Samuel Adams LongShot Old Ale

Formerly brewed at Boston Beer Company
Style: Old Ale
Boston, Massachusetts USA

12oz bottle. Attractive deep red-amber color. Half inch frothy head. My bottle was labeled as best before June 2007, it is now late February 2008. Pungent malty alcohol aroma, but the malt blend really does a great job covering the taste of the alcohol. Heavy and rugged by most anyone’s standards, reminiscent of a Samiclaus or a really strong English ale. Lots of subtleties running amok in this one, from chocolate tones to an almost citrus fruit twang. Pretty cool beer, especially for Sam Adams.

Mar. 2007 - Wow, my second in the Long Shot series, and man they are good. Pour was dark brown with red highlights, nice two finger head which dissipated to a soapy layer. Nice lacing. Very faint aroma of sugar and dark fruits. Flavor...this is one complex beer...caramel base with touches of raisin/fig, toffee and some smokiness. Alcohol kind of shows with a burn at the end, but not unpleasant. Thick as molasses mouthfeel, full of flavor...the most flavorful of all the Sam Adams beers. I hope this one sticks around. Excellent!

12 oz bottle which says enjoy before June 2007. I’d hope this one would have more staying power than that. Poured a clear reddish-orange color. Head was sticky and yellowish-tan with decent retention and lacing. The aroma was both fruity and malty with mixed berries, raisin, and molasses notes. There was also a dash of sherry. Slightly sweet on the tongue and medium bodied compared to the bog-like thickness of the Kuhnhenn Fourth Dementia I just enjoyed. The flavor was malt dominated without a whole lot of hop presence. I tasted caramel, toffee, and raisin. The 10.6% alcohol was not overly strong in the flavor, but I did detect a meaty note, almost like a hint of salty bacon. Pretty good beer.

Malty and caramelly sweet. Alcohol is noticeable. Nice hop balance. Gets smoother as it warms.

12 oz. bottle. Aroma is pretty much entirely intense malt with a little sweet caramel and molasses. Tiny hint of alcohol as the beer warms up. Pours a deep reddish brown with about 1-1.5 fingers worth of wispy white crown. Below average retention and rather oily lacing. Flavour is sweet and malty, lots of caramel and low roast character. There is a hint of tart raisin and molasses. Medium-plus bodied with mild carbonation (a little too much for my liking so I swirled it a bit in my glass). Rather smooth finish, provided the rather high ABV content. Mildly creamy mouthfeel and low hop bitterness. Best beer out of the LongShot pack and overall a great beer. I’d definitely love to taste this on draught as I’m certain it would be better.

Not my favorite style of beer, but this is pretty good. Works well with some liver sausage on crackers. Quite tasty indeed.

Rich mahogany body with a minuscule off-white head. Graham cracker and biscuit nose. Grape esters and that of dark fruits. Semi-dry palpable finish.

Consumed 12-05-07. Mahogany/garnet highlights, frothy beige head, oily legs/lacing. Huge toffee/mollasses up front, followed by plenty of dark fruits, mostly plum. Very faint dark roast/smoky char-like character. No alcohol in aroma for me. Flavor on par with aroma. Big maly, residuel sweetness through and through. Candied plums through the middle, again faint dark roast in the finish. Chewy body, very soft carbonation, creamy mouthfeel. Well done, and IMO suffers from the SA bias. Would buy this often with no hesitation.