Review Date 5/22/2011
Try? Re-buy?
OK, you’re probably sick of me saying how much I really love the idea of the Samuel Adams Longshot home brewers contest. Each April or thereabouts, Boston Beer Company, makers of the Samuel Adams line, releases a new six-pack featuring two bottles of each of three different winning recipes from the prior year’s contest. And each year, beer lovers everywhere get treated to some pretty great stuff. Like Samuel Adams Longshot Blackened Hops, for example, a winning entry included in the 2011 sampler pack.
When I saw the name “Blackened Hops”, I immediately thought this interesting little concoction from the kitchen of Illinois’s Rodney Kibzey would be dark, hoppy ale. And it is that. But after its release, and before I cracked a bottle open, I spied a few reviews on the web. The beer was called a “Dark IPA” or worse yet “Cascadian Dark”. Just what the heck is a Cascadian Dark ale anyway? As savvy beer reviewer Red Rooster so sagely remarked, contract brewer New Amsterdam was doing an “India Dark Ale” way back in the early to mid-nineties. Then too, Greg Noonan at the Vermont Pub and Brewery was making Blackwatch IPA even before that.
I don’t like the term “Cascadian Dark Ale”, mostly because it implies the style originated in the Pacific Northwest; it did not. Call them black IPAs, or better yet, India Dark Ales. Whatever you call them, though, Longshot Blackened Hops isn’t one of them. Let’s see why I think so.
Samuel Adams Longshot Blackened Hops pours to a jet black color with a thick creamy tan colored head formation and a ginormous resiny hop nose. Indeed, there is so much piney aroma on this one that as soon as I popped the cap I got a divine wind of hop scent delivered straight to my nostrils. The beer has an excellent Brussels lace, as well, and it clings to the sides of the glass as I sip and the liquid descends.
Let me say that sipping action was repeated and very pleasant indeed as I savored this enigmatic treat. Before drinking, as I said, I was thinking India Dark Ale or Dark IPA as the variant is sometimes called. Lots of them are brewed these days, but this just did not seem much like the ones I've tasted. As I sipped the beer, I was impressed by the big, chocolaty palate that greeted my taste buds, mixed with some espresso notes and astringent roasted barley flavor. The body was not quite to stout levels, but more seeming of a robust porter.
The hops don’t take long to show up, and they scream pine and resin as loud as they can. They’re aromatic and become very bitter in the finish where a hint of citric grapefruit comes through. They linger on the tongue along with a roasty bitterness sometime after sipping. There’s an ever so subtle alcohol warmth, too (content by volume is 7% here).
For my money, this is no India Pale Ale brewed with dark malts; rather, this is a robust porter with a ton of hops thrown in. Your mileage may vary, but I found this to be the best beer in the 2011 Longshot assortment, and I intend to pick up another six-pack just to get two more of these beauties. Don’t miss this beer.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft