So I saved my bottle of Samuel Adams Longshot Neighborino Flanders Red Ale for last. I’m not sure why, but I did. It got pushed to the back of my beer fridge somehow, and there is stayed from when I bought the 2016 sampler six-pack until January of 2017, when I drank it. There were, of course, two bottles in the six-pack, but I gave the other to my good buddy Scott White since the Longshot beers did not show up in his neck of the woods this year (or last year as it were).

Now, my bottle of Neighborino Flanders Red Ale has a best before date of September, 2016, but this style will age well beyond that my friends. Mine was in perfect condition as you’re about to see. The sampler included two bottles each of the following:

Anyway, the sampler included 2 bottles each of the following:

·         Nanzer’s Belgian Golden Ale

·         Raspberry Berliner Weisse

·         Neighborino Flanders Red Ale

 From the neck label:

This Flanders Red was brewed the traditional way. With "younger" beer blended with mature beer that has been aged in wood for several months while Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus labor to produce fruity, tart and acidic flavors.

Samuel Adams Longshot Neighborino Flanders Red Ale has an alcohol content of 6.3% by volume with 10 IBUs. I paid $9.99 for the six-pack. Flanders Red is a style of sour oak-aged ale from Belgium. Had you told me that Neighborino’s version, brewed by Ohio’s Colin Foy, came from Flanders, I would have believed you.

Samuel Adams Longshot Neighborino Flanders Red Ale pours to a beautiful dark russet hue with a thick creamy head of rocky foam and a tart, sour cherry nose. The beer is quite tart and fruity up front with notes of sour cherry and dry almond, woody oak, and a long dry puckering tart sourness in the finish. I can’t stop drinking it and I’m very impressed how much it reminds me of Rodenbach Grand Cru.

I just love the quenching dry tart sourness here, the hallmark of the style. I’d love to see this released under the Samuel Adams brand in six-packs. It’s definitely the best of the three beers in the sampler this year in my opinion.

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

 



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