Thoughts on Beer

Samuel Adams Lemon Pepper Saison

I’m on the East coast again.  This time I was able to pick up the Samuel Adams Longshot 6-pack.  Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing the three different beers available in this pack.

If you don’t know what the Longshot pack is, every year Samuel Adams hosts a homebrew competition, and the top two homebrewed beers are featured as two of the three beers in the six-pack.  The other featured beer is homebrewed by a Samuel Adams employee.  All three beers are converted to commercial recipes and are distributed.

The first one I tried as part of this six-pack was made by Samuel Adams employee Jeremy White, the Lemon Pepper Saison.  It was a light saison that tasted light and citrusy.  It had a fairly clean finish that had a slight pepper aftertaste.

I’m glad Samuel Adams chose this beer because I enjoy saisons, and this is a good example.

Is the Longshot pack available in your area?  Have you tried the Lemon Pepper Saison?

Coming Soon to a 6-pack Near You

Last week, Samuel Adams announced that due to the overwhelming response to their latest offering, Latitude 48, an IPA found in the Summer Styles pack, they would be releasing the beer as 6-packs starting this fall.

This is great news for those of us who enjoy Latitude 48!

Just like Pale Ales versus India Pale Ales, when I began learning about beer, these two styles confused me.  The simple answer to the difference is hops.

American Pale Ales have a bitterness level similar to that of English Bitters, except they are used with American hops, usually Cascade, which gives the beer a nice citrusy quality.  Most of the Pale Ales available in the United States sit anywhere between 4.5% and 6% ABV, allowing it to be enjoyed in many different situations.  It is a very refreshing beer to have on a hot summer day, and also goes very well with almost any food.  It tends to enhance the hotness of spicy foods, so it goes particularly well with hot wings or grilled foods.  The prototypical example of an American Pale Ale is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

English bitters tend to be a bit weaker (alcohol-wise) than the American counterparts, and use European hops, usually Kent Golding and Fuggles types, which give the beer a more earthy and slightly spicy hop character.  The bitterness tends to be the same level as the typical American Pale Ale, but this depends on if the beer is a Bitter, Best Bitter, or Extra Special Bitter (ESB). The difference among these styles is from Bitter to ESB, the beer tends to be stronger and have more hops.

A lot of times, the Bitter family of styles are the ones favored by CAMRA, a group that thinks ale should not be served with additional carbon dioxide, and instead should be served naturally, which tends to lead to a beer that’s slightly warmer (55 degree F, a.k.a. cellar temperature), and less fizzy (because it only uses natural carbonation).  This lends itself to allowing the true flavor of the ale to shine through.  An excellent example of an ESB would be Fuller’s ESB.

What’s your experience with American Pale Ales and Bitters?  What’s your favorite?

Samuel Adams Glass Pack

If you remember when I wrote that the beer glass makes a difference, you may recall the mention that the Samuel Adams Boston Lager has a glass specifically designed to showcase the strengths of the beer.

As I was browsing the beer aisle, I noticed Samuel Adams is selling two-packs of the special glasses, and of course, I had to pick a set up along with a 12-pack of the lager.

As I stated before, it sure does make a difference!  Compared to your standard pint glass, the hop flavor isn’t overpowering, and the flavor really balances out.  Before this retail pack, you could only order them online, so kudos to Samuel Adams for making the glasses more available!

Have you tried the “perfect pint”?  What are your thoughts?

Freshly Picked Hops Go Into a Harvest Ale

Sierra Nevada just released their Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale 2010, but what are harvest ales?

Simply put, when the hop cones are ready to be picked, normal procedure is to dry the hop so it has less than 10% moisture, and then the hops are stored in vacuum sealed or nitrogen-packed bags to prevent oxygen from getting to them.  With a harvest ale, the fresh hops are picked off the vine, and then added to the boiling wort right away without drying them, so instead of ounces there are pounds because of the extra water weight.  With a harvest ale, you still get the standard flavor you would expect from the hops, but you also get an overwhelming “grassy” hop flavor, because the hops were newly picked live plants.  Talk about fresh!

Most times, the harvest ales are done in the fall, when it is harvest time in the northern hemisphere, but Sierra Nevada has agreements with hop farmers in New Zealand that allows them to have the freshly picked hops delivered to them within 12 hours, and they are placed right into the brew pot.

If you like pale ales, be sure to try one of the harvest ales because I’m sure you’d like it.  If you’ve had a harvest ale, how did you think it compared to your normal pale ale or IPA?