Samuel Adams LongShot Grape Pale Ale

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

The pour is orange-ish pink-ish hued. The head is white and sudsy. The aroma is slight hoppy with sweet characteristics... The only reason you think there may be a grape aroma is due to the name. The beer is pretty high in carbonation, light. the grape flavor is dry and crisp. The finish is not as sharp as I would like, and there is a touch of lingering aftertaste. I’m not a fruit beer guy....

(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.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a vivid amber color with a large yellow-white head. The aroma was tangy and sweet grape. The flavor was sweet and sugary initially with noted grape flavors and turned oddly dry towards the finish. Yep it is grape, but I don’t get the pale ale part as there is no hop presence whatesoever. I can not say it is a disappointment only because I did not expect it to be any good.

(bottle): Pours an amber color, smallish off-white head, somewhat lasting. Alcohol & grape aroma, some maltiness. Very light nutty taste. Good body. Sweet light taste.

12 oz. bottle from the LongShot six pack. Pours a nice dark amber color with a small head. Aroma is light with maple syrup. Taste is nice, but nothing too special. Not sure how this one was declared winner.

Pours a clear light amber with a smallish head. Aroma is caramel and grass. Tingles on the tounge, dry, light sweetness. Don’t really get any grape.

12oz bottle. Ale brewed with grape flavors and maple syrup. Aroma of a second pressed riesling. Slight medicinal hop aroma. Flavor has a fruit sweetness along with some pale malt and a equally light hop bitterness. Not as impressed as with the other ’Long Shot’ beers.

Pours a transparent copper amber color with a lacing, thin, slightly off white head. Look hard for the aroma and I guess you’ll find grapes and biscuit but too weak to even be called subtle. Flavor is really weak, malt doesn’t really assert itself until the very end and even then there’s just a touch. Otherwise the flavor is of fruit juice (apple/grape). Finish is watery with a touch of lasting sweetness. Side by side with the Longshot Weizenbock this is child’s play. Maybe it didn’t translate well from the home brew to the big kettles at Sam Adams, but this was a BIG miss for me. Finishing a beer this forgettable really makes me wonder how in the world this beer was chosen for mass production,