Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA - Hallertau Mittelfrueh

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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very nice lite buttery aroma. Flavors are caramel, butterscotch, berries, sweet, hoppy. Packed with flavor but all within a light body. The complexity is really enjoyable. The bitterness satisfies the craving. The finish and mouthfeel stick with you way beyond the last sip. Also very interesting is faint cinnamon that weaves it’s way in and out as you enjoy it.

This is pretty tasty too. Some bitterness, but surprisingly not as dry or crisp as their Hallertau pils. Just a bit more bitter than the others.

Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA - Hallertau Mittelfrueh - This is a crystal clear amber ale with a soft, dense, yellowish off white head that has outstanding retention and lacing. It has a fruity wooden aroma, soft and noble, resiny and spicy. The medium body is smooth and the finish is very clean and dry. This is like a Pilsner/IPA mash-up. The bitterness is mellow and wooden. There’s almost a hint of sweetness toward the finish, like a caramel apple. The aftertaste is kind of herbal. This is kind of an odd setting for this hop, but it tastes good.

Bottle - good medium amber color, not much head. Very good flavor, pretty hoppy

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a New Belgium globe. Best before September 2011 notched on label. Appearance: Pours a clear medium amber color with golden-orange highlights and a 2 finger foamy off-white head. Excellent head retention and nice lacing Smell: Nice mix of grassy hops and malt. Smells similar to a pilsner. Taste: Sweet herbal notes with lemon up front followed by fairly sweet malt in the middle before ending with bitter hops at the finish. Aftertaste is fairly bitter with a touch of sweetness. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a fairly high amount of carbonation. Drinkability: High drinkability. You could knock back a few of these with no problem. Overall: Good beer overall. I love the way different hop varieties can change a whole beer. This tastes nothing like the other Deconstructed beers and that’s the point. This doesn’t really taste like a traditional IPA (at least not what I’m used to), but I really like this one and definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Let’s pull up the initial Latitude 48 review:

"Appearance: Pours out a clear, dark amber body with an initially fluffy, though ultimately short-lived, whitish head.

Smell: Sweetish light-colored caramel sauce paired with oven toaster-toasted biscuit tops. Aromatic pops of hoppy spices, lemon juice, and dried, tea-like herbs fill the nose.

Taste: A maltiness tasting of toasted biscuits hit with a small-sized spoonful of caramel and toffee. There’s a short-lived sweetness that drops out in anticipation of the incoming hops, which bring about a mixture of grassy herbs, lightly earthy spice, and lemon peel (a bit of pith included). Well-integrated bitterness. A last hint of dry caramel and spiced tea on the finish.

Mouthfeel: Lat-48 comes up just shy of the medium body mark. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: A tasty, nicely hoppy brew without hitting you over the head with scorching bitterness. "It’s an ale." --Matt Simpson. Too right, Matt, too right."

OK. Well, appearance and mouthfeel are the similar all across the board and in step with the original, as is the underlying malt character. Herbaceous, leafy hops with some subtle dried lemon. In a roundabout way, it reminds me of a slightly bumped up SABL, in terms of ABV and IBU’s, and, of course, the yeast. Is there a particular order I’m supposed to do this in? This is third after Ahtanum and Simcoe as is, so far, my fav of the bunch.

12oz bottle pours clear deep copper with white head. The aroma is a bit spicy, a bit floral and a bit acidic with citrus. I also get a hint of biscuit like malt intermingling with the hops. The taste has a pleasing mix of citrus and spicy hops with whips of grapefruit and lemon/lime like acidity. There’s also a nice malty mix in there too with mild levels of sweet malts, a bit of biscuit and a touch of lightly roasted malts. Nice crisp brew.

Part 1 of vertical (Next to the EKG and baseline Lat 48): As expected all three beers have pretty much identical appearances with just slightly more head on the Hallertau which gives it a 5 versus the 4 of the other two. "Nice deep golden hue with a big frothy slightly off-white head and streams of lacework."

Aroma of the Hallertau is a tad more spicy, resiny and leafy than the EKG which is more herbal and grassy. When compared to the base Lat 48, I actually like the nose of the single noble hopped beers more (not as dank nor fusel in nature). Both single hopped brews get a 8 score while the base got dropped to a 7.

It is one the palate where these two single hopped beers go different directions. The Hallertau which displays a more robust resiny leafy and "raw" character with a bit of clove versus the EKG which is so smooth and mellow with light fruitiness, grassy and earthy tones versus. I prefer the smoothness of the EKG and it’s ability to let the malt shine as well. That said the Hallertau has a cleaner finish which is my main issue with the base 5 hopped brew... Hallertau gets a 7, EKG a 8, base was a 6.

The mouth feel is equally lively and crisp in all three beers, what sets them apart is the Hallertau cleaner finish.

Overall I liked both of these noble hopped versions better than the 5 hop base beer. I feel the malt bill allows these hops to show what they do best. In the end the Hallertau proved the best with better head retention and cleaner finish.

Bottled. Poured crystal-clear orangey amber with a dense off-white head.. looked great in the glass! The aroma picked up lemon and herbal notes over honey and bready malts.. deeper down was a little earthy character.. quite enjoyable. The flavor found mostly honey at the core, with lemon and orange bitterness around.. a few too many sugars around, but it was certainly tasty. Medium-bodied with just the right amount of carbonation on the palate.. well-balanced, and I found the hops interesting.

My personal fave of the deconstructed series, the Hallertau hop lends a soft lemony aroma and balance to the beer that is not cutting or abrasive. Clear dark amber with a rocky white head, Latitude with Hallertau is an easier drinker than others in the series, and ends bitter, but fades quickly into a long fruity finish. Perhaps more in the pale ale camp than the IPA camp.