Lavender Ale - Homebrew Contest Winner

Samuel Adams holds a Longshot American Homebrew Contest and this is one of the three produced and sold under the Samuel Adams label. This is an ale, 5.5% ABV, made with honey and lavender leaves. The ale was chilled to 40F and kept cold for several weeks. There were two bottles of each brew in the six pack, and my daughter said she "kind of liked" this, so I saved it for her. But it took up room and after a while I decided to retest it myself. The mug was chilled, as usual, to 50F.

The pour was a sort of straw color, and the head was moderate, pretty nice looking mug of beer, actually. The aroma... was lavender. I could convince myself that it had hops under the flowers, but I'm not sure I would have tried if it wasn't labeled "Ale" and from Samuel Adams.

The first taste, and rest of the mug, was just lavender. No malt, no hops, no honey, not even alcohol,just lavender, like some dollar store cheap perfume. As the taste faded, the aftertaste was hops, and a touch of alcohol. Not a particularly great aftertaste, but a hint that without the lavender leaves this might be an okay to pretty nice ale.

I let it warm to 50F, the lavender got stronger, if anything, and more so at 60F. I tried the trick of sniffing some fresh ground coffee to "cleanse my nose" as my wife used to call it, and I don't think sniffing the litter box would have recalibrated my nose on this one. I have to say the only food pairing I tried was fresh raw jalapeno pepper slices, This pepper was hot enough to make my forehead sweat and my scalp itch, but the combination was not a success in terms of tasting pleasure, two wrongs do not make a right. The lavender is overpowering.

Information on the neck label

I looked at my notes from my first taste about two months ago, and I liked it somewhat better. I noted that it was okay but not my thing and that my daughter and her boyfriend liked it. I suspect that the lavender character gets stronger with age, this bottle sat at 60F for six weeks or so, and while I don't think that's bad storage, it may have let the lavender come out of the leaves and into the brew. This might be quite drinkable fresh brewed, and if you try it after this review, drop me a comment. I'll pass.

In the cooler: Up in a few days, a pils style brew, I'm going to look at my beer styles books and see if there's anything to share. I'll talk a bit about "noble pils" as well, and tell you what's in the cooler after that.