Samuel Adams LongShot Double IPA

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Bottle, 111th rating for this brew. Big floral notes with a little dank funk and woody pine, settles down to some great exotic fruit. Lightly hazy amber with a lovely rocky head. Caramel and earth, lightly woody, with a huge chewy malt body that quickly comes to dominate the hops (a bit strange for a double IPA). Nice little peppery notes. Aftertaste gooey caramel and a butter. Alcohol also starts to show after a few sips. Full, very creamy body, very dry and medially bitter. A grab bag of sloshy pine and weighty caramel, I assume the small batch that won the competition was a bit livelier. Still, kudos to Sammy for something interesting.

Nice hoppy nose with that sweet, fresh fruit juice aroma. Flavor is a bit on sweeter side and bitterness is a bit lacking for an IIPA. The sweetness really wore on me as I progressed through the bottle (surprise!). The palate is a bit dense and chewy, accentuated by rather light carbonation. Gets a bit watery in the finish, though there was sediment in my bottle, so I’m not sure if this was filtered and then had fresh yeast repitched or what. Not bad and certainly will work to get your hops fix, but it it really falls short at all the things that sets PtE apart from the rest namely being dry and very pale which in turn allows the hops to really shine. This beer is just a muddled up version.

Crushed with Jakebra. Lots of malt and hops on the nose. Surprisingly good. Flavor is very malty with a good bitter hop profile in the finish. One of Sam Adams’ best brews. Good job for the homebrew dude who made this one.

12oz bottle poured into a tulip. Pours a hazy golden orange with a huge fluffy whtie head that shows fantastic lacing and retention. It’s a very good looking DIPA. The aroma has lots of floral pine hops along with some lighter tropical fruits, especially pineapple and lemon. There is also a healthy malt sweetness that keeps the hops from dominating the nose altogether. The taste is also pretty balanced with lots of citrus up front that give way to a big malt backbone with tons of caramel sweetness. The finish is a combination of some lemony hop bitterness and hints of pine. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and slick with good carbonation. It’s pretty sticky with both hops and sugary sweetness. This is certainly one of the best Sam Adams beers I’ve had and while not a world class DIPA, it’s a very good beer.

Pours out a somewhat hazy light copper/golden color with a moderate fluffy off-white head. Aroma of pine, grapefruit and a bready note. Taste is citrus hops, pine sweet malts, bread and some expected bitterness on the finish, I could tell the hops died a bit in this one because they had that dying hop flavor at the very end. Overall this was very solid.

12oz bottle. Pours a hazy copper with a decent off white head. Smells citrusy and earthy. Tastes of apple, grapefruit rind, grass, and very bitter aftertaste. Smells real good and tastes just like it smells. Pretty good stuff.

Pour is a hazy amber with an attractive creamy off white head. Pine, mango, citrus, and biscuit like malts balance this brew. Very solid and reminds me somewhat of Great Divide Hercules or somethig of that ilk. IMO, this should be a bit higher within the style percentage, more like 75% or even higher. Underrated for the site. Good effort and maybe my favorite along with the Imperial Pilsner (qualification: I still haven’t tried Utopias).

Bottle. Pours a gold color with a off-white head. Aroma of pine, bread and hops. Has an oily and thick mouthfeel at first. Tastes sweet when it hits your mouth at first. Then pine and malts kick in with a bitter finish.