LongShot Five Crown Imperial Stout - Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

emerge077

Illinois

4.08/5  rDev +7.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Cheers to Chicago homebrewer Joe Formanek, and congrats on the Longshot win.

Five Crown pours into a tulip glass with a billowing voluminous head of mocha foam, coating the glass with sheets of sticky lacing.

Milk chocolate, sweet melted dark chocolate, hint of fried plantains and banana. Slight hint of alcohol as it warms, that creeps up over time.

Super creamy and smooth, roasted malt, caffe latte, melted chocolate. Light dry bitterness in the aftertaste. Smooth like a melted chocolate milkshake, full bodied and viscous. Pretty damn nice.

Serving type: bottle

03-30-2012 02:31:41 | More by emerge077

puboflyons

New Hampshire

4.1/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

From the one time batch with an expiration date of Aug 2012. Sampled on March 29, 2012. It pours black as a starless night with a humongous foamy dark tan head that takes forever to settledown but leaves a thin lacing in its wake. The aroma is full of dark malts and coffee with a slight alcohol bitterness in there. The body is well above medium but I like how smooth it is too. The taste begins with a super quick sweetness but that is almost instantly taken over by a sharp acidic bitterness on the end. A reasonably well crafted beer.

Serving type: bottle

03-29-2012 22:11:54 | More by puboflyons

MattyG85

Minnesota

4.15/5  rDev +9.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from 12 oz. bottle into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass.

Appearance: Pours a dark oily black with no other colors. Moderate amount of bubbles and a impressive four fingers of deep brown head with decent retention. Also a good amount of lacing left on the glass. Looks really great.

Smell: Sweet dark roasted malts with big hints of dark chocolate. Good hints of molasses and some anise. Also some hints of chocolate milk, coffee, and oats. Some subtle hints of dark fruit and earthy hops. Smells on the sweeter side of imperial stouts with the dark chocolate notes standing out.

Taste: A very roasty and sweet stout. Sweet roasty malts with a big taste of dark chocolate. Sweet molasses and hints of milk, coffee, oats, and anise. Some hints of dark plums and cherry in the background. Subtle hints of earthy hops in the finish. A sweeter imperial stout but the finish is fairly drying.

Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. Very creamy, chewy, and somewhat syrupy. Starts sweet and finishes dry. No sign of the alcohol.

Overall: A pretty good stout. Leans more towards being a imperial milk/sweet stout than a typical imperial stout. Sweet but balanced enough.

Serving type: bottle

03-29-2012 05:00:27 | More by MattyG85

homebrew311

Illinois

3.48/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

This is the brew that prompted my purchase of the 6 Longshot 6 pack. Poured into a Unibroue tulip. This pours deep and dark with a viscous appearance. Head is brown and maintains nicely. Some lacing present. The nose features robust roasted malts intertwined with dark fruits. There is a touch of smokiness in there and a small bite of ethyl alcohol on the finish. The taste is much less roasty than the nose leads on. Instead, it is quite bitter with a powerful punch from the hop profile. Bits of smoke seep through and the finish is all fruit and sweetness. Wishing the flavor had a little more roast to better balance things out. Mouthfeel is slightly sharp with a big body. Overall, another solid offering in the Longshot pack, but not a brew that would keep me coming back.

Serving type: bottle

03-28-2012 04:26:37 | More by homebrew311

DrewV

New York

4/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Pours jet-black with a solid 2-finger medium-brown head. One of the darker heads I've seen on a RIS. A really, really nice looking beer.

Smells of cocoa and some roast, and something sweet, but overall the aroma isn't very potent. Taste is similar, with more emphasis on the roast. Creamy mouthfeel, with some sharpness. No alcohol detected.

Overall an easy drinker for nearly 9% ABV. Smooth, creamy, unoffensive. Enjoyable brew to be sure. This brew, along with the other 2 in the 2011 Longshot sixer from Sam Adams, is a winner.

Serving type: bottle

03-26-2012 00:52:06 | More by DrewV

Bierman9

New Hampshire

4.05/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Having the 2 bottles of the Imperial Stout from the Longshot 6-pack I snagged yesterday ($8.99).

This one comes out quite inky and oily, dark and dense. The head is a creamy, mocha-hued layer of foam, sitting at about 1/4" while slowly ebbing away. There's alittle lacing, but not much. The nose has some roastiness and a touch of bitterness. It is quite smooth on the tongue, and the body is a little more than medium.

There is a little light sweetness on the palate to start off with, along with some dark fruit action. There are hints of raisins and black currants, plus some licorice and espresso, all mixed in with a subtle tinge of molasses. Dark chocolate also comes into play, and the hops are quite evident, with a decent amount of florality and slight fruitiness present. Reminds me verry much of the regular Sammy Imperial Stout; may have to try a side-by-side. On a per-bottle basis, this Longshot 6-pack is far cheaper than an Impy 4-pack. Prosit!!

4.05/5 rDev +6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

1447

Serving type: bottle

03-25-2012 20:16:04 | More by Bierman9

russpowell

Oklahoma

3.58/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours black with 3 fingers of mocha head. Good head retention & above average lacing

S: Dark fruit

T: Roasty malt, a bit of plum & raisin, plus oaky dryness, plus figgyness up front. There's a fruitty sweetness to this that almost reminds me of banana laffy taffy, weird. Some charred grain & figgyness as this warms, a touch of plummyness as well. Finishes dry with charred grain & much figgy sweetness& just a bit of booze heat

MF: Chewy enough, slight carbonation, fairly smooth

An alright Imp stout, just too sweet & strange for me to really enjoy

Serving type: bottle

03-25-2012 04:38:44 | More by russpowell

ThisWangsChung

Maryland

3.88/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured into a snifter.

A: Pours a textbook black as night body that looks thick as motor oil. I love how the carbonation bubbles rise up to the top on this one in a uniform manner. The head is a one-finger mocha color with solid retention and lacing.

S: Definitely on the sweeter side of things, with plenty of bittersweet dark chocolate, licorice, and roasted malt. A bit lacking in some of the more bitter components (namely coffee and hoppiness), but then again, I like my stouts sweet.

T: Again, it's a sweeter impy stout. The first sip opens with some nice chocolate notes (ala Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout), while roastier notes appear on the tongue after the stout has left the palate. After about five sips, the licorice, plum, and fig notes make an appearance. The alcohol is hidden well enough to make it very drinkable. While I like the complexity in this one, the flavor could stand to be a little more in your face.

M: Probably my biggest complaint is that the flavors don't linger on the tongue as long or as well as they could. Otherwise, it has a medium body with slight carbonation and a touch of astringency. Only a slight hint of alcohol can be felt going down the throat, and it's enough to warm me up on an unusually muggy March night.

O: Where this stout succeeds is drinkability. It's not the heaviest hitter in the world of impy stouts (at 8.9%), but it's pretty damn easy to drink. Not the best IS of all time, but a more than admirable attempt with very good execution.

Serving type: bottle

03-25-2012 03:24:29 | More by ThisWangsChung

Darkmagus82

Montana

4.18/5  rDev +10%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured from bottle into snifter

Appearance – Pours a wonderfully black color with a very light brown head formed upon pouring. The beer looks thick just while pouring it and you can tell it has a nice body. The light head faded fast giving way to a nice amount of lacing.

Smell – Chocolate and a roasted coffee aroma are the strongest. These are mixed with some roasted coffee-espresso aromas as well as some lighter sweeter vanilla and dark fruit aromas. There is a little kick of boozy aroma in there as well.

Taste – The taste up front is a mostly of more roasted malt, coffee, and dark chocolate. The roasted notes lighten some more toward the middle giving some sweeter vanilla and a bit of caramel some time to develop. There is an ever so light dark fruit/plum flavor mixed in. These lighter flavors are lost in the end however with some nice bitter chocolate and bitter malt flavor taking over.

Mouthfeel – Just as the appearance hinted at, this beer has a nice creamy body that allows it coat the mouth with all of the wonderful flavors. The carbonation however was a little bit too high not really complementing the creaminess of the body. While a bit overcarbonated it was by no means awful and overall the mouthfeel is very nice.

Overall – This is a nice imperial stout. I would hope that Sam Adams brings this or something similar into the regular rotation. It has wonderful characteristics and is very affordable (part of the longshot 6 pack for only $11.00). Fantastic!!!

Serving type: bottle

03-25-2012 01:06:53 | More by Darkmagus82

wagenvolks

Texas

4.05/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12oz bottle into an unmarked snifter. Reviewing as a Russian Imperial Stout (listing has in as American Double Stout)

Flat-out perfect pour. Thick, oily black liquid fills the glass and builds a gorgeous, creamy head the color of sandpaper. Retention is superb, as is the lacing, and not a hint of light penetrates the inky darkness beneath. Aroma is on-point for the style, too, with roasty chocolate, caramel, and coffee leading the way alongside dark fruity notes of plum and fig. Alcohol and hops are hidden well, for ill or for good.

The flavor is a bit--tangy--for lack of a better descriptor. Reminds me a lot of Sam Adam's Imperial Stout in that respect, with a lot of fruitiness up front, followed by chewy roast and coffee grounds. Nice flash of warming booze in the finish with more roast and a kiss of hops. Great mouthfeel--velvety smooth in its carbonation and the consistency is right where it needs to be. Not too heavy, but still viscous. All in all, a tasty addition to the Longshot series. I can see why this won!

Serving type: bottle

03-18-2012 01:39:21 | More by wagenvolks

donkeyrunner

Massachusetts

2.75/5  rDev -27.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

Pours thick engine old engine oil black. Big, sexy peanut butter colored head. Thick and chunky head hangs around for the whole beer and leaves multiple dense rings. A sharp lookin' beer.

Sweet, dark malt aroma. Doesn't showcase a whole lot of roast malt, vanilla, dark fruit or any of the typical, or even atypical, RIS highlights. Just a monotone mildly sweet, mildly roasted eh. Tastes the same. Big chewy mouthfeel for such a bland beer.

I often call Sam Adams the James Taylor of beer (they're both offensively inoffensive) and this is pretty much par for them. Sam Adams that is. James Taylor doesn't brew beer. But I bet if he did it would be a mild, inoffensive pale that everyone could enjoy.

Serving type: bottle

03-17-2012 12:17:00 | More by donkeyrunner

SawDog505

New Hampshire

4.28/5  rDev +12.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a 20 oz giant Duvel tulip glass, aggressively. Pours a slick black, with a huge four inch mocha head, that takes it time settling into a thin layer of bubbles in the center of the glass, lots of webbed lace everywhere. Smell is chocolate, roasted coffee, a hinit of licorice, and some piny hops. Taste is very roasty, chocolate and coffee dominate, the flavor lingers awhile, a hint of alcohol. Body is medium large, plenty of carbonation, a hint of dryness mostly due to the roasted coffee, and very drinkable for its size, even if you are surprised it is only 8.9% ABV. This is really excellent, fans of this style like me should make sure they try it. Always impressed with at least one of each LongShot six pack I have ever had.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2012 00:26:50 | More by SawDog505