Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed Vol II

This week's Sunday Night Suds review looks at another variety of the Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - the Simcoe Hop.

As mentioned in my July 31, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Hallertau Mitterfreuh (to see the post, please click here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html), one of the best new IPAs introduced during the last few years is the Samuel Adams Latitude 48. The name of the beer draws from the five types of hops used in the brew process which all grow along the 48th latitude within the "hop belt" of the Northern Hemisphere. Earlier this year, Samuel Adams introduced its limited edition Deconstructed Box which features beers brewed with just one of the five hop varieties used in the Latitude 48.

For this week's post I sampled the Simcoe version of the Latitude 48. The back of the bottle indicates that Simcoe hops grow in Yakima Valley, Washington and contribute "a profound bitterness and dramatic grapefruit peel and pine resin notes to this brew, with the slight sweetness and full malt body balancing the concentrated hop character."

I was intrigued by the Simcoe hop so I did a quick check on BA and found that this version of Latitude 48 is one of seventy beers which identity themselves as Simcoe hopped brews. [I would publish the names of some of these beers, but past experience has taught me that based on the arbitrary nature of search engines and search queries, people may believe that merely because I mention a type of beer in the blog it must be kosher or even certified kosher].

When trying the beer last evening with Mrs KB, I was (thankfully) unable to taste any pine resin. To me, pine belongs in cleaning solution or air fresheners, not beer. However, there was a nice citrus bite which balanced the malt and made this a great beer to have with charred rib eye steak.

The Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Simcoe is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this version of Latitude 48, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/68400.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

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