Boston Brewing Company's Long Shot Double IPA

First off, congratulations to the home brewer who won this year's Long Shot. I can only imagine that having your beer adopted like this is something to brag about. And I'm sure your version that you sent in was better than what Sam Adams did to it.

It had to be, because as a general rule Sam Adams beers are complete bullshit. Barely better than Coors, except with the claim that they're craft beers they actually fall far short of what we all know Coors to be. If Coors claimed to be craft, they'd be a bigger liar than Sam Adams, but they don't. So Sam Adams is the biggest liar in the beer world.

I'm sure you disagree. So go write your own blog about what an idiot I am.

The reason I know this beer was probably better before Sam Adams got hold of it is that in some ways it's pretty darn good even after they did their thing to it. It pours a loosely filtered deep amber that is mostly opaque with a decent tan head. It's not as big as a beer this malty should be and it fades faster than it should, but it's at least there, which is unusual for a Sam Adams beer that's not in a TV commercial.

The heavier than average malt gives it a smell of a darker type of bread and it has a good grassy hops smell as well. If it tasted as good as it smelled, it would be a beer to look for again. But, of course, anything run through BBC (or more likely, one of their macro contract brewers), puts up a false pretense. It has an odd twang that shouldn't be here, and the grassy bitterness that starts out fairly strong disappears in a flash. You're then left with a cardboard type of bitterness that's indistinct and honestly just not where it should be for a DIPA.

There's a reason I avoid Sam Adams, except for the Long Shot beers, and this beer almost puts itself into a better category than BBC beers are in. It smells and initially tastes good, but in general suffers from the lack of follow through and substance that Sam Adams beers all have. Decent appearance... until the head disappears. Decent smell... until it warms. Decent taste... but just for a second.

Again, I would love to try this one out of the brewer's kegerator and it's a step up for Sam Adams. Maybe they'll hire this home brewer to give some substance to their regular offerings. Or at least stop lying about being a craft brewer.