Has the Boston Brewing Co. hired such inadequately-educated executives that they are oblivious to the history of Samuel Adams? Why else would they have named one of their lines of beer the Imperial line? Wasn’t Samuel Adams a famous revolutionary? Maybe not such a revoltionary that he wouldn’t have served a beer to a Torie, but surely he would not have contenanced naming a product line the Imperials! What say you Bostonians and Sam Adams beer lovers? Shouldn’t shame attach to this grotesquerie? Shouldn’t the company compel these insensitive oafs to re-name this line of excellent brews?
What does this have to do with cars?
Well, Neil Diamond (who is Jewish) made a Christmas album.
And many of Sam Adam’s brews are made by other companies (such as FX Matt…aka Utica Club).
So did Sammy Davis, Jr.
Imperial Stout is a variety of beer that is differentiated from a regular stout by, among other things, a much higher alcohol content. For a time in the 18th century, English stouts were popular among the Russian Imperial Court, but in order for it to survive the sea journey, they had to raise the alcohol content. The trend waned in St. Petersburg, but it remained popular in the domestic market.
It sounds like Sam Adams is just borrowing the Imperial=more alcohol from the stout and applying it to other varieties as well. Either way, those beers are all pretty powerful so you shouldn’t be driving your car after drinking them in any great volume.
I would not get too upset with oxymorons in sales and adverstising. Chevy tried to sell the NOVA in Latin America; “no va” means it won’t go in Spanish. AMC tried to sell the Matador (killer in Spanish) in Latin America.
Ethan Allen sell their fine furniture successfully in Canada under the slogan “A name you can trust!”. Ethan Alllen led the Fenian Raids from Vermont into into Canada during the colonial wars with the British. I can’t imagine Canadians trying to sell a line of “Benedict Arnold” furniture into the US market, although the name has a nice classy ring to it.
It is also worth keeping in mind that when the first Europeans hit the shores of North America there were lots of people already living here. And when the British gave up this didn’t improve things for such folks. In the battle of whose hands are clean it would be hard to find any winners.