The Long Shot is sold out!
Samuel Adams Longshot.....only...$6.99 / 6pkThe Sam Adams Longshot pack contains 3 different brews (2 bottles each) from the winners of Samuel Adams Homebrew contest each year. This year it is Mike McDole's Double IPA, Carissa Sweigart's Cranberry Wit, Alex Drobshoff's Traditional Bock.
There is considerable hype about the Mike McDole Double IPA -- it is a Pliny the Elder
Clone. Russian River Brewing Company's Pliny the Elder is one of the most sought after DIPA (not available in Missouri). McDole's entry actually won last year, but because of the hop shortage it could not be produced in the volume needed until this year. Beer enthusiasts have been waiting for this beer for over a year now! Here is the story from William Brand of What's on Tap:
"Clayton homebrewer clones Pliny, wins Sam Adams LongShot
Are you, like me, a fan of Pliny the Elder****, the huge hop and malt bomb created by Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa? It won another gold medal earlier this month at the Great American Beer Festival. It's in short supply...this winter, you and I will have a chance to taste what is practically the same beer under the Samuel Adams LongShot label -- thanks to ace homebrewer Mike McDole of Clayton.....It will, apparently, be the first national release of a popular West Coast style known as a double or imperial India pale ale. Mike's beer is 9.6 percent ABV, 100 IBUs -- seven kinds of aromatic hops... McDole, a computer consultant who has been homebrewing for more than a decade, says quite bluntly that his beer is a clone of Pliny the Elder. It isn't Pliny, he said. But it almost is. The difference is McDole adds one more hop, Northern Brewer, early in the process and he uses a malt extract, often used by homebrewers. But otherwise, it's Pliny -- with its exquisite, multilayered mouth-feel. He explains that Cilurzo provided the recipe at a national American Homebrewers Association conference a couple of years ago. Mike says he won a big state contest last year, sponsored by the Maltose Falcons homebrew club in Southern California, with the same beer. He adds that he told Vinnie about his Sam Adams victory, who delivered the news to Boston Brewing founder Jim Koch that he had chosen a Pliny clone as a LongShot winner. One thing's certain: This is a beer that will sell out...He became a fan of Pliny, so, when Cilurzo released the recipe, he went for it. "I started making it and I started winning contests," he said. He's a popular guy around the area; when he goes to an event, a wedding, a party, he always brings a beer. Hey, Mike, you can come to my party. And, er, bring the Pliny clone, if you don't mind.
By the way, his recipe is posted at
http://www.maltosefalcons.com/recipes/20060504.php. More info on the DOZE
homebrew club can be found at http://www.clubdoze.com/.
---William Brand, What's on Tap
availble online at www.wineandcheeseplace.com
check out these are rare new beer releases -- click here
3 comments:
Thanks for carrying the Longshot six-pack. And a special thanks for quoting Bill Brand's blog. Bill passed away this last February from a tragic accident and his not being around to share this experience with me is a real disappointment. Enjoy the beer!
Mike McDole
Clayton, CA (not MO)
Mike,
We just got it in and have it chilling down. Cannot wait to try it. I have only had Pliny the Elder once at Falling Rock in CO.
I absolutely loved Mike's Pliny clone and would gladly shell out the $8.99 (the price it is in KC) if it were a full 6 pack, but I'm just not down with the Bock or Cranberry Wit...
Excellent work Mike - congrats!
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