I finished my last Longshot Grape Ale tonight. I'm still not a huge fan, but this time (perhaps because I did a proper pour, a fantastic pour, really) I could pick out the grape flavor. It was subtle, but it was there.

Labels: APA, Boston Beer Company, LongShot Grape Ale

Before Lost tonight I had another Grape Ale — it's drinkable, fine, but aside from the nose I don't really get the grape. C.f. Apple Jacks cereal.

(To which the brewers would no doubt reply, "We drink what we like!")

It was a two-hour season finale, so the Lost beers were a Lindemans Pêche
and an Old Rasputin.

Both beers were good, but dubious in sequence, and both suffered from comparison with similar beers I like more. In the case of the Pêche, I had a great Apricot lambic last time we watched Lost (that was somehow... "thicker" is the word I want to use?) and the peach flavor reminded me too much of all the bad peach schnapps I used to drink.

I know I like Old Rasputin, so this may just by my impression because I was following a lambic, but... Surly Darkness has a fullness I don't get here. This has a nice rich finish though, one that gets better as it warms.

Once it gets cold out again I think I'm going to visit the Imperial stouts; it's a bit weird drinking them in the summer.

Labels: APA, Boston Beer Company, Brouwerij Lindemans, Fruit Lambic, LongShot Grape Ale, Lost beers, North Coast Brewing, Old Rasputin, Peche, Russian Imperial Stout

Top Chef and a cookout at Jenna's. I had one of each of this year's Samuel Adams Longshot offerings, the Weizenbock and the Grape Ale. The Weizenbock was interesting; there was other stuff going on, but it reminded me most of a cream soda.

The Grape Ale... I think that was a pale ale? I didn't really taste much of anything, so that's my assumption, but in any case I'd like to do a better comparison, alongside a regular beer. This might be another beer that's too subtle for me to really appreciate right now.

I really liked last year's Longshot stuff, so these beers were a little disappointing.

Labels: APA, Boston Beer Company, LongShot Grape Ale, LongShot Weizenbock, Weizenbock