Samuel Adams LongShot Grape Pale Ale

In the bottle at the 2008 Crescent Moon Extreme Beerfest. Pours dark gold with a white head. The finish is a bit wine-like, but I don’t really get strong grape flavors. I don’t think that I understand this beer. Not something I’d recommend.

From bottle. Pours a golden orange with a frothy white head. Body is clear. Smells of citrus, hops, and malt, nothing too strong. Lightly carbonated, I really can’t make out what the flavors are in this beer. They are muddled, light, and unattractive. Wow, after reading Lili’s comments on the label about this beer tasting like “biting into a green grape”, I was quite underwhelmed by the product. I suppose this beer finishes with a touch of grape soda, but certainly not enough to redeem this boring pale ale.

THOUGHTS: Nothing special. Sure it was a little grapey, but it’s not like that made it much better than other pale ales. And there really wasn’t enough grape flavor to make it much different than most pale ales. Very surprising that this was one of the two best beers submitted for this contest. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a light to medium orangy amber with a small, fizzy, slightly off-white head that mostly diminished but left fair to good lacing. The aroma was light to moderate grain, moderate grassy hops and Welch’s White Grape Juice. The initial flavor was lightly sweet and acidic; while the finish was moderately sweet and lightly bitter with a short duration. It tasted like Welch’s grape juice a little malt and maybe a touch of hops. The light to medium body was dry with soft carbonation and a light to moderate astringent finish.

Really torn on this drink - spome great aspects, some terrible - problem is they are inseperable. Great pale ale malt backbone, nice bready light malt character. The drink is dominated by cloying sweetness akin to high fructose corn syrup that is omnipresent. Grape is in there, hard to find, but the maple sweetness is very evident. A decent pale ale that is flawed with to many varied bits.

Bottle. Pours a typical pale golden color, small white head. Aroma is decent but average, light malt, beer smell. Flavor is dissappointing. Bland pale ale flavor with a macro character. Grape flavor doesn’t become evident til end of glass. Semi dry. Maybe something was lost in the transition from homebrew to mass production. Drinkable but boring.

12oz. bottle: This pours a clear, slightly golden amber color. There was a small off-white head on it that dropped of rather quickly. Somewhat lighter aroma. You get a whiff of the grapes and some malts. Possible a hint of ginger. Semi (but not strong) sweetness at the start. Finishes off with some bitterness. The grapes are there, but subdued. Medium-light malt body behind it. Interesting and not bad at all. This is a refreshing summer brew.

Pours a cloudy copper color with a slight white soapy head. Slight, sweet ginger-like aroma. On the front end of the palate, sweet, green grapes. At mid-palate shift is to the bitter hops. Mild hops. Unique.

Nice golden amber color, some white head. nose is sweet, kinda a flat pop or Gingerale nose as was said before me. flavor is some malt decent hops and a fruit im not sure about, i guess its the grape. decent finish, good session beer..