Sam Adams contest pack - Friar Hop Ale and Honey B's Lavender Ale

I noticed an interesting Sam Adams 6 pack at the store recently: apparently they held a homebrew contest and actually distributed the top 3 winning brews. So I'm trying two of the three (it's late and I need to wake up in the morning, otherwise I'd try one of all three), starting with the Friar Hop Ale by Richard Roper of Georgia.

Since the last few beers I've had have been of the ultra-hoppy variety, I was in the mood for something a little different. But I didn't have any other abbey style ales handy, so I figured I'd start with this one and hope the abbey style of it helped offset the hops. The scent is once again similar to the Loose Cannon IPA or the Arrogant Bastard that I just had. Hops, hops, and a hint of hops on top of that. Actually it's not quite as hoppy as either of the two I just mentioned, but it's still a very similar scent. There's also a hint of a nice crisp ale scent behind that.

The hops fade very quickly in your mouth, leaving mostly the ale taste. They reappear with the aftertaste, which makes me think that most of the hoppy taste actually comes from the hoppy scent triggering your taste buds. It claims to have spices, although I really can't taste them. I do feel a bit of a tongue tingle, but I'm not sure whether that's just carbonation or not. Still, a very nice combination of a cold, crisp abbey style ale with a strong scent and taste of hops. Not an everyday drink for me, I prefer most of the strength of the taste to come from the beer itself, and I like it best when the hops are an accent or a balance. But when I want something different, this is certainly a good choice. Mr Roper, if you're reading this, you've done a damn good job. You've found a good balance between the crisp cold ale and the very hoppy homebrew.

It's got a surprisingly strong 9% alcohol, not something I'd expect in a small bottle or in such a light abbey style ale. Perhaps the oomph of the beer itself is somewhat masked by the hops, or perhaps the ale itself is just that smooth that you don't notice the alcohol content. It's one of the few beers this strong that I've had that can be sipped or drunk.


My next is the Honey B's Lavender Ale by Caitlin Declerco, named as such because it was brewed with honey and lavender. It's got quite an interesting scent, a hint of hops and lavender. This one's got a lot less oomph than the Friar Hop Ale, but a lot more of an interesting flavor. Oddly enough, it seems almost watery (at least compared to the Friar Hop Ale, although certainly not compared to the stereotypical mainstream crap that beer snobs like me tend to make fun of), and yet the flavor more than balances that out.

I tend to like most things that have honey in them (as evidenced by the fact that I'm an amateur mead brewer) and this is no exception. However, that love of honey is limited by the fact that most people don't know how to use it properly, or worse yet, just make a shitty beverage and try to depend on it to compensate for that. Ms. Declerco is an exception to that, and I appreciate her work greatly.

In hindsight I kinda wish I had tried this one first, since it's only got 5.5% alcohol, and since I started this review late at night when I was already fairly tired, the 9% of the previous one is starting to get to me. But even though my senses are a bit dulled, they're certainly enjoying this nice combination of a cold, crisp, very light ale with a hint of honey and a strong scent of lavender.

And to compensate for the girliness of the sentence I just uttered, I just released the carbonation of the beer in the most manly way possible. I.E., a gigantic belch.

This right here is why I like Sam Adams. They're willing to seek out beers like this and let the rest of us try them. And their own beers are pretty good too. Except maybe the blackberry witbeir, Even Sam Adams misses the mark now and then. If you're a blackberry fan like me, you might want to go for the Long Trail blackberry wheat instead. It tastes like blackberry beer, not cough syrup beer.