Well this will be my second blog of the day and will be a pretty long one.  Boston Beer Company, I believe you will not need any history or information on this company.  Unless you live under a rock get hold of me and I will give you the information.  I will still put there twitter and website addresses on this blog. They were one of the first to get the craft beer business going in the states and the world.  Well for the last two years Sam Adams has put out sampler back for the hop heads of the world.  Latitude 48 IPA (India Pale Ale) came out last year from Sam Adams just to keep up with the growing sales of IPAs.  Last years sampler pack was a collection of Latitude 48 IPA brew with different hops.  It was one of my favorites set of beers last spring and summer.

A very sweet and to the point history on IPA.  England back in 1600s was looking to ship beer to their soldiers in India.  Well every shipment of beer went bad. The name escapes me but a brewmaster added more hops to make the beer last longer on the travel to India.  So a new beer style was borned from the England Pale Ales.  English India Pale Ales are not as high in the IBUs as the USA ones.  Most American West Coast Pale Ales are just as high as the English IPAs.

This years sampler pack will feature the following IPAs and each will be review in this blog:

Latitude 48 IPA

This beer is in an everyday six pack bottles.  It has your normal IPA amber to copper look to it with a white head.  Tasting this beer gives a nice hop taste with nice bitter ending.  You can taste beer from the front of the pallet which gives off sweet to bitter tastes.  The after taste is something I really don’t like about this beer.  For what Samuel Adams is today, this is a well made beer.  I hate to say it because I know it is a slap in the face to any brewmaster but this is a nice beginner IPA for people wanting to get into this great beer style.  Overall a nice drinkable and sessional beer.

This is the dscription the bottle:

A unique IPA brewed with a carefully selected blend of hops from top German, English, and American growing regions all located close to the 48th Latitude within the “hop belt” of the Northern Hemisphere.  The intense hop character is balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the malt blend.  Cheers! Jim Koch

Dark Depths Baltic IPA

This IPA pours as a dark brown color.  This is a pretty big IPA with an ABV of 7.6%.  For most people calling this a Black IPA.  It is very light color black.  I really wouldn’t call it a Black IPA.  I realize it is taking from a Porter and mixing it with IPA.  You will see I read this from the decription off the bottle.  It just doesn’t taste that way to me.  This is just my thought on the beer.  I compare this Widmer Pitch Black IPA and Uinta Dubhe Black IPA.  There is a very little head on the beer when you are done pouring it.  Smell the beer gives off smells of malty and then hints of the hops.  The taste is sweet with slight roasted malt hints with a hop finish of bitterest.  The hops are not overpowering.  It is a very well balance IPA for the ABV being so high.  This beer is also available in 22oz single service bottles in any craft store in you.

This is the dscription the bottle:

Across the cold and brackish waters of the Baltic, the English porter was transformed, from a mild ale to a dark and complex lager that confounds definition.  Immersed in dark, roasted malts and a bold citrus hop character, these big and contrasting flavors are brought together with the smoothness of a lager for a brew that’s bold, mysterious, and full of flavor

White Water IPA

This beer is available in six pack bottles, part of this sampler, and also in their summer sampler pack.  Here is a IPA style that is starting to grow.  This a wheat ale that is brew with a ton of hops.  There a very few IPA Wheat Ales out there.  There is Three Fylod Gumballhead Wheat Ale and Shock Top Wheat IPA from the ABInbev Company.  Gumballhead is more of a wheat with a ton more IBUs then your average wheat ale out there.  Lagunitas Brewing Company has one called A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ ale.  It is more of a wheat mix with blond ale with a high IBU on it.  Yes it could get you in trouble with a pretty bartender.  Trust me I know.  Samuel Adams is slightly cloudly and you do get the wheat taste along with the hop finish.  It is pretty hoppy for a wheat ale.  The only problem I have with this beer, which is why I don’t like most wheat ales, it is too much of the yeast taste for me.  This beer fits into this new growing category.  Overall, it is a good beer and very drinkable.  I can see people enjoying this beer.

This is the dscription the bottle:

This hazy brew combines the crisp character of a white ale with the intense pine and citrus flavors of an India Pale Ale.  We took this unique combination to a new level with the subtle addition of apricots, which provide a slight sweetness to balance the bitterness of the hops.  Cheers! Jim Koch

Third Voyage Double IPA

This beer is a copper color when you are pouring it with the head always there.  Nice looking copper color beer with white head.  When smelling it, it has a  very strong pinely smell to it.  Just burn some pine trees and you will get the same feeling I am talking about.  Please don’t go out and burn a forest.  I am just giving an example of the smell you will experience from this beer.  Now let us get back to this beer. When drinking this beer, you will get a nice sweetness through out the beer tasting beer experience and then the slap of the bitterest at the end of beer. This is a very balance and drinkable IPA for the ABV being 8.0%.  It has a very nice grapefruit to circus taste to it.  Overall, this is a great beer.  I am very impressed for being made by Samuel Adams. This beer is also available in 22oz single service bottles in any craft store in you.

This is the dscription the bottle:

This unique double IPA takes the style’s origins a step futher.  IPAs were born out of making an ale that could sustain a long voyage.  For our take, we were inspired by the indomitable Capt. James Cook whose 3rd voyage made him the first to navigate a treacherous route from England to New Zealand to the Pactific Northwest.  Using Cascade hops from each of these regions, we created a brew that’s citrusy, earthy, and full of bold character.

Grumpy Monk Belgian IPA

This whole thing calling this a Belgian IPA is a bunch of bull shit.  Sorry for using it but it is true.  Belguin, the last time I check beer history didn’t make any IPAs, however, they did make a beer style from Monks called a Triple, which is pretty close to English and American IPAs.  American breweries get your facts straight and I hope you are talking about Triple. Not making up a style you think they made in this small sexy country.  Well Samuel Adams did a beer that they called Belgian IPA.  Guess what it is a Triple.  A light cooper color with barely no head.  Nice Monk yeast and hoppy taste.  This is really good beer for the style that is so wrong.  This is a Triple not an IPA.  Triples are Belguin’s IPA but with heavy spicies on their yeast.  Overall, this is a very good beer.  I am kind of impressed.  This beer is only available in this sampler pack.

This is the dscription the bottle:

The long held brewing traditions of Belgian monks aren’t meant to be broken. Yet, to the monk’s dismay, the distinctive character of Belgian yeast with its spicy clove and fruit notes can be reimagined when combined with the brazen hop character of an IPA.  These hops impart a citrusy, piney, and earthy flavor that’s balanced by a roasted malt sweetness for a complex and playful brew.

Tasman Red IPA

This beer pours red just like what the beer says on the label.  Picture this, a person with a burn face as red as red can get with blonde hair and this is what the  beer will look like in your glass when you hold it up to the light.  Pretty funny.  This is a very balance IPA with sweetness.  This is a very good beer.  I am really stun I like this because I am not a really a fan of Red Ales. If you read the decription below from the bottle, the red comes from the hop called Tasman.  I am not a brewmast but that is really interesting.  This beer is also available in 22oz single service bottles in any craft store in you.

This is the dscription the bottle:

This wily red IPA gets its character from the Tasmanian hops that are full of grapefruit, pine, and earthy notes., creating a bold flavor that threads throughout the taste.  The hops are balanced by a core the taste.  The hops are balanced by a core of roasty malts that give this brew body and richness with hints of toffee.  This flavorful brew is rounded and smooth with a dry and citrusy hop finish.

In closing, this is an awesome set of IPAs.  It is gives you a lesson of all the different IPAs around the world or in the states.  However, I really like the one fron last year.  I kind of wish they would have done that plus this one.  It is kind of good to get some of these beers that are in 22oz like Tasman Red IPA, Third Voyage Double IPA, and Dark Depths Baltic IPA in 12oz bottles.  Some of them I wish were in six pack bottles.  I understand why they are in 22oz bottles to get into that high in market that most craft beer companies are trying to reach.  Overall, great patch of IPAs, I say try it once to get your own thought on this pack.  Drink it! Enjoy it! and Metal it!

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Twitter @djweiser

Email djweiser13@comcast.net