Samuel Adams LongShot Double IPA

In bottle, West Coast pale ale. SLight drawback with the helter skelter bitterness finish. Otherwise a very nice effort. I can’t see enjoying multiple bottles, but one was great.

Very cloudy; orange-amber color. When opened, the bottle started to foam over (slowly). Good, tight-bubbled head with lasting power. Leaves good ring lace. Predictable high-hop aroma. Floral bitterness with a soft dryish malt in the background. Welcome to a hop bomb. Far more hoppy than the smell suggests. Hop lovers rejoice--lots of bitter grapefruit rind. The malt is simply the delivery system of this beer. Above average body with a moderate level of carbonation. The bitterness covers the alcohol level which only shows up in the swallow. Loonnggg lasting aftertaste--like sucking a hop pellet. I’m a hophead, so I am enjoying this. But it is borderline extreme (especially after the well-rounded Longshot Bock). Beware.

Poured from bottle into Nonic Imperial Pint. Dark hazy orange with persistent (but small) head and lacing. Aroma of grapefruit, dry malt and pine. Nice hop taste of grapefruit, pine and orange, countered by semi-dry malts that remind me of an English Bitter. Very strong bitterness at the end and aftertaste. Bitterness seems too strong in comparison to the actual hop taste. Too unbalanced. It actually reminds me of Bigfoot, but without the nice malt complexity. Can’t really detect the alcohol. Please note, I did not drink this too cold, probably around 50 to 55 degrees for most of the glass. Full bodied, slightly chewy, not quite as smooth as some other DIPAs. Nice, slow sipping DIPA. However, I can’t really imagine having a second one on the same night. Once the beer really warmed up (65+ degrees), the unbalanced bitterness subsided somewhat, but then it did taste like alcohol (and grapefruit). Still not that great.

Bottle from a while back, Thanks Toby! - Pours kinda thick orange with a medium frothy head...aroma is dank even with a year on it, sticky pine, grapefruit and caramel...flavour is similar, biting hop bitterness, grapefruit and tangerine, sweet malt tries to balance, but this one was all about the hops...finish was lingering pine, wow...

Pours a deep cloudy medium dark bodied amber with a slight off white head that just doesn’t seem to go down easy. Somewhat strong aromas of citrus/pine hop combo with some caramel coming through and other hard to place malts. Flavors come though with a strong punch of the citrus/fruity/pine hops, then has a decent malt backing of caramel and slight plum. Sweet, bitter, slightly rich, and semi dry. A tasty IIPA at best.

Bottle ( 12oz ). Clear amber, huge fizzy-foamy lasting tan head - lacing, even. Solid malty IPA aroma - alcohol, sweet juicy roast malt, zesty, somewhat resin bitterness - very malty, almost acidic. Taste - VERY bitter, dry pine needles and less alcohol - so bitter in fact, it tastes sour; solid, if characterless malt backing. Thick, decently carbonated, a-acidic mouthfeel - pretty long bitter linger. Solid - a real grapefruit zest finish.

Pours a nice golden color with a big head and plenty of lace. Aroma is fruity hops with some floral notes but mostly some melon and lots of citrus, a little bit of malty sweetness sneaks in there as well. Flavor is fruity and brusingly bitter with plenty of grapefruit, some very very mild melon, and of course citrus. There is just that hint of fruity maltiness peaking through to. This is an pretty tasty.

In the bottle at the 2009 Crescent Moon Summer Beer Festival. Pours hazy gold to light amber with an off white head. Has a floral honesuckle aroma. Lousy flavor because the hopes are woefully unbalanced. Yuck.