Sam Adams Hopology 12 pack

A it just me or do almost all of them taste very fishy/metallic????

I just polished mine off tonight and thought they were all very good. Third voyage was a little tough, but still enjoyable. maybe you just got a bad batch?

Between work and a couple of weeks in the Bahamas my pipeline thinned out a bit this spring - I actually had one of my six faucets go dry for the first time in a year! Tragic! I've been nursing it back up to speed (got four 5g batches in various phases of percolation right now) and to stretch what's on hand I picked up a Hopology half-case.

I really enjoyed all six styles and think it was the best mixed box Sammy has sold in quite some time. Kinda wish I could lay my hands on another box but every packy near me is out.

No off flavors of any kind in any of the twelve bottles...

Cheers!

Must've got a bad box. The Belgian was very good but the tasmin red and Baltic IPA were way off!!

brewmaster12 said:

Must've got a bad box. The Belgian was very good but the tasmin red and Baltic IPA were way off!!

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Those are the two I disliked the most as well.

I will never drink another Sam Adams product after I had latitude 48. It was absolutely disgusting.

The summer variety pack I enjoy of Sam A.

brewmaster12 said:

A it just me or do almost all of them taste very fishy/metallic????

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I'm right there with ya. I definitely noticed somewhat of a metallic taste in the first few sips of most of them, especially third voyage. I didn't notice any fishy taste though. Overall, I was not impressed with this mix pack at all and wouldn't buy it again. I found the latitude, white water and belgian to be the better of the offerings but still disappointing. Tasmin and baltic were drinkable but not that great at all. Third voyage was absolutely painful with a VERY strong metallic taste that lingered for what seemed like days. I actually dumped the last half of that bottle and I NEVER dump beer. The second bottle is still in my fridge and will probably remain there until I can sucker someone into trying it.

It's Baaaaack!

I really wish they would just release Grumpy Monk on its own. That and White Water were the only ones in the box I liked.

Can anyone suggest further drinking material along the lines of the grumpy monk. I was never fond of belgians, sours etc.. but I liked the monk, something different about it piqued my interest. I recently had Matilda and my first taste of a brett beer and i'm starting to see what the fuss is about. Where are some good places to start expanding my palate in this direction?

Evan_L said:

Can anyone suggest further drinking material along the lines of the grumpy monk. I was never fond of belgians, sours etc.. but I liked the monk, something different about it piqued my interest. I recently had Matilda and my first taste of a brett beer and i'm starting to see what the fuss is about. Where are some good places to start expanding my palate in this direction?

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You can get IPA & brett in Anchorage's Bitter Monk. Ommegang makes BPA, a Belgian Pale. Green Flash Rayon Vert. Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel is interesting. Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor is pretty easy to find. These are all hoppy Belgian styled brews.

Evan, if you like Belgians, you need to start with the quinticential belgian. that is, Westmalle Trippel. one of the original breweries in the world. From there you will find tons of stuff you like. just take note of the styles, double, trippel, quad etc. you will find what you like best, then there's a whole world of varieties within each style. just my 2c...

wait, a mix pack from SA without Boston Lager in it?!?! too bad I'm not into IPA's lately... I'm definitely not into SA Boston Lager anymore... it went all Magic Hat #9 on me because everyone I know that doesn't make beer buys a sixer for when I show up so I don't have to drink BMC... luckily I bring my own stuff everywhere I go.

I do NOT enjoy the SA sampler packs. I've been party to imbibing them in the past and I shall not do so again. I found nothing redeeming in any of the bottles I tried. YMMV.

I'm slowly choking down the last of mine. The Grumpy Monk was my favorite (I would buy it again, if they sold it in six packs), but the rest tasted like Sasquatch a$$, IMO. I won't buy those again.

phoenixs4r said:

I will never drink another Sam Adams product after I had latitude 48. It was absolutely disgusting.

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funny, i really like lat 48

NewJersey said:

funny, i really like lat 48

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I was going to post the exact same thing! I just bottled a batch of homebrew and at least 30 of the bottles I used were previously latitude 48 bottles. He did post in 2012 so maybe the recipe changed since then.

Same here. I had the lat 48 out of this pack and thought it was great. they did change the recipe or at least my label says they added Mosaic hops this year to the blend. I had it last summer also and didn't think it was that bad. The new hop blend definitely made it better in my book though.

Only other one I've tried so far is the Tasman Red and I was not a big fan of that one.

I thought all of the offerings were pretty tasty. The Baltic IPA was my favorite! Go figure! Second favorite was the red. I thought those two had the best hop character. Remember the name on the package? All of the others were good, but not amazing.

No metallic taste whatsoever.

GarageDweller said:

Evan, if you like Belgians, you need to start with the quinticential belgian. that is, Westmalle Trippel. one of the original breweries in the world. From there you will find tons of stuff you like. just take note of the styles, double, trippel, quad etc. you will find what you like best, then there's a whole world of varieties within each style. just my 2c...

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sjjn said:

You can get IPA & brett in Anchorage's Bitter Monk. Ommegang makes BPA, a Belgian Pale. Green Flash Rayon Vert. Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel is interesting. Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor is pretty easy to find. These are all hoppy Belgian styled brews.

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Thanks guys, gonna have to go on a few packy runs and see what I can dig up.

Tupperwolf said:

I was going to post the exact same thing! I just bottled a batch of homebrew and at least 30 of the bottles I used were previously latitude 48 bottles. He did post in 2012 so maybe the recipe changed since then.

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It has...this year features mosaic hops. I grab a SA sampler about once a year and very recently have been quite impressed by the beers. The Lat. 48 is amazing this year...citrus with an almost watermelon hop profile. Their IPL is also fantastic. And I am really not that into SA, they are just doing some good things lately.

Evan_L said:

Can anyone suggest further drinking material along the lines of the grumpy monk. I was never fond of belgians, sours etc.. but I liked the monk, something different about it piqued my interest. I recently had Matilda and my first taste of a brett beer and i'm starting to see what the fuss is about. Where are some good places to start expanding my palate in this direction?

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Try Piraat Ale, it's a Belgian IPA and it's great

I liked grumpy monk and dark depths. I hated the whitewater eww.
I enjoyed the tasman also, i bought that one as a bomber.

I got mine as a gift. I thought it was decent for what it was and the price. I did really like the grumpy monk. I would buy that again. Over all though, I don't know that any of them really had the hop impact I was hoping for in an IPA though. I didn't think any of them were bad, but they just seemed like slightly hopped up versions of other beers as opposed to true IPAs.

They need to rerelease the single hop version 12pk of the lat 48!

I am currently on a mission to replicate the Grumpy Monk. I really loved the piney aroma that it gave off and the nice crisp/bitter flavour. I will post here when I have concocted a recipe

I really don't understand why alot of people hate on Sam Adams. I just polished off a twelve pack of this. I didn't find one of the six beers that were bad. I got the whole twelve pack foe 13.99 and was very pleased. Every beer in this pack is VERY drinkable IMO White water was the best. But none of them were horrible.

Okay so this is what I have come to:

Grains

5.5# Pale Ale malt
5# 2-row malt
1# wheat flakes
4 oz munich
8 oz cara foam

Hops
0.5oz Sorachi 10.6% (30 min)
0.5oz Sorachi 10.6% (10 min)
1oz Zythos 10.9% (2min)
0.5 oz Cascade (dry hop)

Yeast

WLPCalifornia Ale yeast

You'll want to use a Belgian yeast strain for grumpy monk- it's a "Belgian IPA".