Beer Man: LongShot series delights again
Beer Man is a weekly profile of beers from across the country and around the world.
This week: Samuel Adams LongShot Series 2017
Boston Beer Co., Boston
It’s good to see that Samuel Adams’ LongShot homebrew series is still going strong, with its current offerings showcasing a nice variety.
Since 1996, Samuel Adams has held a homebrew contest with three winners — two amateur and one for Samuel Adams employees — with the winners having their beers mass produced in a specialty six-pack featuring two beers from each brewer.
The highlight for me with this year’s picks was the Coffeehead Imperial Stout (7% ABV) from Samuel Adams employee Graham Johnson. This had one of the creamiest, richest bodies I have ever experienced.
Related: Beer Man: LongShot series features German, Belgian styles
The ale is made with cocoa nibs and coffee beans, with the cocoa-chocolate malt flavors expertly balanced with the coffee roast character.
It was a bit sweeter than the norm for an imperial stout, but not excessively so — it was more in line with traditional British imperial stouts such as Samuel Smith than the typical drier American ones.
There was a slight alcohol bite in the finish, not unusual for the style and not enough to take away from the overall quality of the beer.
Barnstorm Saison (7.8% ABV), from David Cousino, had good pale and soft malt flavors, with pleasant fruit notes of apple and pear. There were noticeable floral hops and a spicy pepper background.
Related: Beer Man: LongShot series offers variety in tasty brews
It could have used a bit more carbonation and, on the technical side, the head disappeared quickly and left no lacing. While this had no effect on the flavor, I missed seeing the fluffy, rocky head that many saisons have.
Duane Wilson’s Wild Child (5.7% ABV) is an American wild ale with apricot juice concentrate. The apricot was bold and held its own with the sour quality and dryness of the ale. There was a good yin and yang balance to the beer, alternating between lipsmacking apricot and tangy sourness.
Many breweries using fruit in beer could take a lesson from Wilson. Many of them simply don’t use enough fruit, resulting in a beer that merely tastes fruitlike, instead of like the actual fruit, or the vinegary sourness overshadows the other ingredients.
Samuel Adams has wide distribution in the U.S. and the brewery has a Beer Finder link at the top of its home Web page.
Many beers are available only regionally. Check the brewer's website, which often contains information on product availability by mail. Contact Todd Haefer at beerman@postcrescent.com. To read previous Beer Man columns, click here.