Julian Edelman knew what Sam Adams meant to Boston long before Boston knew who Julian Edelman was.
He was still a California kid then. New England was a place on the other side of the country, not somewhere he could have imagined spending 12 NFL seasons, winning three Super Bowls and becoming one of the most beloved Patriots of his generation.
But Boston? He knew Boston.
And he knew its beer.
“Before I came to New England, before I even knew where New England was, you knew about Boston,” Edelman told ON SI for Sports Illustrated during an exclusive interview at the Sam Adams Downtown Boston Taproom. “I always saw Sam Adams, like that was the Boston beer.”
That makes the latest addition to Edelman’s Boston résumé a particularly fitting one: He now has a Sam Adams beer of his own.
Julian Edel-Brau Lager is one of four beers in Samuel Adams’ limited-edition “Our City. Our Beer.” variety pack, created with Edelman, Celtics star Derrick White, Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet and Bruins legend Zdeno Chara. The four beers rotate on draft with their respective sports seasons, which means September brings Edel-Brau into the lineup.
For Edelman, the partnership landed differently because of everything that happened between his first introduction to Boston and now.
“Anywhere I go, anytime I go anywhere, everyone identifies me as a Boston guy now,” Edelman said. “Because of the 12 years that I spent here and the success I had with our team, you know, with the Patriots.”
“So, you know, I think the partnership is amazing, it’s cool, it’s got a feel to it,” he added. “Sam Adams, it’s Boston.”
Julian Edelman Knew Exactly What His Beer Should Feel Like
Edelman wasn’t about to walk into a brewery and tell professional brewers how to brew.
He did know the assignment.
“Mine’s a fall beer,” Edelman told ON SI. “We’re all seasonal, right? So fall beer, I wanted a little grittier of a beer… so I went with a lager.”
Then came the handoff to the people who actually knew what they were doing.
“If they were asking me about a Cover 2, we could talk about that,” Edelman joked. “But with beers, hops, barley, you know, I leaned on the experts.”
Edel-Brau is a 6.2% ABV lager with a malt-forward profile, caramel and toffee notes and light herbal hops. It rotates on draft from September through November, an intentional pairing with the heart of football season.
When Edelman later took questions from fans at the taproom, he described the idea behind it in terms anyone who watched him play in New England would recognize.
“I got up in the brewery and I said I want a lot of hops, I want a lot of barley,” he said. “A lager, something gritty, something kind of like you bring your hard hat, lunch pail, type of beer.”
A hard-hat, lunch-pail lager for No. 11 feels almost too on the nose.
His scouting report was even better.
“It’d be quicker than fast. Gritty. Rise in high moments,” Edelman said when asked to evaluate the beer like a football player. “Probably a really great beer for the playoffs, especially the Super Bowl. High ceiling, high floor.”
Then came the sales pitch. “It’s probably the best beer ever.”
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski Have Already Weighed In
Edelman’s beer has made its way to some familiar people.
His mother got a 12-pack. “I sent my mom a 12-pack, and she said, ‘Can I send another?'” Edelman told the crowd.
His brother is a fan, too. And then there are the names that immediately transport Patriots fans back to the franchise’s championship years.
“It’s been really fun getting the text messages from Danny Amendola, Gronk, Brady,” Edelman said. “It’s been really cool and real fun experience.”
Edelman is willing to venture outside his own lager, too.
Asked by ON SI for his favorite Sam Adams beer besides Edel-Brau, he chose the beer created with White.
“I like Derek White Ale,” Edelman said. “I like a little white ale sometimes. I like a little lighter in the summer, you know what I mean? And I like D-White.”
He wasn’t going to leave the 6-foot-9 Chara out of the conversation.
“The Pilsner’s pretty good, Big Z,” Edelman said. “I don’t want him to beat me up, so I’ll give him a shoutout.”
Boston Still Feels Like Home to Julian Edelman
The beer is new. Edelman’s attachment to the city isn’t.
He arrived as the 232nd pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, a college quarterback trying to learn an entirely different position while wondering whether each roster cut might be his last. By the time his career ended, he had three rings, a Super Bowl MVP award and a permanent place in Patriots history.
Boston became the backdrop to nearly his entire adult life.
“I kind of grew up here, like as an adult, a young adult out of college,” Edelman told ON SI. “And, you know, to think like my rookie year that I’d be associated with Boston, it just makes me feel like, wow, you know, I really had to do a lot to get in this position.”
For a player who came from across the country, being claimed by one of America’s most demanding sports cities still means something.
“If they love you here, like it just feels like legendary type stuff,” Edelman said. “They love their winners.”
That connection became even more personal during the fan Q&A.
“The happiest time of my life I experienced here in Boston,” Edelman said. “My daughter was born. Won a bunch of Super Bowls. Got to hang out with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.”
“It felt like home.”
And when Edelman comes back now, he gets to experience Boston in ways he rarely could during his playing career. He told fans he likes walking the city at night, visiting the parks, heading toward the Charles and stopping by his old Boston neighborhood.
“I like to do the touristy things because I never got to do them when I was playing,” he said.
There is one other requirement. “Get some chowdah.”
Edelman Sees Another Leap Coming From Drake Maye
The evening may have centered around beer, but with another Patriots season underway, Edelman was more than willing to talk football.
His expectations for Drake Maye are high.
Very high.
“I expect him to be very, very improved,” Edelman told ON SI. “And it’s hard to improve being the second MVP, second in race, so like I expect, you know, he’s gonna have probably a leap. Which is crazy and scary.”
What Edelman wants from Maye isn’t some dramatic reinvention. It’s consistency, particularly when circumstances around him stop being comfortable.
Edelman saw the gold standard up close for more than a decade.
“When you’re the quarterback, everyone looks at you all the time,” he said. “For my case, I was around Brady. And that guy was the same guy every day. Didn’t matter what was going on in the world, in his life, on our team, he was the same guy.”
Edelman praised Maye’s hunger to learn and lack of ego, but the next part of his development will come when protection breaks down, weather turns ugly or a game forces him away from the original plan.
“I want to see him in adverse situations,” Edelman said.
Maye’s supporting cast also looks considerably different, most notably with A.J. Brown now in New England.
And Edelman’s comparison for the Patriots’ new No. 1 receiver carries some weight.
“He’s very much like just Gronk to me,” Edelman said. “He’s a weapon, you know, where he’s never really covered, even if the guy’s on him, ’cause he’s so big, so strong, like faster than you think.”
Brown’s influence, Edelman believes, will reach beyond whatever appears next to his name in the box score.
“Even if it’s not his production, he’s going to attract so much of the coverage that other guys are going to be able to eat,” he said. “Like, that’s what kind of player he is.”
Edelman Is Ready for One of His Patriots Records to Fall
There was one more thing Edelman was willing to put his name behind.
Asked by ON SI for one Patriots prediction for the season, he didn’t pick Maye for MVP. He didn’t predict a win total. He didn’t call for another Super Bowl run.
He picked Marcus Jones.
“Marcus Jones will beat my record, punt returns,” Edelman said. “He needs one more, I think he does it this year.”
Edelman owns the Patriots record with four career punt-return touchdowns. Jones entered the season with three, leaving him one away from tying Edelman and two from taking the record outright.
Edelman sounds perfectly happy to watch it happen.
“Getting five. Go get it, kid,” he said. “They’re all meant to be broken.”
For a seventh-round pick who once spent cut days hoping his phone wouldn’t ring, it’s quite a vantage point.
His records are being chased. His old team is trying to make another run. His former teammates are texting him reviews of his beer.
And the California kid who once knew Sam Adams simply as the Boston beer now has his name on one.
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