it's too crowded".

This skid was in a store five days after packaging.

If you do not live in New England, it is hard to explain the kind of following the grocery chain Market Basket has. With it's slogan "More for Your Dollar", Market Basket is known for it's low prices, how well the company takes care of its employees, and the terminally squabbling DeMoulas family that owns it all. The first two items lead to the store having as loyal of a following as any store I can think of. That loyalty extends to Market Basket's house brands as well. When More for Your Dollar Lager launched it was a bit of a sensation. I kind of wish I got my hands on some sooner.

12x12 Woodstock Inn Variety Pack

Beers included: Pig's Ear Brown Ale, Lost River, Peachy Wheat Ale and 4000 Footer IPA

Purchase date: 6 September 2025

Purchase price: $16.99

Brewers choice is always fun.

Initial Impressions

Woodstock Inn is the first one of my former accounts to be reviewed in this series. When I worked for Muntons, Woodstock Inn was a steady, if not particularly huge customer. They'd buy a pallet of torrefied wheat per month, and specialty malts including 40L Crystal and Chocolate Malt a little less frequently.

I was excited to find this sampler when I was up in New Hampshire for Jamboree. Having the flagship Pig's Ear Brown Ale included also gave me a great commercial beer for my side-by-side with my Long Leash Brown Ale 

Brew Day and Tasting Notes: Long Leash/North Shore Brewers 2025 Q3 British Brown Ale

When British Brown Ale was drawn as the style for our club's quarterly style and in-club competition, this was an opportunity for another Hombrew Con 2022 rebrew. Whereas Maximillian Lager was brewed for the Muntons booth in the exhibition hall, Long Leash was brewed for my seminar on English Ales. 

Long Leash was one of four batches I brewed for my talk. A new recipe at the time, I developed it to demonstrate my beliefs in recipe development for English ales. A well-crafted English ale should be a base-malt driven beer. Even my English Porter recipe is 87% base malt.

To test my theory I took the porter recipe, replacde the Chocolate Malt with Brown Malt, replaced Wheat Malt with Crystal malt, and replaced the small amount of Extra Dark Crystal in the porter with Chocolate Malt in the brown ale.