Monday, July 19, 2010

Samuel Adams' Long Shot 2010 Winner: Mile High Barley Wine

Each year, Sam Adams runs a homebrew contest, and the top three winners get their beers brewed by the Sam brewery and get sold in a six-pack together. This year's winners were Old Ben Ale, Lemon Pepper Saison, and Mile High Barley Wine. Our first tasting was the barleywine.

Migh High was brewed with citrus-y hops, plum, and caramel. The caramel taste comes out almost immediately, with the plum waiting in the wings. It's got a bitterness to it, for sure, thanks to the hops.

Jeff's Review
This beer was great. But sadly I only drank about half. Every sip was causing heartburn. Not good. Anyway, It smelled fantastic, had a great color (of course, I didn't get a great look, as we did have it in a bottle), great carbonation, and really had a great taste. What I drank I was very impressed with. I got the hint of caramel, but no taste of plum. Maybe if I physically could have had more of it, I would have had that taste. I can't believe I had to drain-pour this! Seriously good, just unfortunate I couldn't finish the bottle.

Kate's Review
Unlike the Sah'tea from the day before, this Barleywine smacks you in the face with alcohol taste. It wasn't my favorite, for sure, but it was still definitely drinkable. Unfortunately for me, I definitely had beer face going on with this one (much to my friends' enjoyment). Hops and I just are not friends. The saving grace for this beer, in my opinion, is that it's got enough sweet, caramel taste to counteract the beer face phenomenon. Could've been worse...

Beer Fast Facts!
Beer type: Barleywine
ABV: 9.8%
Jeff's Grade: Three and a half wishes out of five.
Kate's Grade: two beer faces out of five (zero being best, five being worst)
Beer Advocate link: BA's Article about this year's winners

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