Sam Adams Long Shot

I listen to the Brewing Network podcast on my drive to/from work, I am a little behind on their coverage of the GABF since my drive isn't that long.

They announced the winners of the second Sam Adams Long Shot competition. One of the winners is Mike McDole, an occasional guest on the Brewing Network. His beer is essentially a clone of Russian River's Pliny the Elder (recipe here). I have had this beer once, good stuff. Kind of excited to try out the offering from SA.

The other winner was a weizenbock and the winner of the internal competition was a grape ale (grape ales are being discussed here).

I really think the Long Shot is a great competition and really shows how Jim Koch is dedicated to bringing great craft beer to America.

BTW, Here is the press release of the finalists: http://www.samueladams.com/promotions/LongShot/winners.aspx

McDole was on this week's podcast. They were ripping on the grape ale a bit, which made me LOL. Apparently, the (female) brewer's high cutie-quotient may have influenced the voting a little bit...

I found it pretty interesting that two of the winners brews were clones of other commercial beers. Joe Six Pack (a phily area beer writer) has a good blurb on the whole shebang in his 10/26/2007 column:

http://www.joesixpack.net/currentColumn.htm

brewt00l said:

I found it pretty interesting that two of the winners brews were clones of other commercial beers. Joe Six Pack (a phily area beer writer) has a good blurb on the whole shebang in his 10/26/2007 column:

http://www.joesixpack.net/currentColumn.htm

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I thought that was funny too. I thought, "My first taste of Pliny could be from Sam Adams?" I think there is a reason they(RR) don't bottle it though, aroma suffers? In the interview(BBR.com) the grape ale woman didn't say the type of grape she used - which is like saying, "I used grain in my beer" - doesn't tell us much. If they were concord grape its going to taste like grape jelly.

landhoney said:

I thought that was funny too. I thought, "My first taste of Pliny could be from Sam Adams?" I think there is a reason they(RR) don't bottle it though, aroma suffers? In the interview(BBR.com) the grape ale woman didn't say the type of grape she used - which is like saying, "I used grain in my beer" - doesn't tell us much. If they were concord grape its going to taste like grape jelly.

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There are rumors that RR is going to start bottling Pliny, and that their distrution is about to get bumped up (MA is supposedly next on the list!!!! :rockin: :rockin: ). Pretty sure they've got a new facility on the East Coast somewhere that Vinnie's getting online soon.

I hadn't picked up that McDole's recipe was a Pliny clone; can they DO that? Can they pay him good money for what's effectively Vinnie's recipe (especially since Vinnie's been so open with the homebrew community about how to brew Pliny)?

the_bird said:

There are rumors that RR is going to start bottling Pliny, and that their distrution is about to get bumped up (MA is supposedly next on the list!!!! :rockin: :rockin: ). Pretty sure they've got a new facility on the East Coast somewhere that Vinnie's getting online soon.

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IIRC that info comes straight from Vinny. MA distribution was described as "likely" but nothing written in stone.

RR bought one of DFH's brewhouses and shipped it out to their location, nothing is being brewed on the east coast from what I have read.

the_bird said:

I hadn't picked up that McDole's recipe was a Pliny clone; can they DO that? Can they pay him good money for what's effectively Vinnie's recipe (especially since Vinnie's been so open with the homebrew community about how to brew Pliny)?

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I would hope that a call was placed to Vinny before deciding to move forward out of courtesy...

It isn't exactly the recipe that Vinnie has shared, McDole tweaked it for his own tastes/process, so it is more of a Pliny-inspired beer than a straight forward clone. I am sure Vinnie is quite happy for him and is not very threatened by Sam Adams short run of a beer that could be slightly similar to his famous Pliny.

perhaps....perhaps not

McDole's Double IPA is aimed at Russian River's Pliny the Elder.
"According to Vinnie [Cilurzo, Russian River's owner], I nailed it," McDole said.

http://www.joesixpack.net/columnArchives/2007/102607.htm

Yeah, it was my understanding that it is the same except he added a bit of Northern Brewer at 15mins. I think it will be more than slightly similar.

http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/Mike_McDole_-_Pliny_The_Elder_NB_Kicker.html

I don't know - it seems a little lame to me to enter a clone in that contest. It's not really YOUR recipe, which is what Long Shot is supposed to be about. I'd expect that from more novice brewers, but not from an experienced person.

rdwj said:

I don't know - it seems a little lame to me to enter a clone in that contest. It's not really YOUR recipe, which is what Long Shot is supposed to be about. I'd expect that from more novice brewers, but not from an experienced person.

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I agree. Cloning for a competition = unethical. It's not fair to Vince, who now might have to compete against Sam Adams on his own recipe.And changing one hop or adding an addition on a beer that's already overhopped isn't going to distinguish it.

If a Semi-Pro competes and uses someone else's recipe - an wins - what does that say about the hobby as a whole? What if the next winner is Ed Wort's Haus Ale, but he gets neither the name nor the glory?

I think it's BS. Perhaps we should all submit Sam Adams clones.