Samuel Adams Tasman Red

Brew: Tasman Red

Brewery: Boston Beer Company

Style: Red India Pale Ale

ABV: 6.5%

Tasting Notes: This Brew gets its namesake from the Tasmanian Hops that lend a bold grapefruit and pine flavor profile to this rustic beer. The Tasman Red pours a golden ruby color with reddish brown highlights and finger thick off white head that sticks around for a few sips to see how things turn out. The nose is really bold and hop forward with strong citrus notes along side some spice and a few oak tannins. This being said the sip goes just the other way around starting out with the malts carried mostly by a slight grainy flavor and some caramel notes the hops start to shine thru halfway into the sip putting some awesome citrus and pine hits in, finishing with a slight linger of bitter to make you want to take the next sip.

~Cheers~

Rating: 3.5 Hats

Samuel Adams Baltic IPA

Brew: Dark Depths

Brewery: Boston Beer Company

Style: Baltic India Pale Ale

ABV: 7.6%

Tasting Notes:  A brief summary of what exactly this beer brings to the table in terms of  being a hybrid style. Dark Depths is a cross between a Baltic style porter and an India Pale Ale. The Baltic side of this beer is represented by the slightly higher alcohol along with a darker mildly sweet malt bill, that combined with a blend of over 6 different American, German, English and Australian hops bring a respectably complex bouquet of aromas and bitterness to flesh out the IPA side of things. This brew pours an exceptionally dark brown with some deep ruby highlights peeking around the edge of the glass. The head was around half a finger of tan colored deliciousness that dissipates after a few sips. The nose has a great malt body to it with some caramel and espresso notes followed by a hint of hops. The texture of this beer is medium leaning more towards the heavy with the carbonation falling squarely into the medium range. As far as the sip goes it starts with the malts leading a delicious charge full of roast with hints of chocolate and espresso along with just a touch of caramel. The hops are an undercurrent thru out the first half of the sip and then start to come into their own about half way leading straight to a bitter and slightly dry finish that has some lingering espresso and bitterness. Our hats are off to the folks that keep pushing the “norm” and thinking outside the box to come up with new awesome style ideas everyday! ~Cheers~

Rating: 3.75 Hats

Samuel Adams White Water IPA

Brew: White Water IPA

Brewery: Boston Beer Company

Style: Wheat India Pale Ale

ABV: 5.8%

Tasting Notes: To my recollection Sam Adams first came out with this little beauty about two or three years ago back when wheat Pale Ales and IPA’s had first started to make a splash in the main stream craft beer world. This beers pours a very pleasant hazy golden hue with straw highlights. The head on this beer is is about a finger thick and bone white in color and dissipates pretty quickly  The nose has a very heavy citrus leaning with a lot of orange peel showing through. Also has a nice floral hop scent along with a touch of wheat grain. There is an incredible amount of lacing on the glass once you get through the first few sips that comes from the wheat in the grain bill. The mouth feel is actually nice and light along side a medium level of carbonation, which helps put this beer in a warmer weather frame of mind. After the nose I for one couldn’t wait to dive into this brew head first and see what was under the hood! The sip consists of orange peel zest intertwined with some really nice citrus notes from the Citra and cascade hops that carry over into a a very smooth and subtle bitterness in the finish. This is one brew that I cant wait to have in my hand once the weather decides to grace us with some warmer tempetures! Our hats are off to the folks at Sam Adams for taking a traditional base of a Belgian wit bier and adding a very flavorful american Hop twist!

~Cheers~

Rating: 4 Hats

Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Hopology IPA

Click on image for side by side comparison of the two recipes!

Brew: Latitude 48 IPA

Brewery: Boston Beer Company

Style: India Pale Ale

ABV: 6%

Tasting Notes: This brew has only been commercially brewed since 2009, but like any great artist or professional in any walk of life brewers are constantly striving to change and improve upon what they are doing. Its is in the spirit of this that the brewers over at the Boston Beer Company decided to tweek their already awesome recipe for this gorgeous IPA by adding the Mosaic Hop to the mix. We actually had a side by side comparison of the old and new Latitude 48’s for anyone interested click on the image. (There really is a noticeable difference) Any who moving right along, this brew is called a 48 Latitude IPA because all of the hops that are used in the brewing of this beer come from what is known as the hop belt region which is centered around the 48th Latitude. This beer pours a robust red/ orange color that reminds me of a sun setting in august, with some burnished gold highlights. The head on this beer is about a finger thick and off white, it sticks around for a couple of sips and starts to lace the glass about half way through the beer. The nose on this is very hop forward with nice hits of pine and tropical fruits with an undertone of caramel malts. I really love the mouth feel on this brew, it is medium/ High meaning its a bit thicker and borders on creamy. The sip starts off with the hops showcasing some great tastes of pine and earthy grass flavors that transition into a very rich malty middle . The start of the finish is a good hard hit of bitterness that tapers off into a sweetened ending with some really pleasant honey flavors. This is an awesome IPA with an incredible amount of depth and complexity, the only slight downside I can see in this beer is that the complexity combined with the lingering bitterness from the finish give this beer a few sessionability issues. Overall this is a damn fine beer as far as IPA go and one we would recommend to anyone!

~Cheers~

Rating: 4 hats

 

Full Hop filled review coming soon… Stay tuned! ~Cheers~