Longshot Honey B's Lavender Ale - Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

eclaycamp

Kansas

3.75/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

This beer presents itself as outside the box, right from the start, as the label description mentions lavender, honey, and a pale ale. I'm going to use a pilsner glass for this, as I'm just not sure what other glassware would really be appropriate. It looks like I guess right as the beer comes out a light straw, bordering on gold. Big fizzy carbonation rises to the top but doesn't stick around all that long. One thing I notice is that this beer gives off lots of bubbles - huge, massive ones that burst to the surface. I'm guessing we've got some heavy carbonation. The initial aroma is biscuity malt and wheat - it almost overpowers everything else. Going back a second time I get the lavender - but it's faint. You really have to dig down to find it, but once you do it's very powerful, floral as one would expect. I don't get a lot of honey in the nose. Taste is, once again, almost pilsner like. Biscuity malt hits the mouth first, followed by wheat, but that washes away relatively quickly. What's interesting is that the honey comes through towards the middle and into the finish, but it's the hibiscus that lingers in your mouth afterwards - almost like you chewed on a flower petal. Interesting - and not necessarily in a bad way. I think that the carbonation is spot on. This beer has a medium mouthfeel, and the carbonation lends effervescence to the beer, otherwise it might be a little bit cloying. I'm not the biggest fan of honey in my beer, if it was me I'd excise it completely. However this beer does a relatively good job of balancing that flavor. The word that comes to mind when drinking this is delicate, as the lavender and honey are both well balanced and not over the top, which in turn really lets them shine. In this case, less is more.

Serving type: bottle

04-22-2011 23:09:10 | More by eclaycamp

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