Nationwide distribution of the brand new Samuel Adams LongShot Variety 6-Pack is scheduled to begin this April. You should be excited. I am!

The LongShot 6-Pack is the result of the 2009 American Homebrew Contest, in which the Boston Beer Company chooses 3 winning brews (2 from contestants and one from an employee entrant).

The winners get to brew alongside the Samuel Adams brewers in Boston. Their recipes are also bottled and included in the LongShot variety package, which is distributed all over the country for just $9.99. In 1984, Sam Adams’ founder, Jim Koch, homebrewed the first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager® in his kitchen. 25 years later, Koch makes an effort to recognize the most talented homebrewers for testing the boundaries and coming up with creative brews. This competition is a company tradition that began back in 1996.

Photo from The Captain’s Chair

This year you’ll sample 2 bottles each of New Hampshire resident Michael Robinson’s Old Ale, Ben Miller’s Barleywine (hailing from New Mexico) and Employee Homebrew Winner Jeremy White’s Saison.

There were over 1,500 entries to the contest and Koch judged the himself with help from Jason and Todd Alström of Beer Advocate, Jay Brooks from Celebrator Beer News, Julie Johnson of All About Beer, Bob Townsend from Southern Brew News and Tony Forder of Ale Street News. The winning beers were selected by style category and the criteria was based on the American Homebrewers Association Beer Judge Certificate Program guidelines.

To find out more about the beers and all of the details, check out the Beer Avocate write-up or the contest website.

If you’re a homebrewer, make sure to start thinking of ideas for the 2010 contest! We could be writing about your beer by this time next year.

TAGS [ SAM ADAMS | SAMUEL ADAMS | LONGSHOT CONTEST | BEER CONTEST | SAM ADAMS LONGSHOT | HOMEBREW CONTEST ]