Has anyone picked up the sampler this year? And if you did, were you as happy as I was that it did NOT include that god awful Cranberry Lambic?
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Yes and YES!!!! Chocolate Boch is really good!!!
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Funny I was just talking to the owner of my local beer cave and he was complaining that he couldn't get twelvers of the chocolate bock. Such a good winter beer.
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+another for Chocobocko
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I have purchased a couple so far this year, and no, the cranberry lambic is not missed.
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Yes, I did. I normally get a couple 12-packs of the seasonal sampler and give the Cranberry Lambric away. Now, I'm looking for some extras of the chocolate Bock.

I may have to pick up another couple 12-packs.
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Hmmmm. Curious. I need to ask me my sales rep iffn he can snarf me a few chocbock samples.
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Absolutely! Ever sip reminds of me of what my mouth taste like after partying too much ( :-))
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drinking a "Winter Lager" right now.
yeah, the chocolate bock is the best in there. sort of disappointed overall. I think there are like 2 decent, 2 drinkable but kind of weird, then teh chocolate bock and the regular lager
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Shame they dont sell just the choc. bock.......would buy a couple of case's if they did
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To my knowledge this is the first time SA has bottled the Chocolate Bock in 12oz bottles. Previously it was bottled in these fancy 22oz bottles.
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And those were only a special for valentines day about 6yrs ago if I'm not mistaken?
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A great pack of beer. Picked up another for the weekend
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I LOVE Chocolate Bock. I HATE Cranberry Lambic. The Winter pack is so much better because of this change. One thing I don't understand is the White Ale. It used to be the spring seasonal beer and they put it in the winter mix pack? I hear it will also be in the spring mix pack, but why put it in the winter pack too?

You are 100% correct. I have a couple of these bottles on my beer shelf.

Chocolate Bock was sold every other year. Typically, it was sold in years when Utopias was not. Also, last year there was a small batch made and sold in the Boston Brewery around Valentines Day. You can tell if a bottle was from last year because the label was a flat paper whereas in prior years the label was more of an embossed paper label (like in the picture).
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Going beer shopping today...just dont tell the wifey.....
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It is by far the best sampler sam adams has out. I used to give the cranberry lambic away when I would by the holiday pack. I had tried the chocolate last year and when I saw they replaced the cranberry with the chocolate I was so much more excite to pick up the sampler. Plus Sams Club has a 24 pack winter sampler, I could only find 12 packs in the grocery store. I don't think there is a better sampler out there, but im a big sam adams fan and may be a little bias towards them.


Has anyone tried the Utopia or Infinium?
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I have tried both. The infinium doesn't really taste like beer at all to me. It tastes more like champagne and has some fruity notes to it. Has a small kick if your not careful at 10.3% alcohol. It hasn't gotten the greatest reviews but has been selling really fast. I have the Utopia every new years. Quite tasty with a large ABV to it. It's more like a port than a beer. Definitely expensive but I think it's worth the price and only break it out for special occasions.
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I picked up a bottle of utopia last year, but haven't cracked it open yet and I have 4 bottles of Infinium as well that I haven't tried. Im definitely looking forward to openeing them. I believe Utopia comes out again next year. When you say fruity is it similar to the blackberry witbier?
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+1
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I gave up on the sampler years ago because of the Cranberry. I just picked up a case of Winter Lager and didn't notice they had changed the sampler, maybe next time.
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