Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The end of the year, a life changing event and Longshot

Seven more days until finals week. Not that I'm counting or anything. This time of year is always hectic. Students are frantically trying to finish projects and homework. Professors are frantically trying to cover 5 weeks worth of material in 2 weeks and grade everything.

It's a busy time of year.

Last weekend, I did something that will change my life forever. Well, at least the beer drinking part of my life. I'm not going to tell you what it is. I want to build up some suspense and force myself to make an entry soon.

In the mean time, let me tell you about Longshot beer. The wildly popular homebrew contest held by Samuel Adams brewing produced three wonderful brews once again. Here are my brief reviews:

Double IPA: A wonderfully strong ale with excessive hop flavor. The use of 7 varieties of hops takes your taste buds on a extensive journey. It's just too much. This beer proves that it may indeed be possible to over hop a beer. But, at 9.0% ABV, who cares?

Traditional Bock: A fine example of the bock style. I'm not a huge fan of this style. The flavor is too flat for me, but because of this, it doesn't hide defects very well. This bock is a very good example of a bock.

Cranberry Wit: Only porters get bastardized more than wheat beers. What fruit hasn't been mixed with a wheat beer? Here's another example. It is a good clean beer with a delicate sweet cranberry flavor. The key is that the cranberry doesn't hide the wheat beer. It's a good beer that contrasts nicely with the other two beers.

6 comments:

Gwen said...

I'm on the edge of my seat.

JZ said...

You're pregnant and have to give up beer?

MJenks said...

It's always nice to see a fruit blended in with a wheat that doesn't kill the flavoring derived from brewing with wheat in the first place.

If you want over-hopped beers, try Stone's stuff (if you haven't already). As my buddy once said, they're stuff is almost offensively hopped.

~E said...

I'm a beer idiot...meaning I like the lights.

Am I still on your good side? No?

Well, what if I say I like Guiness? Still no?

Ok, well...I like the raspberry mini brew at Rainier brewery.

Chemgeek said...

Gwen: Careful. I can't be held liable for stupid (or smart) accidents.

JZ: Your are 0% correct... Thank God!!!

mjenks: I have come to the conclusion only recently, that for my pallet, a beer can indeed be over hopped. [I know, it should say 'palate,' but I thought it would be funny if I implied I had a pallet sensitive to hops. Not funny? yeah, I agree. It's pretty stupid.]

E: Here's the deal. I dislike beer snobs. Those who tell you what beers you should like. Drink what you like. Don't be afraid to learn and explore beer, but in the end, drink what you like. Drink beer and be thankful you aren't like the iNDefatigable mjenks who's throat decides to close when it get tickled with a few hops. [I still can't get over that].

Lisa-tastrophies said...

Sam Adams is one of the few beers I will drink and now I am looking forward to the cranberry wit!

And I am super jealous that the year has ended for you!! Only 21 more days for me. The first year HAS got to be the worst, because if next year is anything like this one, I am going to go back to consulting!! Although I did manage to get a kid to understand the difference between diffusion and osmosis yesterday ~ score one for the teacher