Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed - Vol III

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at another of the Samuel Adams Latitude 48 varieties - the East Kent Goldings version.

As mentioned in my July 31, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Hallertau Mitterfreuh (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-latitude.html) and the August 14, 2011 post which reviewed Samuel Adams Latitude 48 - Simcoe (found here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/08/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 East Kent Goldings version of the Latitude 48. The back of the bottle indicates that The East Kent Goldings hops grow in East Kent in the United Kingdom. The label further provides that the East Kent Goldings hops were first used in brewing in the 1700s in East Kent, England and "contribute a mellow bitterness to this brew, along with earthy, floral and apricot notes, balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the five different malts."

The Latitude 48 East Kent Goldings variety was definitely the most mellow of the deconstructed versions that I have tried. I tasted some of the hops and citrusy flavor, but wished there was a little more bite in the brew. I completely missed the apricot notes, but that might be due to my being spoiled by my friend Daniel R's homebrew version of a certain Magic Hat variety which was heavy on the apricots.

The Latitude 48 East Kent Goldings was a good accompaniment to Friday night roasted chicken, but it might have gone ever better with a honey barbecue chicken. Of course, I did not know this until I tasted the two together on Friday night and it was too late to ask Mrs KB to make a different kind of chicken...

The Samuel Adams Latitude 48 East Kent Goldings 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/35/68397.

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

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