Long Shots
The Long Shots, made and distributed by the Boston Beer Company, are beers formulated from the recipes of home brewers. But, not just any home brew… the winners of the Long Shots competition making these beers (supposedly) the best of the best home brews.
The three winners of the 2006 competition were a Boysenberry Wheat, the Dortmunder style Export, and an Old Ale. I recently purchased a six pack of the Long Shots which includes two of each. All are finely crafted beers and all are true to their style. The boysenberry wheat had a strong boysenberry aroma and the not-so-sweet berry flavor added to the bitterness of the hops. The strong ale was deep red in color and was super sweet with malt. It had little hop bitterness and almost no hop aroma. The export ale was clear and crisp with a great golden yellow color.
That said, I hated every one of them. The boysenberries were much too strong for my tastes and it smelled like my daughter’s shampoo. The strong ale was too sweet for this hop-head, though the proper food pairing might balance it out better… perhaps some sauerbraten. The export ale was too sharp, though I have trouble describing whatever that sharp tastes was.
I hate to have such a sour opinion of these finely crafted ales, especially because the recipes come from some obviously very talented home brewers who love good beer; but, that is just how my tastes are.
I also don’t like the possible misconception one might come away from sampling this six pack of home brewed beer. It seems to me that the Boston Beer Company has chosen three beers that represent the more extreme uncommon side of beer styles. I would hate to think that people who have been considering home brewing might assume that home brewing is a way to make strange beers. This is of course not true, though home brewing does give you the ability to make whatever you want, including something that maybe only you will like, such as a broccoli bock. One might postulate that the Longs Shots were chosen specifically so that they would not overlap any of the styles of the Samuel Adams’ brand.
I’m curious as to what other people thought of these Long Shots, and how well they represent home brewers.
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