Judging the Sam Adams Longshot homebrew contest finals in Boston
By William Brand
Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 11:30 am in General.
Finalist judgers for the 2008 Sam Adams Longshoe homebrewing compeition in the Boston Beer Col tasting room in Boston, Jim Kock, left, Marty Nachel, front, Tony Fordor, right, William Brand, rear, right. Photo by William Brand
I helped pick the winner of the 2008 Sam Adams Longshot Homebrew Competition Wednesday in a blind tasting at the Boston Beer Co. brewery in Boston. No, I can’t tall you who won – the judges are sworn to secrecy, but I can tell you about the four beers that made the finals…
The results will be announced during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Oct. 9-11, 2008. The winning beer will be bottled and distributed nationally in January, along with last year’s winner, a double IPA, brewed by Mike McDole of Clayton, CA., a member of the Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts homebrew club. The recipe, which is similar to Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, requires seven different hops; Sam Adams couldn’t source them, so the beer will be released this year along with the 2008 winner.
The third Longshot beer to be released in January will be the winner of Boston Beer. Co. employee homebrew contest. They’re picking the finalists now. People attending the GABF will be able to taste the beer and vote on the finalists at the Boston Beer booth at the GABF.
All three winning beers will be brewed by Sam Adams at the company’s Cincinnati, OH. brewery.
Back to the Longshot contest. There were four judges this time around, Jim Koch, president and founder of Boston Beer, Marty Nachel , author of Homebrewing for Dummies, Tony Forder, founder of Ale Street News, the national beer monthly, and yours truly. Todd and Jason Alstrom, founders of Beeradvocate.com were supposed to join the judging panel, but they had to beg off because their big American Craft Beer Festival is this weekend and they were pressed for time.
We had four beers, chosen from 1,367 beers entered by homebrewers across the country. They were:
- A German-style pilsner. This was a beautiful beer, hard to believe it was made by a homebrewer: light gold, spicy hops in the nose, medium-full mouth feel and a crisp, clean finish. 5.73 percent ABV.
- A German-style, traditional bock. A blend of two-row, pale barley, and chocolate malt and Hallertau hops, it was another beauty: bright copper color with a large head, great, malty mouthfeel, crisp finish. 6.65 percent ABV.
- A mild brown ale. Mild is a low alcohol beer popular in the UK. It was a clear, medium brown color with an impressive head. The taste was dry with a definitely hoppy snatch in the finish. 3.39 percent ABV.
- A coffee stout — fits in the spiced, herb and vegetable category. Coffee nose, complex taste: roast malt, coffee, fading into a dry finish with a lingering hint of coffee. 4.66 percent ABV.
I’ll say this, debate about the winner was spirited. The voting was very, very close. The winner is absolutely an excellent beer. Can’t wait to try the finished version and to try once more Mike McDole’s most excellent double IPA.
Final stats: There were 339 entries from homebrewers, winner was chosen June 1; there were 457 entries from the Midwest, winner chosen June 8 in Chicago. There were 457 entries from the East Coast. Two winners were chosen in judging in Boston June 8.
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June 19th, 2008 at 11:31 am
[...] I helped pick the winner of the 2008 Sam Adams Longshot Homebrew Competition Wednesday in a blind tasting at the Boston Beer Co. brewery in Boston. No, I can’t tall you who won – the judges are sworn to secrecy, but I can tell you about the four beers that made the finals… Read the rest of this entry » [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Interesting that the finalists are from styles that are fairly easy to brew given the hop shortages. Did the bad experience obtaining hops for the Pliny clone have any influence on the final 4?
June 20th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Good question Mario. But they said the entries ranged across a wide spectrum,. They had no control over the winners; they were all chosen in blind tastings by homebrew judges in San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. Each competition was handled by local homebrew clubs. They did wonders. Just assembling the beers, getting them to the tasting location, getting judges, arranging flights of tastings. Whew,
I salute homebrew clubs. They’re the soul of American beer.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I certainly hope that the winner was the West Coast finalist, who is a friend and customer of ours!! Exciting!!
As far as the hop shortage, I think it probably had more effect on the entries themselves, since most brew shops are hard pressed to supply hops in any significant quantity to home brewers, and the price for what they do have is 3x - 4x the price compared to this time last year.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
I was a judge this year in Boston, the styles I judged were Witbier and Helles. did you and the crew judge the beer from the best of show from all the regions?
I didn’t stick around sunday for the best of show. the Sam Adams staff and accomidations were top notch. I can’t wait untill next year.
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Yes, the four beers we judged were the three best of shows from San Francisco, Chicago and Boston, plus the runner u p from Boston. Don’;t know which came from where though. They were all excellent.
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
To Julie… I think you’re right about the hops. I wonder what the breakdown was in submissions — how many double ipas and big imperial beers were entered. The only thing I can say is all four we tasted were excellent, well made, basically no flaws.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
There was no hop shortage when I started working on my Traditional Bock recipe two years ago so that wasn’t the reason for me picking that style. People continue to brew hoppy beers despite the limited availability of hops and their beers continue to win in other contests like Nate Smith’s (Club DOZE) wonderful DIPA that has won the Best of Show at several contests in Northern California. I don’t have the entry numbers to compare the last couple of years vs. this year for say IPA’s and DIPA’s but as Mr. Brand said it would be interesting.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 am
Here are some numbers on the Longshot entries in the IPA category including American, English and Double IPAs. Last year there were (14) or 9% of the total entries. This year IPAs were 7.5% of the total entries so not a huge impact but down a little.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Correction… Boston region had 575 entries.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Thanks Michael and I apologize for not qualifying my numbers but they are for the last two years of the Western region only.
Sorry,
-Alex