Sam Adams Deconstructed Latitued 48

This July fourth, as many of you did, I consumed a fair amount of beer on a deck while cooking/eating grilled meat. One of the things my friends and I drank was the Latitude 48 Deconstructed mixed 12 pack. Sam Adams makes an average IPA that involves 5 hop varieties and is named after the latitude containing the "hop belt" when most hops are commercially grown. The deconstruction is a great idea for both beer geeks and craft beer neophytes. In the 12 pack, you'll find 2 regular Latitude 48 bottles, plus 2 bottles each of a beer made with just a single hop from the 5 that make up the full hop list in the regular version. Supposedly, and I can't find confirmation online anywhere, each of the single hopped beers have the same IBUs as the regular, so the difference is exclusively which hop is used. Here are my photos and notes.

Regular Latitude 48, nothing amazing but an okay IPA. Somewhat bitter, slight earthy and fruity notes, nothing that sets it apart from a sea of average IPAs. We drank this first as to get the whole thing in our minds before breaking it down. We tried to go from mildest/cleanest to biggest/burliest in our tasting progression.

Hallertau Mittelfrueh, mild, earthy, clean and crisp. Not a hop that can support a beer like this, but not bad.

East Kent Goldings, the classic English hop. medium bitterness, smooth, slightly fruity, very familiar.

Ahtanum, piney, medium bitterness, not terribly fruity or earthy, great addition to a more complex beer.

Zeus, bigger taste, fairly earth, much more bitter than the previous three.


Simcoe, sharper/more bitterness, more fruit and citrus with piney notes, we thought this one was the most prevalent/noticeable in the complete/regular version.

Overall a great experiment and something I'd like to see more of in the future. Maybe not this exact set up, but a similar thing, maybe with the same base beer and then more creative additions as has been popular at various homebrew clubs.

This is definitely not a 12 pack to buy and drink by yourself, this is meant to be a group experience and I sure enjoyed it. So get some friends, get a few bucks from each of them and sit around grousing about each variety and enhance your understanding of hops.

Slush ride + new beer from Sam Adams

Wednesday I went for a ride. Tuesday night we had the weird, heavy, wet snow I previously blogged about riding home in. It kinda stuck around, but with temps hovering around 32F, this was all slush. While it's hard to show on here, it was up to 2 inches deep and did not cover as much of the trail as I thought. The above photo is one of the worst sections, there were places that had no snow/slush, just a little water for hundreds of yards. All this slush and not exactly frigid temperatures made for a sloppy ride. My rear derailleur got a pretty nice build up on it, but still functioned just fine. I guess conditions were bad, but not as bad as they could have been.

Pretty crusty.

Another tricky part of the ride was layering. I knew I couldn't go too heavy or I'd sweat to death, but I also knew I had to be as waterproof as possible. Plus I was riding the High Trestle Trail, and as is often the case, going north was a headwind, so I had to account for the extra wind chill and extra work. I went with no headgear save my snowboard helmet + goggles, a wool jersey, my regular heavy-ish Endura shell, bib knickers, with my commuting pants and Pearl Izumi winter boots. This set up worked pretty well, my legs and feet did get a little cold after about 45 mins and I turned around and was home in under 30.
The day itself was also very gray. Rarely have I been out riding when everything has been so monotone. The small amount of snow mixed with the gray sky, with the ground almost showing through was strange. Little bits of brown and black made everything look almost like some old photograph. I tried to capture the landscape and colors of the day, but I don't think it turned out too well.

Later, as is my custom, I was in Ames at a bar drinking a few beers with friends. I noticed a tap handle I hadn't see before, so I of course had to order it.
No, not the Fat Tire. The Limited Release Sam Adams Revolutionary Rye Ale. It is revolutionary in name only. It tastes like an average copper ale with a bit of malt, a bit of hops, and an overall pleasant, but not terribly exciting flavor, but it has a whisper of rye involved. Possibly the most bland rye beer I've ever had. Rye brings such a spicy and deep flavor to the party, I don't understand what they've done here. There's hardly any rye flavors in this beer. While maybe you don't want to make a beer where it's the star of the show, here it's damn near an understudy. Sam Adams generally makes solid beers, that are good examples of their respective styles, even if they aren't the most inventive or risk taking brewery out there. This isn't a good example of anything. If you're hankering for a rye beer, there's plenty of other better options, but if you're new to rye, new to drinking better beers, or just want to try a tremendously average beer, by all means, purchase one of these.