Samuel Adams: It's a Longshot
For over 20 years, Samuel Adams has hosted the Longshot Homebrewing Contest to celebrate the American homebrewer. On my “beer calendar,” it’s one of my favorite times of the year.
As a homebrewer myself, I have the utmost respect and admiration for the winners of this prestigious award. While I never claim to make great beer, I do always have a great time making it. My bar is pretty low, as the work and effort going into perfecting a beer style and establishing consistency between batches is a lot of work. To win this competition is no easy feat. These guys, and in years past, gals, have earned their pictures on the bottle.
The 2014 award winners are Greg Rasmussen’s “Raspy’s Robust Porter,” Matthew Knott’s “Smokehouse Rauchbier,” and John Marra’s “Dark Night in Brooklyn” Dunkelweiss. Marra is the Samuel Adams employee winner.
Raspy’s Robust Porter
I’m a fan of porters, so I’m not surprised Greg’s fit my bill. With plenty of roasted malt, a little bit of nuttiness, and some vanilla weaved in, I found it balanced and enjoyable.
Smokehouse Rauchbier
While I love porters, I love the more elusive German smoked style, rauchbier, even more. With a palate transfixed on Islay Scotchs, a love for rauchbier is a natural progression. This bottle was not my first experience with Mathew’s Smokehouse. My local has had it on tap the last couple weeks, and I’ve had more than my fair share of pints. Smokehouse was appropriately smokey, but not overly so. It had a solid malt backbone with a lightly hopped finish. It was highly enjoyable.
Dark Night in Brooklyn
The banana, most likely attributed to the Bavarian yeast, really stood out to me, but not in such a way that it was distracting. It poured a beautiful mahogany, had a banana-bready nose, and had flavors of burnt sugar, more banana, and a slightly tart finish. Another outstanding beer.
Do you have what it takes to win the Longshot? While the 2015 contest has closed, it is not too early to start planning for 2016. Want your taste of last year’s winners? The Longshot six packs are available nationwide now through July. If you see one, I encourage you to pick one up.
Note: My friends at Samuel Adams provided me with the 2014 Longshot winners.
