Sam Adams LongShot Grape Pale Ale

12 oz bottle in Longshot mixpack. Pours a clear golden amber with minimal white crown (<1 finger) and spotty lacing. Aroma is rife with malt sweetness, maybe some honey, no hops, and a slight hint of the grape. It’s very pleasant. The flavour is initially weak in malt character with almost no discernible hop quality, and a lingering sweetness from start to finish. It’s like you’re drinking a sugar-sweetened soda until the end, where you get a bit of barley malt aroma lingering in the back of your palate. The grape taste doesn’t immediately jump out at you - it’s very subtle and takes a few tastes for it to build up on your palate. Once it does, this beer becomes very enjoyable and unique, but it’s not as fruity as one would think. I can really see this beer as binary, where you either like it a lot or you don’t. Very much a session-like beer and if I’m in the mood for it, would love to have a full 6-pack of it instead of having to buy the mixpack just to get it. Light bodied on the palate with spritely carbonation, crisp finish and although it is not even close to any style of beer I’ve had before, it’s enjoyable nevertheless.

Bottle. White wine and barley malt aroma. Amber color with small head - highly effervescent. Under-ripe grape and barley malt flavor. Unique.

A copper colored beer with a slightly sweet aroma. In the mouth it was refreshing, but very simple. In fact, I didn’t notice the grape flavor at all. A very ho-hum beer. Next.

Pours amber with nice sized brown head. Light hint of hops with some sweet notes from the malt. Flavor has some grape, but not the hit I thought. Really sweet with more caramel notes than grape.

12oz Bottle: Pours clear amber w/ a small off-white head. Aroma is sweet malts w/ a touch of hops. Reminds me of an English Ale, very caramelly aroma. Caramel flavor w/ a nice little hop presence towards the end & a slightly dry finish. I don’t quite get putting this beer in the fruit category. English Pale Ale, yes. Fruit, not so much.