Samuel Adams LongShot Grape Pale Ale

Interesting - yeas, it seems grapey, which lends a winey note to it. But it seems more of an experiment than a viable beer. Ultimately just too sweet.

Bottle into Lager glass. Pours a translucent copper-amber with a plentiful, fluffy white head. Aroma was of Sam Adams and maybe almost if I thought really hard about it a little, little bit of artificial grape. Taste was watery, fizzy, bland hoppiness with weak malts and more of the phantom grape. Finished pleasantly enough with no offending qualities. To be honest, not a bad beer, but I get nothing out of it that relates to the Sam Adams description. Either Ms. Hess got a serious home team advantage or Sam Adams butchered her recipe when brewing in large quantities, although there is no way I see her "drink ale, eat grape" description ever working out in reality. It sounds nice, but I suspect it was a bit too much optimism.

Bottle from Sam’s Quik Stop in Durham. Pours brown-ish read with a medium sized head. Disappears quickly but leaves a nice lacing. Strong aroma of cinnamon and other spices, with a hint of maple. Taste is sweet with some graininess and a dry finish. Honey/maple comes through on the aftertaste, Kind of a thick feel. Better than your average Sam Adams.

Coppery color with medium white head. Aroma is faint and mildly muscatty. Taste is weird and cheesy with an odd astringency, a pinch of salt and no grape that I can detect. Finish is short and biscuity. They should rename this one "Cheese and Cracker Pale Ale"$1/12oz

Bottle. Typical Sam aroma, light grainy pale malt. Pours a light copper with a slight pinkish twinge and a lacing beige head. Taste has some malty sweetness and a bit of a chalky residue for a tongue coating before resolving to a grainy aftertaste. Malt base is good, and there’s a smooth medium body. The grape influence, at least on the taste, seems entirely mental here. I like this; it’s enjoyable and easy-drinking, and yet there’s not much here to separate it from hundreds of other inoffensive ales. [2.9]

After a few more, I’ve come to appreciate a certain subtlety here, mostly from the aftertaste and residual palate, that would lead me to bump this up to a 3.1/3.2.

Pours from the 12 oz brown bottle a classic copper color with a pillowy, off-white 1 1/2 finger head that settles into a nice, bubbly collar. Carbonation is active, but not heavy. Aroma is malty and slightly sweet, there’s a hint of the maple syrup mentioned on the label. Taste is sweet for a pale ale, but not in a bad way. This is a bit of a relief because I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was expecting something along the lines of DFH Raison D’etre, but seeing the addition of the aforementioned maple syrup made me think that this was either going to be pretty good or it could go horribly wrong! I’ll say it’s prety good! There’s a little hint of the grape & syrup, but the minimal sweetness is balanced by some hoppiness on the end. The mouthfeel is light, but far from watery, this beer is quite sessionable. Hats off to you, Lili Hess, you’ve created something unique and tasty here! If this makes it into the regular Samuel Adams rotation, i’ll be sure to pick up more!

Slightly sweet aroma, with a touch of wine notes to it. Pours a clear amber with a dusting of white head. Starts with a touch of sweetness, with a very light body. Almost no noticeable hop presence. Not a fan of this one.

The nose on this beer is fantastic, color is nice, after that it falls short. not bad just not great, very average.