Samuel Adams LongShot Honey B's Lavender Ale
Caitlin DeClercq created her Honey Bee’s Lavender Wheat with dried lavender petals, giving it a fragrant but soft aroma. A citrus tartness and slight sweetness from the honey and vanilla balance out the finish in this California resident’s brew, perfect to sip while kicking back and relaxing.
3.2
223 reviews
Boston, United States
Community reviews
Honey-gold in color with a small but lacefull white head. Has an aroma of flowers and some herbalness with a wheaty sweetness. Light flavor with some floral tones, a little herbal hoppiness, and a pleasant honey tones. Bitter only in a flower-pedal kind of way. Unique and refreshing with the right amount of sweetness. Not shabby!
10/16/11. 12oz bottle. Clear dark golden color with a small, fluffy off-white head that cuts but lasts and laces a little. Floral, grapey aroma that reminds me of an old lady’s perfume mixed with a touch of honey. Sweet floral and honey flavor with lingering earthy bitterness. Definitely the worst of the pack, as it always is with Long Shot.
Bottle, shared with my wife over fah. Clear medium gold, thick uniform white head that retains well. Sweet honey cereal aroma. Nice honeyed malts with subtle perfumey lavender accents and a mild bitterness in the finish to balance things out. I’ve said before that I am generally not a fan of honey in beer, but this was very well done and tasty.
12oz bottle from Pick’s poured into a shaker. Pours a clear pale yellow with a small bit of white head. Aroma of lavender and malt. Taste is lightly bitter and lightly sweet. You can taste the lavender in there. Medium bodied with a slick texture. Lively carbonation and a nice finish. Overall, not bad. Something I would drink again if it was offered to me.
Bottle. Pours bright, clear golden with a smallish dense white head. Aroma is very floral and perfumey -- wonder if I would have guessed it was lavender without being told? Behind the perfume is some sweetness and malt. Flavor is well, lavender, intense perfume, some sweet malt, honey, vanilla. There’s a bit of bitterness -- seems like English hops -- but the finish is long, sweet, and a bit cloying. Mouthfeel is slightly thick, reflecting the honey, I suppose. I was dreading this one, to be honest, but it’s pretty well done, on the whole. Not terribly subtle, but it’s interesting.
Bottle. Pours a medium honey color. Medium sized white head. Aroma of flowers. Some lacing. Flavor is smooth and mild with some floral bitterness. Overall very easy drinking. Wow factor is low, but would certainly drink again. Continued thumbs up to the Longshot series.
clear gold, fluffy white head, a bit of lace clings to side of glass. nose of musty malt and grass. flavor of malt, sweet corn, mild hop preswence. medium bodied, dry finish. a touch sweet, but the dryness overall of this brew does not make for a refreshing summer beer. maybe it’s the lavender.
(12oz bottle best by Sep 2011 thanks to Dixonian) clear golden with a long lasting creamy head. Nose of rose, lavender, and honey. Taste of cereal grain, fruit loops, cream and a medium thick creamy body.
Bottle. If I didn’t have notes on Pliny Elder to add, I should’ve made this series my 2300th beer. Well, if another beer further down the list gets deleted, this will stand in. Ya notice how the employee beers in the Longshot are usually the weird fruit and flower stuff? Here’s one now. And somehow, I thought this should be poured into a wheat glass. Where it kicks up a nice big head of foam over a bright gold beer body. Smell is of lavender, not unlike the Stillwater "of Love & Regret" I ticked yesterday. Then some pale ale malt behind it. Lavender has thinned out in the taste, though. It’s the last month on the "enjoy by" notch, and this is already turning a bit phenolic. Blame it more on the honey, perhaps. There is a bit of hop coming through, more English or a base bittering hop. I remember at the tasting for the LongShot release, I found the beer to be very flowery, and I should’ve rated it then. Oh, well. If you’re hoarding any of this, my advice is to drink it now.
Bottle. Pours a glowing clear bronze with a sudsy white head. Aroma of lavender and vanilla, like a candle but not annoying or gross.
Flavor is moderately hopped and spiced, balanced lavender, honey and vanilla, translates quite well actually, bit gritty grainy on the finish, balanced sweetness, surprisingly good. Medium bodies, nice mouth feel, spread out medium carbonation feel, clean finish. UPDATE: really liked this in the beginning, but half way through the vanilla and lavender become too much... was very nice at first.
Sampled at an esbls tasting. Gold with a hint of copper. Nice honey in the nose. Honey translates to the flavor. Lavender, too. Very east to drink.
I thought this beer was really good. Nice, light and mellow. A slightly hoppy and sweet aroma. Lavender and honey definitely come through. Gives it a bit of spice.
Bottle. Pours a medium golden with not much of a head at all. Smells of lavender (floral), some fruit, and malt. Oh this is interesting. Tastes of light grasses, flowers, slight pepper. Definitely interesting. Do I love it? No... but I think this is worth trying again!
Pours amber with a nice white head. Aroma is of lavender and malts. Sweet with some lavender and fruits. Meh.
Straw to golden yellow with a large soapy ecru crown. Aroma is herbal and spicy with a heavy floralness to it. Lavender, malt, vegetation and mild citrus round out the aroma quotient. Taste is herbal with lavender, malt, mild honey, light caramel and a touch of hops.
Clear straw pour with a small white head. The nose holds some funky cooked vegetative notes, and cereal grains. The flavor is much the same- honey and lavender come out slightly, but don’t necessarily add to the character of the beer. The palate is thin with low carbonation.
Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a Duvel tulip. Best before September 2011 notched on label.
Appearance: Pours a clear medium golden color with a 1-2 finger foamy white head. Decent lacing.
Smell: Mix of lavender, spices and a touch of alcohol. Reminds me of the way my local Fresh Market smells.
Taste: Lavender and spices are strong up front followed by sweet grains in the middle before ending with a touch of bitterness from herbal hops at the finish. Aftertaste is bittersweet and similar to a pilsner.
Mouthfeel: Light-to-medium-bodied with a good amount of carbonation.
Drinkability: Below average drinkability. The flavor, while enjoyable, is not something I’m savoring. I wouldn’t want another.
Overall: Pretty solid beer overall. I like that they went with something that is far different than most beers on the market. That said, I can’t see myself wanting to drink this again. It might be worth trying, but I can’t recommend seeking it out.
Picked up a six pack of three different longshot brews recently. This has a very floral aroma with lavender, citrus, and caramel malt. The pour is a golden-amber color with a pretty good lasting head. It’s a bit sweet going down. For whatever reason the honey really seems to stick out in the flavor versus the aroma where I can’t say I noticed it at all. With that said, I think the flavor has a lot of good things going on; lots of floral flavors, with a little citrus, light spicy hops, and some grainy notes. I can definitely see the Boston Lager influence here with of course the addition of honey, flowers, and light spicing. This is a solid effort. It’s far from spectacular but I enjoyed it.
12 ounce bottle opened 4/11/11. Pours a clear pale golden color with a medium sized fizzy white head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of honey, lavender and grainy malts. The taste is fairly strong lavender notes, caramel malts, honey and a bitter almost metallic hop note. Medium bodied.
Aroma is heavy lavender with a hint of vanilla. Nice but not to my personal liking. Appearance is clear light apricot with medium white head. Taste is lavender forward. Very malty. Vanilla present. Honey thins things out a bit but this is a very malty beer. Some citrus but no tartness, almost cloying. Palate is medium+ and lacks a crispness that would make this beer very good. It is too heavy right now. Overall not bad. A homebrew recipe that needs tweaking IMO.
Well points for originality and what seems like everything but the kitchen sink heaved in. But overall I just wanted it to end as I drank it. Floral + oranges in the noses. Roses/lavender/basil taste, a bit much maybe. Look is clear and gold (nothing special). Okay but will not seek it out again.
Aroma: Light malty, honey aroma with hints of perfumey lavender.
Appearance: Gold with thick, white head.
Taste: Light sweetness backed by a light sourness.
Palate: Medium body, light carbonation, slick texture, decent, but slightly sour, finish.
Overall: Light, refreshing beer, but no depth or body. Good to quaff while grilling.
12 oz bottle from Premier Gourmet. Pours amber in colour, decent head. Nor particularly memorable, but definitely some lavender in there. Not bad.
12oz. Bottle: Aroma of caramel malt, lavender, some grain, and some cereal.
Poured amber in color with a medium-sized, white head that diminished but lasted throughout. Slightly cloudy. Sparkling. Flavor is medium sweet. Tastes of malt, lavender, spices, caramel, cereal, and grain. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Medium sweet, grain, lavender, caramel, cereal finish.
Purchased at Hyde Park Wine & Spirits in Cincinnati, OH; enjoyed on a lazy Sunday nursing my mosquito bites the day after a friend’s wedding. Appearance a cloudy gold with a prominent, frothy white head, tiny carbonation bubbles rising to the top. Aroma very floral and lightly soapy, I guess that comes from the lavender pedals, citrus hops, small touch of honey, and a small presence of malt, pretty nice overall. Taste is rather sweet, the honey comes out more in the mix, above average carbonation. It definitely tastes floral too, not too much where it feels like you need to pluck the pedals from in between your teeth, but it’s noticeably in the balance; a bit of spice in the back end. I can’t say I’m a fan of it, definitely unique, probably wouldn’t purchase again.
Denver, Co. - Tower Liquors - 12 oz bottle - part of the Longshot homebrew contest. Sparkling light golden pour. Aroma has a hint of lavender, and some soft spiciness. Mellow flavor with some floral accents, muted spices, a hint of basil. Mouthfeel has a bit of spritz.
My bottle [12oz] shared with garthicus & HogTownHarry. Pours a clear golden-orange with a bubbly off-white head. Aroma of honey, lavender, grain, pale malt and some sweetness. Very perfumy flavour along with honey, grain, pale malt and herbs. Average bodied. I didn’t mind it, I found it just fine.
12oz bottle. Poured a clear golden color with a creamy white head that quickly disapeared. Lavender stands out nicely in the aroma with faint touch of honey suckle lying beneath it. Taste is bready malts with a smooth hop balance, that is accented with a light honey sweetness and a lavender floral taste which is present long into the finish. Mouthfeel is crisp and refreshing. Pretty smooth.
Thanks to Blankboy. Appearance: Honey coloured, small white head. Aroma: Lavender, lots of it. Honey, slightly tart. Flavour: Lots of lavender, rose, honey, nicely hopped, really sweet, an enjoyable brew for sure, is there some ginger? quite a long lavender finish.
12oz bottle shared by blankboy and garthicus. Clear light gold pour, minimal white head. Slightly vegetal aroma, floral, yeah, I guess lavender - sweet. More lavender in the taste - quite florally bitter - nice. Average body, a bit astringent, nice carbonation .... pleasant.