Long before they were cementing their names onto the Declaration of Independence, many of America’s Founding Fathers spent their downtime cultivating a completely different passion: crafting beer. Colonial taverns served as the true town halls of the American Revolution, where early citizens gathered to debate liberty over pints of robust, locally brewed ales.
Now, with the United States gearing up for its massive 250th anniversary (the semiquincentennial), Boston Beer Company's flagship brand is heading straight back to the 1770s. On Thursday, May 28, 2026, Samuel Adams officially announced the return of the Brewer Patriot Collection, a historic four-pack resurrected from the brand's 2006 vault that utilizes authentic, 18th-century recipes and ingredients once favored by the nation's architects.
Recreating the Colonial Tavern Profile
Brewing beer in the revolutionary era wasn't like modern production. Without access to contemporary commercial kilns, colonial brewers dried their malts over open wood fires, injecting early American beers with a distinct, smoky character. Furthermore, brewers routinely relied on whatever robust ingredients they had on hand—such as molasses and licorice root—both for flavor complexity and perceived medicinal benefits.
“That independent spirit really drove our founder Jim Koch to rebel against the options that were on the market at that time, primarily mass and domestic beers,” Shelley Smith, Samuel Adams’ Master Cicerone, shared in a press statement. “It is pretty fun to go back and think about what ingredients would have been included in beers from that time and bring those back.”
The Founding Fathers Four-Pack Breakdown
Clocking in at a uniform 5.5% ABV, the collection features four experimental beers intended to be sampled in a specific, flavor-building order:
- No. 3 Ginger Honey Ale: Suggested as the starting point, this pale yellow brew offers a sweet, earthy nose. It blends the floral notes of wildflower honey with real ginger and a touch of lemon peel, keeping the sharp ginger notes light and balanced.
- 1790 Hard Root Beer: Named after the specific year hard root beers officially became colonial tavern staples. This deeply sweet pour uses molasses, honey, and vanilla to balance heavily spiced, nostalgic notes of sassafras, licorice, and wintergreen.
- James Madison Dark Wheat Ale: A direct tribute to Madison and his brewing mentor, Thomas Jefferson. To recreate the authentic profile, the brewery hand-smoked the malted barley over red and white oak pulled straight from the historic Virginia woods once owned by Madison himself.
- George Washington Porter: The heavy hitter of the pack. This opaque, robust porter is brewed using George Washington’s actual home-brewing recipe, which is preserved in the archives of the New York Public Library. It delivers dense, complex notes of toffee, cocoa, blackstrap molasses, and traditional licorice.
The "Raise a Sam" Campaign and Where to Buy
The vault collection is the cornerstone of Samuel Adams’ broader "Raise a Sam" summer campaign, which aims to inspire 250,000 "cheers moments" across the country. Fans sharing their celebrations on social media using the hashtag #RaiseASam will automatically be entered for a chance to win $250 in digital "beer money." The brewery is also partnering with heritage sportswear brand Ebbets Field to drop limited-edition, retro-inspired apparel throughout the summer.
Because of the labor-intensive, historically accurate brewing techniques required, the Brewer Patriot Collection is a highly limited release. The four-packs are available starting today exclusively on GiveThemBeer.com for a symbolically priced $17.76 while supplies last.
For everyday summer barbecues, Samuel Adams is simultaneously launching its nationwide Star Spangled Variety Pack. Available at major grocery and beverage retailers in 12- and 24-packs, it features classic summer favorites like Summer Ale, Porch Rocker (a lemon radler), and American Light alongside a highly requested, pack-exclusive Blueberry Lager styled in retro-inspired patriotic packaging.
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