Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA - Ahtanum
Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Ahtanum IPA is brewed with only Ahtanum hops, a newer variety from the Yakima Valley area of WA. The hops are added at three points during the brewing process -- bittering, late kettle and dry hopping. Ahtanum hops contribute a balanced and typically "American" orange peel, piney and floral flavor and aroma to this brew, balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the five different malts.
3.4
220 reviews
Boston, United States
Community reviews
Let’s pull up the initial Latitude 48 review:
"Appearance: Pours out a clear, dark amber body with an initially fluffy, though ultimately short-lived, whitish head.
Smell: Sweetish light-colored caramel sauce paired with oven toaster-toasted biscuit tops. Aromatic pops of hoppy spices, lemon juice, and dried, tea-like herbs fill the nose.
Taste: A maltiness tasting of toasted biscuits hit with a small-sized spoonful of caramel and toffee. There’s a short-lived sweetness that drops out in anticipation of the incoming hops, which bring about a mixture of grassy herbs, lightly earthy spice, and lemon peel (a bit of pith included). Well-integrated bitterness. A last hint of dry caramel and spiced tea on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Lat-48 comes up just shy of the medium body mark. Medium carbonation.
Drinkability: A tasty, nicely hoppy brew without hitting you over the head with scorching bitterness. "It’s an ale." --Matt Simpson. Too right, Matt, too right."
OK. Well, appearance and mouthfeel are the similar all across the board and in step with the original, as is the underlying malt character. The Ahtanum hops give it an earthy, fruity dehydrated bitter orange peel scent and flavor.
Bottle. I’m really enjoying this one - very slightly hazy golden pour with a white head and some lacing. Nice orange/citrus nose, good mouthfeel and carbonation. Taste is orange/citrus, some pine, and some earthy/caramel notes. Very good IPA.
Name: Latitude 48 IPA - Ahtanum
Date: November 08, 2011
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Appearance: hazy dark orange, fine beige head
Aroma: dry and earthy aroma, lightly spicy, touch of sweet fruityness
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, touch of citrus, light bitterness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **+ /4
deep amber with a cream head. mild fruit, hops, and faint citrus on the nose. chewy tropical, crisp finish. smooth and easy to drink.
A near superior IPA. It pours nicely with excellent head retention and a lacing indicative of a high quality beer. A floral and hoppy scent hint at a bitterness which is present throughout each sip. It’s balanced nicely with a malty copper-colored sweetness that awakens the front of the mouth. It’s not a great finisher as it leaves a sticky and hoppy acidity in its wake. Overall, a very good beer which you can be proud to bring to any party.
Pours copper/gold with an off white head. Smells resiny with some spicy undertones. Taste is sticky sweet with a resiny bite on the finish.
Sampled with joe while trying to clean up some bottles before the baltimore move. Same amber pour as the base beer. light citrus pour with orange peel bitter finish. I like the way it smells better than it tastes. But the east kent goldings is still the top runner so far.
Bottle sample at a Deconstructed tasting at Porter & Sons. Clear amber with an off-white head. Citric hops aroma with floral and piney notes and some caramelly and slightly cookie-ish malt. Sweetish flavor with some caramel, light graininess and a mildly bitter and slightly citric finish. Medium-bodied.
Pours a beautiful amber color with a thick tan foamy head. Aroma of hops as soon as the cap comes off. Taste is very hoppy. I’m not an IPA guy but, this is pretty good.
Bottle in NYC, shared at Sander’s apartment, while playing Scrabble. Pours clear copper with a nice, white head. Good aroma, light pine, citrus and leaves. Nice flavor, medium sweet, some faint ripe citrus. Medium bodied with average carbonation. Mild sticky finish, bit of oily pine, short to medium duration lingering bitterness. Good beer.
12oz bottle, courtesy of our friend Nathan. Thanks, dude! Pours a deep, clear orange color; significant, fine-bubbled light-tan head with nice retention and lacing (much more than the last few). Comparatively balanced aroma next to the preceding versions: restrained orange notes, a pine and herbal quality; a mineral crispness. Medium body; medium carbonation; plenty of mineral and piney bitterness, and a much relaxed candied core relative to most of the other versions; surprisingly balanced, with a muted hop flavor and tempered core sweetness. Oddly ok relative to the last four, and while not as charismatic as the Hallertau or East Kent, equally enjoyable. Medium-length, mineral finish: toasty crystalline core, with some lasting pine and floral bitterness.
Bottle. Amber body with a fizzy, off-white head, mostly lasting. Aroma of orange, pine, caramel, sweet malts, flowers and citrus. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly to moderately bitter. It finishes lightly to moderately sweet and moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture turning velvety, lively carbonation. Good balance between the orange in the hops and the biscuit in the malts. Beer imparts some sweet caramel tests and well as some floral notes. Good hops. Good beer. My favorite of the deconstructed beers.
12oz bottle from Pick’s poured into a shaker. Pours a dark orange with about a half finger of off-white head. Slight aroma of citrus and caramel. Taste is lightly bitter. Light bodied with a thin oily texture. Lively carbonation and not much of a finish. Overall, probably my least favorite of the series. Just no much going on here.
An off-white, foamy head with a standard IPA golden color. standard balanced hop taste that is slightly sweet. A very hoppy variety. The bitterness and floral/citrus stand out more in the taste.
And now for the last of the mixpack... Fairly pungent aroma, dominated by the hops but with some caramel and orange. Definitely a mellower brew than the Simcoe. Had a bit more of an English quality to it, but still a distinctly American IPA. A little starchy in the mouthfeel. Strangely bitter finish - not sure quite how to describe it - not overpowering, but akin to a ’slow burn’. Decent enough. New Leaf Market.
Common rating for all 6 Latitutes in the Deconstructed IPA mix pack
In short: Six biscuity semi-dry IPAs that are moderately hoppy. Some are bland, some pretty good
How: Bottle 12oz. Part of the Deconstructed IPA mix pack. Consumed fresh a few weeks after the mix pack was release.
The look: Dark dark golden body topped by a medium off-white head leaving lots of lacings on the glass
In long: The malt backbone has grainy toasted malts that are moderately caramelized and also have a strong honeyed cookies sensation. Sensation of dry bread crumbs and honeyed cookies. Nice full mouthfeel, a bit fluffy, appropriate active carbonation. Hopping is far from intense, these are not hop bombs, all the variations of this beer are more about balance. Some honeyed cookies in the comeback
Latitude 48 IPA (7-3-8-3-16= 3.7): Refreshing citrusy signature that focuses on fresh oranges and grass with a tiny bit of spiciness. Bitterness level is mild-medium and the finish is moderately dry. This was actually a pretty decent session IPA, underrated imho.
Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA - East Kent Goldings (6-3-6-3-13 = 3.1)More grassy and spicy. Finish is a little more harsh and dry. Less refreshing
Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA – Ahtanum (6-3-6-3-14 = 3.2): Hopping is smooth, a bit apricots, a bit grassy. Probably the smoother, rounder and more fruity of the bunch. Bitterness level is mild-medium. A little too smooth
Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA – Zeus (7-3-7-3-12= 3.2): More high-alpha acids. Bitter grapefruits sensation. A bit acrid and it somehow makes the mouth less enjoyable and also the beer a little less sessionnable than the other entries in this series
Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA - Hallertau Mittelfrueh (6-3-6-3-11= 2.9): A bit more yellowed grass than the other variations. Somehow this one felt more caramelized and with more sweet soft-candies than the others. I’m sure it isn’t sweeter than the other variations but it did feel sweeter and did not feel well balanced. My least favorite one of the bunch.
Latitude 48 Deconstructed IPA – Simcoe (7-3-7-3-16= 3.6): Not surprisingly my favorite of the single hop versions. More piney, more sandy and drier than the others. More assertive bitterness than any of the other versions. I liked it just as much as the non-Deconstructed version.
Conclusion: This was a rewarding exercise and I was surprised at how much I preferred some over others, I expected to given them similar scores. Drinking these six beers was a fun thing to do, and I can safely say that I haven’t had that much latitude since my wife let me chose what household chores I could do first.
12oz. Bottle: Aroma of malt, hops, citrus, orange, slight caramel, and slight grapefruit. Poured amber in color with a large, creamy, dense, off-white head that diminished but lasted throughout. Clear. Sparkling. Excellent lacing. Flavor is light to medium sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of malt, grains, hops, light wood, slight caramel, and Earth. Medium body. Tingly, then lightly dry texture. Average carbonation. Earth, hop, caramel finish is lightly dry.
355 mL bottle. Lovely copper-orange, crystal-clear, with a nice, small, beige head. The aroma is citrus and spice, and quite appealing. This hop brings more flavour and bitterness than the others in this line (so far). The hops are sweet orange in the flavour, which works with the sweetness from the malt. The bitterness is apparent without being pronounced.
Pine and citrus in mild forms here. Very drinkable, lower abv IPA. I’d drink this one again.
Pours copper/orange, with a white head. Aroma is piney hops, caramel, and some citrus. Flavor is bitter hops, not really citrus or pine standing out. Also some caramel and malt. Medium body. Nothing special about this hop variety on it own
Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a New Belgium globe. Best before September 2011 notched on label.
Appearance: Pours a clear dark amber color with orange highlights and a 1-2 finger foamy light tan head. Excellent head retention and perfect lacing which leaves rings of spiderwebs on on the glass.
Smell: Nice even mix of pine and citrus with sweet malt and dried fruits in the background. There’s also a floral touch thrown in there as well. My favorite aroma of the whole Deconstructed pack.
Taste: Malty sweetness up front followed by sweet citrus in the middle before ending with bitter lemon peel at the finish. Aftertaste is fairly bitter.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a fairly high amount of carbonation. Very smooth.
Drinkability: High drinkability. You could knock back a few of these with no problem. Goes down very easy.
Overall: Good beer overall. The flavor is a huge contrast to the Deconstructed Zeus I just had. That one was very bitter and this one is pretty sweet. I like it and am still amazed at the way a single hop changes a beer completely. I’d recommend giving this one a shot.
This is a boring beer with not much personality. I was really interested in what they thought represents the 48th latitude
The beer pours an orange color with a big fluffy white head and great lacing on the glass. I find it curious that the head/lace is so much better on this one than the East Kent Golding version. I poured it at the same temp into the same glass that was clean both times I used it. I’ve always heard that hops have something to do with the head/retention... well you bet yer britches they do. The aroma is very pleasantly fruity with that ol’ caramel character. The hops here seem to really blend with that caramel pretty dang well, at least better than they did with the East Kent Golding version. The beer smells lightly soapy in a pleasant "just stepped out of the shower" kind of way. I imagine that the IBUs in Ahtanum must be high, or at least their flavor must be much more dominant than at least the East Kent Goldings because this beer is far more balanced, yes the caramel and the soapiness are there, but they’re less annoying here. The brighter hop flavor and stronger bitterness make this seem much more like an IPA than either of the other two variants I’ve tried of this beer. There is a little bit of citrus rind and grassy hop flavor all throughout this beer. I’m a little surprised at how much I am enjoying this one.
Bottle: Poured an amber color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of bitter and citrus hops is quite interesting. Taste is a nice well balanced mix between some semi-sweet caramel malt and some citrus and bitter hops. Body is quite full with good carbonation. Well brewed and it was interesting to discover this new type of hops though it is somewhat similar to other West Coast hops.
12oz bottle pours clear deep copper with near white head. The modest aroma offers up spicy hops, some herbal green grassy notes and earthy hops. The taste has a pleasing bold spicy hoppiness followed by a touch of grapefruit bitter hops, lime peel and some earthiness. The modest level of bitter citrus like acidity (astringency maybe) takes away a bit from the experience. Still pretty nice though as I really enjoy the rich spicy hops.
Like almost everything Sammy Adams puts out, it’s not mind-blowing/it’s not swill. Very fruity. A touch on the sweet side. For once I feel that the brewer’s description is actually pretty spot on, aside from the fact that this leans more to a Brit IPA than an American. Much more malt focused. But that’s just like, my opinion, man. A hair above mediocre.
Bottle 2 of my blind Latitude 48 tasting. Clear amber with a quickly dissipating rocky taupe head. Aroma is fruity but mild with citrus, light pine/resin and pale malt. Taste of moderate pine, fruit and citrus with pale malt. Decently balanced with high alpha hops and a moderate bitter finish. I though this was Zues or Ahtanum, and Ahtanum it was.
Medium sized offwhite head with fair retention and lace. Clear light copper hued brew. Nose is citrusy, lightly spicey and floral. Body is med/light, soft carbonation, little resiny,little. Grassy, citrusy hop flavors, lightly sweet malts, light fruityness. Fairly dry finish, fair bite. Bottle from statelineliquors.
12 ounce bottle from Whole Foods Market, Georgetown, DC. Pours a clear copper color with a large offwhite head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of floral hops with some citrus notes and a toasty finish. The taste is bitter floral hops with some minty notes. Medium bodied.
Poured a nice amber color with an off white head that had nice retention and lace. Aroma had good caramel malt presence to it and the hops were slightly citrusy and piney. Flavor was great a good balance between sweet malts and bitter hops. Really don’t know enough about this hop type but seemed interesting. Finish was mostly smooth but slightly dry in the end. A good IPA!