Samuel Adams LongShot Grape Pale Ale

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Boston, Massachusetts USA

12 ounce bottle from a 6 pack that was purchased at BevMo in Natomas, CA. Aroma has a nice herbal, piney hop aroma with just a kiss of grape in the nose. Lightly metallic with a bit of huskiness. Transparent copper body with a nice, strong light tan head that leaves attractive lacing. Initial flavor reveals some metallic, spicy hop flavors before this becomes quite creamy and malty in the middle. Plenty of toasty flavors with a light caramel sweetness is present. Very light grape flavors are present later with a delicate earthy hoppiness to finish. I don’t know why this is so poorly rated. I think a lot of people automatically pan fruit beers. Unfortunately, this one is well-done and not over the top...the fact that so many fruit beers are overdone ruins the reputation of fruit beers and good ones like this suffer from the negative bias.

Faintly hoppy with a little fruit in the nose. Copper color with some faint fruitiness in the body.

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.

bottle, wispy head, mild grape medicinal nose and taste of tylenol, not my preference

Slightly hazy straw body, thin-medium off-white head. Hoppy nose, earthy and herbal, with light grape notes. Grassy body with grapeskin elements that are distinctive not so much in the flavor as in the wispy tartness in the mouthfeel. Backdrop of light, bready malts. Deceptively sweet and rich, despite the thin body, in part likely due to the addition of maple syrup. The carbonation is tight, almost in the vein of a sparkling juice. A few sips is enough.

(bottle - 12 oz) Hazy orange pour with a thin white head. Aroma is lightly malty with a hint of sweetness that’s probably from the grapes but it’s not very apparent. Flavor is light and malty with a very thin and watery bitterness near the end. Odd flavor of sweetness in the aftertaste. Some grapes in the flavor, but not a whole lot.

Amber colored beer with a frothy off white head. Light sweet nose that I will say has green grape in it only because of the name of the beer. Boy, I just don’t get a lot of "fresh green seedless grape" in this. Sweet beer with light maltiness, breadiness, and a tart fruitiness that I guess could be grape. It seems like a pretty generic Pale Ale, with some non-descript fruit to it.

clear amber with a large frothy white head. toasted malty aroma. the toasty malts dominate the flavor with a touch of sweet honey or maple syrup but i don’t really detect any grapes. nothing offensive, i actually kind of like it, but it’s a real "longshot" from being a fruit beer or a pale ale.