The Boston Beer Company

Origin

The Boston Beer Co Inc is based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1983 by Jim Koch, who continues to brew its trademark Samuel Adams lager from a recipe handed down to him by his great-great-grandfather.

History

For the first 35 years of his life, Jim Koch's family history and future career lay in the attic of his parents' house. Tucked away was an old family recipe from the 1800s for Louis Koch Lager. For five generations, the first born sons in the Koch family were brew masters, but by the time Jim finished school and was ready to embark on his own career, the market for full-flavoured beer had diminished and it seemed Jim's father would be the last Koch to carry on the tradition of brewing flavourful beer.Jim's passion for quality, flavourful beer kept him close to his roots. In the early 1980's he became convinced that he could find a niche in the competitive beer market for a high-quality American beer. Using the same recipe and traditional brewing processes that his great-great grandfather used, Jim brewed Samuel Adams Boston Lager and took beer to a whole new level.

Vision and Mission Statement

      

      Their mission statement reads:“To seek long-term profitable growth by offering the highest quality products to the U.S. beer drinker.”Boston Beer Company’s main objective or purpose is to provide the American beer drinker with the highest quality product to ensure both a great beer-drinking experience and also to help ensure customers return for the many different lines of beer that Boston Beer Company has to offer; that will thus translate into long-term profitability. In basic terms, they are trying to provide the best possible beer in the U.S. so that people will continue to buy their beer after the original purchase, which will turn their profits into long-term growth of the company worldwide.

     

      Milestones

   > The first beer products were contract brewed under agreement with Pittsburgh Brewing, established in 1984. Contract brewing remains a key feature of the company’s strategy for national distribution.

   > The Boston Beer Co became a publicly-traded company on the NYSE in 1995, at the peak of the 1990s craft brewing movement. 

      

   > In April 2008 the company issued a precautionary recall of its products because shards of glass may have contaminated 25% of the bottles. According to a company press release, the fault lay with The Boston Beer Co’s bottle supplier. The dispute was settled in May 2011 with the bottler paying US$20.5 million to The Boston Beer Co and all parties will release each other on claims related to the matter. The company continues to push its craft in creating new styles and flavours of beers.

   > The Boston Beer Co worked with brewers in Weihenstephan (Germany) to create a brew called Infinium. The beer was released in late 2010 in time for the holidays. There were only a limited 13,421 bottles for sale in the US.

   > In 2008, The Boston Beer Company launched a programme providing scholarships, loans, and assistance to various small business organisations in the New England area. In 2011, the company announced that it would be extending this programme to Pennsylvania and New York. It also announced that it would be looking to assist small craft brewers that may have fallen on hard times or were experiencing financial challenges in the early stages of development.

    

     Corporate Social Responsibility

Basic corporate social responsibility ratings

	Overall	Community	Employees	Environment	Governance
Boston Beer Company	49	56	46	48	48
All company average	47	46	47	46	51