Dark Depths

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Dark Depths

• Brewery: Sam Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Style: Black IPA (Baltic IPA)

• ABV: 7.6%

• IBU: 55

• Pour Color: A clear red color when held up to the light!

      The pour came out much lighter then most dark IPAs. A head came up quick and sat at the top for awhile. It was easily two fingers high. Smelling the top of this one you get a sweet roasted caramel and almost a grapefruit hop scent. On the sip you get a mix of coffee and caramel malts. The hops come through slightly while in mouth but disappear quickly once swallowed. This is really a dark beer before a IPA and really only hits a pale ale bitterness to me.
      This one to me really seemed to mislead the drinker. If I was trying to get one of my Guinness drinking buddies into a hoppy beer I would go with this one. Much more a dark beer then a IPA really. The hops just are in a sea of malt flavor and aren't enough to get a avid IPA drinker excited. This one I would swim in again but it's not the first one I'm reaching for!

Rating: **1/2

Third Voyage

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Third Voyage

• Brewery: Sam Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Style: Imperial IPA

• ABV: 8%

• IBU: 80

• Pour Color: A nice clear amber color.

      This was a nice fluffy headed beer as it poured. Higher then two fingers the head grew quickly. The scent off the top was that of a nice roasted malt and a nice grassy hop. The color came out a nice see through amber. Tasting it, gives you a nice range of flavor. The malts are a sweet caramel flavored. It also got a nice wheat taste. The hops though are the star of this one. Three different cascade hops give it a strange range most wouldn't expect. You get spicy, fruity, and grassy notes from the hops that all mix for bitter echos after you swallow. A really really good double IPA. 
      This one I was looking forward too. I love cascade hops more then most! That is the hop that really gets me curling. This one chooses to use cascade from 3 different places on earth and really uses them well. I found this beer to be ballenced and fairly smooth for a imperial ale. This perhaps is my new favorite from Sam Adams!

Rating: ****1/2

Derf's Secret Alt

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Derf's Secret Alt

• Brewery: Sam Adams Brewing 

• Brewer: Fred Hessler

• Style: Altbier

• ABV: 9.3%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: Brown to red color and fairly see through.

      This one poured a pretty color of a almost red but still brown. The light traveled through this one easy! The head was fluffy and looked quite delicious. The scent was that of toffee. A strong alcohol smell too. The taste is a complex treat really. The hops have a strong part in this one bittering it. The orange tone is nice. It mainly bathes you in caramel or toffee though, as you would expect after smelling it. It also has a slight coffee flavor. On swallow, again you notice how strong in alcohol this is. A home brew that anyone would be proud to make!
      This one is the last and perhaps best of the Longshot collection this year. Fred Hessler knows how to make a nice alt. Just as strong as the imperial but really doesn't taste as strong. The imperial five crown kicked my butt and took a hour to nurse down. This one was a pleasure to drink and really had a nice balance. I could see the Face getting into a lot of trouble drink one or two of these.

Rating: ****1/2

Five Crown Imperial Stout

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Five Crown Imperial Stout

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Brewer: Joe Formanek

• Style: Munich Dunkle Lager

• ABV: 8.9%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: Dark ruby red tone to it, light passes through easily.

     Poured super thick and super dark.The head appeared for a second and then disappeared quickly. The scent off the top was quite strong. It had a mix of chocolate and caramel to the bouquet. On taste the malts are the star. Giving it a chocolate caramel flavor that is strong. A slight roasted coffee flavor is in this one too. The alcohol is known too with a very dry finish. Hits almost like a bourbon aged brew. The hops come through with a slight bitter earthy tone but not much. Another good home brew. 
      Sam Adams found a decent stout to put on the big stage. Joe knows how to make a nice full flavor stout that can kick the crap out of you. That's the main problem with this beer for me. The high alcohol content leads to a high alcohol flavor i just don't like. Plus this thick beer just gets stuck in the follicles. How unpleasant is it to get showered in a mustache's stash of thick porter? Not at all really.

Rating:***1/2

A Dark Night In Munich

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: A Dark Night In Munich

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

•  Brewer: Corey Martin

• Style: Munich Dunkle Lager

• ABV: 5.9%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: Dark ruby red tone to it, light passes through easily.

     The Face popped this one open and it poured perfect. A nice high head that stuck around only a short while. The red color of this one really makes for a gorgeous look in a pint glass. The scent off the top was a caramel malt scent, not much hops. A yeasty bready scent off the top to. The taste out the glass was another malt explosion. A nice mix of caramel and chocolate makes up most of this one. The yeast spice is a nice element too. Also a nice earthy blend of hops balances this one away from being to sweet. Really a delicious blend, of flavor, with a slight over carbonation to me. I'd bathe in it again just about anytime though! 
      Being the Face is also a home brewer it's no wonder this would show up in front of me. Corey Martin did a great job for a beer that any mustache should love. The head disappeared quick and the sweetness of this one doesn't leave me sticky. On top of that it's at a 5.9% ABV. I dare you to find another Dunkle lager like that. This one was a no brainer. Delicious and created by a home brewer, what more could you want? 

 
Rating:****

Noble Pils

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Noble Pils

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing (Massachusetts)

• Style: Pilsner

• ABV: 4.9%

• IBU: 34

• Pour Color: A bright golden color that is easily seen through

      On pour this one got a fluffy head that hung around for a good while. The nice golden color is perfectly clear. The scent, is a slight sweet malty scent, and a nice hop tone to it. The hops in this one come straight at ya on taste. The curl got a little tighter as this one hit me with pine and earthy tones. The malt is in the back slightly sweetening this one up. Really a great pilsner any one should try.
      Sam Adams puts a lot of stock in the "noble hops". These are grown where it's the best hop growing condition. There pils though is helped by this pickyness.  The hops in question some times don't make a great IPA, but a hoppy pils like this is perfect with em. I look forward to spring cause I've grown accustom to sam's noble pils. Now that it's a year round beer the Face gets it all the time!

Rating: *****

Whitewater IPA

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: WhiteWater IPA

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing (Massachusetts)
  

• Style: White IPA

• ABV: 5.8%

• IBU: 60

• Pour Color: A golden color with a heavy haze, the light makes it glow

      The pour came out a golden color that was very cloudy. The head disappeared just as fast as it appeared. The scent off the glass was a citrus apricot mix.  The taste of this one is extremely hoppy. Pine and Citrus notes jump out at you. The apricot comes through as a slightly under ripe flavor due to the citrus notes. The white aspect really is just the color not really any kind of spice kick or anything. All and all a decent beer.
       This beer reminds me of a White IPA from Saranac. With a strong fruit backing, and strong hop character, they are a lot alike. With this one though Sam Adams decides to get into the over saturated apricot beer market. A decent offering but I personally would go for a Aprihop from dogfish before this one or even the before mentioned Saranac white. In any case this is good beer.

Rating: ***1/2