The Year in Beer

Name: Friar Hop Ale

Brewer: Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Co.), Boston, Mass. (Recipe by Richard Roper)

By the numbers: About 270 calories per 12 oz.; 9 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: This is the last of the three winners I tried from the Samuel Adams 2010 Longshot American Homebrew Contest. Samuel Adams released them in a six pack (two of each). The first two, Honey B’s Lavender Ale and Blackened Hops, were fantastic, each in its own unique way. Friar Hop was probably the most-challenging of the three, in terms of complex taste and alcohol volume. It was billed as a hoppy Belgian Ale, brewed with orange and coriander. It poured a deep golden orange, like an IPA, with a frothy head. The aroma was spicy and floral. The taste was also spicy and fruity thanks to the Belgian yeast. It finished with a lot of bite and was boozy like a barley wine. It was good though. The high alcohol probably comes from an addition of candi sugar to raise the sugar content of the wort.

Try it with: A need for a strong drink. We had five kids in our house today, ranging from 1 year to a pair of 10-year-old twins. That’s a lot of crying, shouting and mess for one day. Not that they weren’t fun, but I don’t know how people with five or more kids do it. Maybe by drinking something even stronger.

    — Posted by Mike Freimann