May
22
2007
Long Shots
Posted on 07:12, May 22nd, 2007 by Ron
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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Comments
I’m not sure how well they represent home brewers in general, but I only had issues with one of them. Here are my thoughts from March:
http://www.thebarleyblog.com/2007/sam-adams-longshot-homebrew-contest-pack/
I hated the Boysenberry but how familiar are you with the other 2 styles? Personally thought they were both solid, if underwhelming, renditions for their categories. The Export could’ve used some minerally qualities and the Old Ale could’ve used a touch of vinous fruit. Otherwise? Good stuff from Sam Adams and the homebrewers who crafted the recipes. The Boysenberry just reminded me too much of BooBerry cereal to take it seriously. Albeit not a drain pour.
Cheers!
Old Ale, Dortmunder Lager and fruited Wheat beers are far from “extreme” beer styles. While part of the criteria for selecting these styles may have been to not overlap current Samuel Adams beers, I found nothing wrong with the Dortmunder or Old Ale. Both were quite enjoyable for the style. I passed on the Boysenberry as I detest most fruited wheat beers I’ve tried. And these were certainly not “homebrewed” beers. They were commercially brewed beers based on homebrewer’s recipes.
I didn’t intend to use the word “extreme”; in haste, I did. Try “uncommon” instead.
‘Tis true I am less familiar with both the export and the old ale. I have a decent understanding of what the old ale should be like, and I just tend to not enjoy the style. (too much of a punch in the face, as opposed to drinkability) As for the export, I admit that I am unfamiliar with the style - anyone care to enlighten me?
(none were drain pours for me either… I had the second export one evening with a bowl of popcorn while watching “24″ and I was content. The second old ale I had with a NY strip steak and I still found it quite strong.)
The Dortmunder Export must have been the saving grace of your night, ‘cuz this year’s “24″ was a huge letdown, imo.
“24″ has been the same old story again this year, but popcorn and a beer to watch it has become a tradition. (no spoilers please, I’m a couple episodes behind)
A Dort or Export should pretty much, lamens terms here, taste like a Pilsner but be less hoppy (bitterness wise) and have a notable mineral sharpness to it. Some info here:
“The beer from Dortmunder is a pale lager influenced by the golden beer from Pilsen known as Pilsner, though is mainly labelled as Dortmunder Export. Like all other pale lagers the beer is a pale gold colour, with a moderate bitterness from the noble hops, a lean, well attenuated body, and a crisp carbonation. The local water contains a fairly high amount of sulfate, which gives the beer’s taste a slight element of sulfur. It also contains more calcium carbonate (chalk) than average which tends to give a sharpness to the flavour of the hops. Brewers use less hops to avoid the harsh hop notes, giving the beers a subtle emphasis on the malt flavours.”
Thanks, Loren; that makes a lot of sense and explains the sharpness I tasted, but couldn’t define. I consider myself edumacated.
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