Sam Adams Alpine Spring

I know their summer seasonal mix pack is out now, but......dammit, THIS IS APRIL.  I wrote this in February.  Cheers!

Name:                 Sam Adams Alpine Spring

Style:                   Unfiltered single-hop (tettnang) lager

Strength:              5.5%

Notes: 12oz bottle from this year’s spring mixer.  Served in a Boston Lager glass.

Been awhile since I tried a new Sam Adams beer.  The appearance is a hazy golden hue, like a brighter witbier.  The head is white, though not very large, and the carbonation is consistent.  Lacing is minimal.

As I would expect, the aroma is rather tame given the beer’s strength.  Faint suggestions of grassy hops, pilsner malts, malted wheat (odd but nice, and very subtle anyway), possibly orange-esque hops as well.  All in all this smells light and easy.

The beer tastes like a “dirtier” pilsner---by that I mean the yeast seems less ester-neutral.  Pilsner malt upfront, and some definite German hop profile here.  Less grassy, more earthy with a bit of citrus on the backend.  I really can’t tell if that citrus is from the hops or from a less-neutral lager strain.  I don’t mean to make it seem like they used ale yeast, it isn’t that deliberate, just there.  Perhaps it’s the lack of filtration.  The beer finishes with a flavor mix resembling crushed corn and starchy wheat malt mixed with tett hops.  Sam has somehow eliminated the metallic sensation I find endemic in pale lagers.

The texture is a bit less crisp than other Germanic lagers, but still tasty.  Minimal bitterness.

A straight-forward, pleasant-afternoon sort of beer.  Sam Adams really seems to do these well.  I’m not sure if I would pick this over Noble Pils, I need to revisit that beer.