Samuel Adams LongShot Old Ale

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

12oz bottle purchased in the Longshot Variety Pack. First beer sampled, I believe first "old ale" i have tried. Smelled nutty aroma, poured tan off-white head with a dark ruby body. Good strong beer.

Poured a nice chestnuty brown with plenty of ruby highlights streaming through. The head was off-white, at least two-fingers thick and dense. A decent amount of lacing. The first whiff I took of this beer reminded me of those King’s Hawaiian rolls you get at the grocery store. Sweet honey and bread. As it opened up more spices came through. This time it’s those cinnamon rolls you buy in the biscuit tube and bake in the oven. An undercurrent of alcohol is there too, but it isn’t that distracting. The flavor immediately reminded me of Fuller’s 1845. Had that same spicy, almost fruitcake like flavor. The finish lingered a while, and the palate was a bit watery. We’ll call this the poor man’s 1845. I think it would work OK as a compliment to a dessert like a bread pudding.

Body is brown with a thin tan head. Dried fruit caramel, with hazelnut extract and peanuts is the aroma. Taste is sweet caramel, with alcohol, and light residual sugar.

Bottle from Ross; Nose of sweet caramel , vanilla, and some raisins; Dark cherry red with a medium tan head; Flavor of alcohol warmth, caramel, plums, and vanilla; warm alcohol finish. Tasty for us "Gud Ol’ Boys!"

FIRST TRIAL: This beer is definitely above average. It’s not the best barleywine/old ale I’ve ever had, but it is quite good. It pours a deep, deep red, with a small quickly diminishing head that leaves a nice ring around the glass and some pretty good lacing. The smell is sweet malts with a little fruit and breadiness. The mouthfeel is nice and the flavor is more sweet malt and fruit. The hops and alcohol are not as distinguished in this beer as in a lot of barleywines/old ales that I’ve had, but it still makes for a good brew. Jim Koch came up with a great idea in the LongShot contest (although I have a colleague at work who insists he came up with the same idea 10 years ago) because showcasing beers like this can only help the Sam Adams franchise.

Complex aroma of malts, nuts, wine and banana. Smells very close to banana bread. Taste of sweet malts. Slightly harsh from alcohol on the back of the throat, nothing to worry about though. Good palate but could have been creamier.

I thought this was very enjoyable--well nigh better than most Sam Adams beers I’ve ever had (though that’s not an incredibly high hurdle). Moderately oily nut brown brown, with sticky head; molasses-nut aroma, with a flavor that has many more fruit notes (cherry, esp.) amid raisins and a lightness of touch that suggests a Belgian. Good, dense, frothy carbonation, long-lasting to boot. Malty goodness. My kind of beer. I would guess if you put this into a Belgian bottle and didn’t tell anyone, it would score .2-.3 high (like, 3.7 - 3.8 average).

18-mar-07 12 oz bottle. Whew, I’m glad I noticed that I hadn’t rated this before I finished off the glass. I’d hate to have to drink this stuff again. Nice enough to look at, the beer is coppery pale brown with a lasting tan head but little lace. Aroma of dates, molasses, brown sugar, and simmering cereal; hints of DMS. This is a real malt monster. It’s sweet across the palate-- I mean, really sweet-- but disappointingly thin. Grainy, husky, mildly toasted flavors, sweet fruit juice, prune. I really can’t imagine the brewer’s recipe was followed to the nines for this batch as it has strong flavors of adjunct or something plasticy and uh heck I don’t feel like giving this one any more effort. The more I drink it, the less I interested I become. The high abv is terribly apparent.