Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Tasman Red

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Tasman Red IPA.

I picked up this brew about four months ago in the Beverage Barn on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park. Generally, I would not keep a beer around and let it age more than a year after it was bottled, but the bottle suggested aging the beer would allow the flavors to develop, so I decided to give it a shot.

I have heard different rules about how long one could or should leave a beer around before drinking it. Leaving aside my friend Charlie H's rule (never leave a beer around because someone else might drink it), the general rule of thumb is that a beer should be consumed within six months of bottling. However, when dealing with beer with a higher alcohol content, this rule is relaxed because the beer can continue to mature in the bottle (unlike scotch and other hard alcohol). As the Tasman Red has a 6.75% abv, it fell on the higher end of the scale for American IPAs and had a decent chance of improving with age.

I finally opened this bottle on Friday Night when we hosted our first tisch of the winter. With a number of our friends sitting around with divrei Torah and zemiros, it just seemed the right time to open a bottle with a Rebbi like figure on the label. (The one Rav at the table asked me if that was the Rogechover on the bottle, but I don't know if he was being serious or not).

The beer poured a dark red, almost brown and much deeper hue than I was expecting. The ale was very floral with a little pine, but also plenty of malt. The richness of the brew was also quite striking and it paired very well with the accelerated Friday Night Cholent. It was well received by all who tried it (including Mrs KB). At a little more than $5 for a 22 oz bottle I will not be buying another one soon, but it is one keep in the back of my mind as we draw closer to the holidays.

The Samuel Adams Tasman Red IPA 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 the Tasman Red, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/74530 .

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).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!