Samuel Adams LongShot Old Ben Ale
Michael Robinson’s Old Ben Ale is a malty English-style brew boasting notes of dried fruit, nut, and caramel. A slight bitterness balances the combination of five malts in this full bodied beer. Light brown with reddish highlights and good clarity, the ingredients of this English-style brew are all American with the exception of the yeast which is distinctively English. Created to enjoy on cold nights or as an after dinner treat, Mike’s Old Ale is 9% alcohol by volume, about twice that of the average beer. An experienced homebrewer, Mike was recognized as a finalist in the 2008 Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Contest, as well as in the 2007 Samuel Adams® Patriot Homebrew Contest.
3.5
281 reviews
Boston, United States
Community reviews
Name: LongShot Old Ben Ale
Date: April 17, 2010
Mode: Bottle
Source: Hop City, Atlanta
Appearance: clear amber, fine beige head, streaks of lace
Aroma: sweet malt aroma, touch of carmel, lots of drying earthyness, light fruity character
Flavor: rich malt flavor, touch of caramel candy sweetness, lots of balancing earthyness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: ** /4
Bottle. Pours a fairly clear reddish-copper color with a big off-white head with some decent lacing. Complex malty caramel, and nutty aroma. Fruity with raisin and banana aromas as well. Taste is sweet, malty. Dark fruits are prominent throughout, Notes of brown sugar, before a slightly bittering and alcohol warming finish comes through. Full-bodied and soft carbonation Overall, not something I really love but I supposed a well rounded beer that has fairly interesting and complex features. It’s a little sweet for me and does kind of put me to mind as a not so intense barleywine.
Pours copper with an off white head. Smells earthy with some light sweet citrus, some dark fruit. Tastes of caramel, earthy, some tea, some fruity notes on the finish.
12oz Bottle Thanks to JohnGalt1. Pours out a amber topped with a small tan head. Aroma of fruit, light hops, brown sugar, and a nice caramel malt. Taste is pit fruit, earthy, caramel, and some of the brown sugar picked up in the aroma. A taste and sweet Old Ale.
12oz bottle poured into my Narke glass...Medium clear copper with a light amber tint. A big tope head with great retention and lacing...The aroma is malty caramel with a hoppy finish, some dark fruits and alcohol, quadish. Not bad, average...Taste again is very malty with raisins, and dark fruits, light hop finish. A quad light, easy to drink but nothing is outstanding. Can’t recommend it but I wouldn’t pass on a free one.
From a bottle poured a dark amber color with a small amount of head. Strong sweet malty flavor with a lingering finish.
A - Pours a nice hazy amber-brown color with a nice amount of off-white head. The head had pretty nice retention and leaves behind some nice lacing.
S - The strongest smell is of the sweet carmel malts with a some toffee aroma. Just a touch of deep dried fruits (raisins).
T - Starts off with the carmel malt flavor and dark fruit flavors, mostly raisin and dates. There is a bit of brown sugar flavor that comes in toward the end with a finish that is bit of alcohol flavor.
M - Medium-full bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. Very powerful overall, and kind of think without losing smoothness.
D - Very nice flavors that are very complex and interesting, but stay balanced. The alcohol finish can be a bit intimidating, but it really is the end of a very solid beer. Not the most purely drinkable, but very tasty.
bottle - Pours clear amber with a light tan head. It smells of caramel malt and raisins and tastes of sweet caramel malt and a little dark fruit. It’s full bodied and the 9% abv is pretty much completely buried. Good brew.
Reviewed from notes.
Pours a caramel amber color with a small white head. Nose brings forward some caramel, brown sugar, and a low dose of hops. The taste is brown sugar, caramel, some lighter dark fruits, and some booze. Medium body with a nice warming effect from the alcohol. Drinkability is pretty good; looking forward to seeing how this ages.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 10-16-2010
Amber pour with a thin white head. A slightly ruddy-orange appearance. Nose is quite hoppy. Lots of fruity esters and stewed fruit. Lots of orange peel as well. Fruity malts - lots of dried fruit and light toffee as well. Earthy/fruity hoppiness and a bit of sweetness. Chewy and fruity with plums and berries. Really British in mouthfeel and balance with peppery alcohol on the finish. I think it would age pretty well.
Orangish amber color with off white head. Malty aroma with lots of fruit - flavors of caramel and fruit, a bit of sweetness as it warms. Very drinkable at 9%.
Bottle courtesy Fratto. Clear orange color with a lot of carbonation and off-white head. Aroma is sweet molasses, wood and raisins. Dry nose yet spicy too. Flavor is aged grains and heavy sweet wood. Finishes brown sugar with some other sweet dark fruit. I like this.
Bottle from the internet. Dark orange pour with a creamy off-white head. Aroma is lots of raisin, sweet malt, and a little alcohol. Taste is lots of dark fruit, definite alcohol, caramel, and sticky.
A cool bottle thanks to Nate. Pours a clear ruby color with a medium white head, sticky lacing. A sweet malty nose, cherries and butterscotch. The flavor is very nice; a true old ale, dusty and mostly dry, caramel, sweet throughout, fruity earthy berries. Nice. Drinkable.
Hazy, chunky ruby-tinted amber coloured body with a copper glow and a very thin tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, pit fruits, prunes, raisins, whiskey, alcohol and quite a bit of spice. Medium to Full-bodied; Pungent, potent malt flavour with a dose of caramel, some light earth and a bit of raisins. Aftertaste shows some light smoke and leather, a lot of alcohol and a ton of malt. Overall, a fairly well-done old, with more emphasis on sugars than most from the style, but the good basementy, musty malt definitely exist in this one. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle from the sampler six pack, purchased at Ye Olde Spirit Shop in Frederick, Maryland on 29-July-2010, sampled at home in Washington on 23-January-2011.
Brown pour, small white head. Booze, toffee, raisins and dates in the aroma. Flavor is a bit hot and too sweet but there are some good dried fruit and caramel flavors buried underneath.
Pours a ruby tinged orange amber with a large beige head. Super sweet oxidized malt and a bunch of old plum and prune sorts of caramel, somewhat papery. Sweet and full of oxidized caramel. A little bit of warm alcohol, touches of dirty chocolate, and more oxidization. Somewhat awkward. I know I waited a bit to drink this, but it’s not even a year old currently and seems to have broken down a lot already. Meh.
Bottle. Pours an amber bruin body with an off white head and decent retention. Sweet and malty with hints of raisins, dark fruit, light chocolate hints but mostly fruit tones. Sweet a hint of booze and a light rum note. A decent ale.
Smells of sweetened sourdough bread and toffee come through heavy while old rum wafts in the background. Flavor is a rum/sherry and caramel mix with a boozy crispness at the finish that makes this pretty decadent. The only drawback on flavor was a sneaky cardboard thing going on toward the middle. Nice medium body and sticky mouthfeel on this one that seems to thin out as it gets closer to room temp. Good solid beer for the colder months. Thanks Boston Beer Company. 2010 12 oz.
Head is white dissipating in to sheet lacing. Appearance is opaque red orange. Nose is malty. Hops bitterness is slight. Taste is a malty sweetness. I like this brew. Why? Well, it registers as a successful edition of what a high octane brew with a light - for the category - approach without the cloying of an unctuous, heavy brew.
About a 1 inch thick head of fine bubbles. Very good carbonation. Kind of a weak aroma with some cherries and wood. Color is a nice mahagony red. Lovely flavor. Lots of sweet malts, butterscotch, brown sugar and caramel. Soft mouthfeel with a bit of alcohol presence. Finishes smooth and malty with a bit of lingering bourbon. A great example of a english old ale. Good stuff!
Clear copper color with slightly cream colored head. Aroma of caramel, dark fruits and nuts. Flavor of caramel and dark fruits with nuts and a touch of molasses. Creamy mouth feel. Excellent beer!
Dark fruits and hot alcohol aroma. Rich amber, presents well. Spicy, apples, fruits. Complex malts and rich flavours but they dont quite blend together right - a bit metalic
THOUGHTS: I could smell this bad boy from a foot away. One of the best LonShots I’ve tried. Hid alcohol fairly well. Intense aroma and flavor. Not far off from a barley wine. Very nice, but not a great old ale. Seemed closer to a barley wine to me. But without all the hops I guess that isn’t fully true. Smelled more boozy as it warmed.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, dark, orangey amber that was nearly brown in the glass with nice carbonation and a small, off-white head that mostly diminished. The aroma had heavy molasses and carmel; hints of chocolate; very light hops; along with raisin, apple, alcohol, some of that barley wine smell and slight vanilla. The initial flavor was rather sweet and slightly bitter; while the finish was very sweet and light to moderately bitter with fairly long duration. There was caramel malt, hints of chocolate, molasses, brown sugar, a barley wine like flavor, raison, dried cherry, apple, alcohol, and a little hops to keep things from getting cloying. The medium to full body was oily and then a bit dry with fizzy carbonation and a light to moderately alcoholic finish.
12 ounce bottle poured into a thin pilsner type glass. Deep amber, copper color beer with a nice foamy white head, although it recedes quickly. Fruity, earthy, alcohol and caramel malts in the aroma The taste if very malty, caramel-like with a dates/raisins/fig fruity flavors. There is also some alcohol notes, especially as the beer goes down the throat.
Rich, thick syrupy mouthfeel, with just enough carbonation. There’s a bit too much alcholol and boozy presence to drink a lot of this, but it’s a nice heavy sipping beer. I’ll be putting a few bottles away to see how this one ages.
Aroma is sweet caramel sugar and cherry: a little sour, a little puckery. Cinnamon and dates.
Appearance is reddish orange, tons of slow carbonation. Big fluffy off-white head. Glassy and clear. Decent head retention.
The flavor is nice chocolate notes, followed by a sour-ish cherry and sweet raisins. Little bit of a metallic finish; leathery. Nice grounded bases to balance the almost cloying sweetness.
Feels milky and creamy. Really hearty and English. It’s akin to a winter ale, with a little extra darkness, which gives it balance. Starts too sweet, ends nice and balanced.
Bottle. Light brown with white head. Aromas of toffee, apple, bright fruits, caramel, nuts, yeast. Flavors of toffee, caramel, nuts, apple, port/brandy, yeast, bright fruits. Slightly sweet finish. Full body with slick mouthfeel and moderate-low, bright carbonation.
I picked this up at Archer Liquors in Chicago, IL; enjoyed while lounging around the house watching week 8 football. Appearance is a somewhat clear dark amber with a thin white head. Aroma somewhat faint, slightly fruity and sweet with a malt backing. Taste consisting of caramel and alcohol with a hint of fruit, carbonation is a little more than what I was expecting, definitely a little malty. Not bad.
Thanks, bro! Pours a red-copper color with a medium off-white head which leaves small bubbly streaks of lacing. Aroma is toffee, caramel, raisin, and alcohol. Taste is toffee, raisin, a bit of alcohol warmth.
12 oz. bottle, consumed on 10-15-2010. Aroma features caramel, toffee, muffin, and fruit (plum, raspberry, strawberry). Smells tolerable but unsophisticated and cheap. Pours a clear, highly effervescent amber to bright copper. Large amount of taupe head and nice lacing. Way too sweet, sugary taste features caramel and past-its-prime peach flavors. Aftertaste features dark fruit and is lightly dry. Light body. Frothy, lively, and silky in the palate. The palate effects are not awful, but they are insubstantial. Sam Adams LongShot Old Ben Ale is not a terrible beer, but it’s certainly not a good one. A flawed expression of a weak style.