Samuel Adams LongShot Traditional Bock

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Dunkler Bock
Boston, Massachusetts USA

12oz bottle. Pours a clear, chestnut brown body with a finger-width, beige, quickly dissipating foam head that leaves a light lacing. Aroma is bit toasty, nutty, and sweet caramels. Some faint chocolates and a hint of raisin. Not too bad. Flavor isn’t as rich as I was hoping for. Initially some sweet caramels and a bit of toasted toffee before moving into a more cherry raisin middle with a thicker caramel. Some molasses and a hint of chocolate lead this into the finish where it ends with a moderately sweet, toasted caramel with some chocolate covered raisins. Lingers with some mildly sweet caramels, faint chocolate, and a bit of fruit. Palate is medium to full with a creamy, slightly chewy body. Finishes smooth and slowly dries. Overall, not a bad beer, but after the aroma I was expecting a little more. Don’t get me wrong, its not a bad tasting bock at all, just not as big a flavor as I was hoping for. The body is almost full, but needs just a slight rich kick to put it over the top. Nonetheless, enjoyeable with a decent enough flavor to keep sipping on.

Bottled version. Now this is right up my alley. Big malty aroma filled with roasted nutty notes and a wee bit of raisin. Pours a gorgeous deep reddish brown, and sports a decent, though somewhat receding beige head. Malt forward but with a light snap of hop bitterness that stays with in through a long bittersweet fade. Nice hefty mouthfeel with a silky finish. Fire up some hickory smoked ribs and try this alongside.

Bottle. Dark brown pour. Malty, with lots of caramel and a little spice. Kind of reminds me of Optimator, although not as strong. Very euro, seems to have nailed this style. Not my favorite style, but good none the less.

12oz. bottle. Nutty, malty, toffeeish aroma, lightly sweet and bready with notes of caramel, faint herbal hop and a light background fruitiness. Clear dark amber-brown color with an uneven, subsiding head. Flavor is lightly bitter to start with a bit of hop spice, turning sweeter and maltier throughout, with a strongly toasted character and lasting dark caramel notes towards the finish. High level of effervescence, profile is fairly clean and crisp, medium-bodied. Not a bad example of the style.

Caramel in color... Aroma is slightly caramel and toffee... Flavor is what you would expect from the aroma, caramel.... Pretty solid beer..

Pours a clear copper with a medium beige head. Aroma is malty sweet with caramel, chocolate, some molasses and raisins. Flavor is caramel, chocolate, raisin, cherry and earthy bitterness. Medium body, sticky texture. Dry finish. Well done Alex!

Bonus via trade a little ways back, thanks! Pours orangey brown with a tan head. Nose is sweet and toasted with a bit of roasty malt. Taste is sweet and malty and pretty damn decent. Nice work Alex Drobshoff!

6/02/2009: Sam Adams LongShot Traditional Bock pours a dark amber color with a bubbly beige head. This is a malty beer that is fairly sweet and has undertones of caramel, molasses, toasted bread, and ripe, dark, pitted fruit. The middle is a bit yeasty and chewy and the finish seems a bit too sweet and syrupy as slips down. Actually, the finish is much different when warmer and is crisp like a water chesnut or something. Very interesting! This beer has a medium to medium-full body and is filling. The head is retained until the very end and leaves quick a bit of lacing on the glass. Overall this is a decent beer and may actually improve with 6-months to a year of age.

12 fl. oz. bottle (Purchase before SEP 2009) from Party Town in Florence, KY. Rating #167 for this beer.