It’s hard to imagine how a beverage that clocks in at 28 percent alcohol still qualifies as beer, but craft beer pioneer Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams, keeps pushing the boundaries. The tenth release of Utopias, his biennial display of the ways one can twist hops, yeast, malted barley and water, debuted a few days ago, and it is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Whiffs of coffee and toffee, a sexy, almost viscous mouthfeel, with hints of molasses, somewhat reminiscent of a Pedro Ximenez sherry, but light and edgy. Playing at the corners is a bit of bitterness and ghostly indicators of a more classic stout – though that may just be because I got my bottle on Halloween.
“Utopias challenges conventional thinking about beer but it is definitely a beer - that’s what’s so exciting!” Koch told me via email. “Utopias is brewed like any other Sam Adams beer, using four main ingredients and the traditional brewing process, but it’s the yeast strains we use, as well as our barrel-aging and blending process that makes Utopias truly one-of-a-kind.”
For those who aren’t beer geeks, Utopias draws from a variety of Sam Adams barrel-aged beer vintages, including the Triple Bock from 1994 and Millennium from 2000. To create this year’s vintage, the 2017 recipe includes Utopias aged in a variety of barrels, from old Buffalo Trace bourbon casks to Scandinavian Aquavit barrels, with the final blend aged in Moscat barrels, a first for the beer.
Yeast strains are equally precious—one is typically reserved for champagne and another "ninja yeast" is used for its ability to survive and continue fermenting in a crazy environment with high alcohol content, Koch says.
“This process, along with our blends from various barrel-aged beers, creates the most complex naturally fermented beer available anywhere – truly the lunatic fringe of extreme beer!” Koch typed, very enthusiastically. Because of this intense crafting process, and the scarcity of its various barrel-aged beers, they are only able to release Utopias about every other year, and only about 13,000 bottles each time.
At $199 per 24-ounce bottle, it may be the most expensive beer you will ever buy – assuming you can get your hands on one. But that works out to a little more than $8 per one-ounce serving – no one should be tossing back a pint of this. Oh, and to ensure that doesn’t happen, purchase the special Riedel-designed sipping glass.
Utopias is not carbonated, and comes in a gorgeous screw-top bottle – perfect for impressing friends with a precious dram over the holiday season. It will keep forever when opened – and doesn’t need refrigeration.
“Utopias has an infinite shelf-life, getting better with age, even after opened, due its complexity and high alcohol content, much like a port or cognac,” Koch says. “While oxygen would typically cause unwanted oxidation in an average beer, it smooths the flavor profile of this beer, making it even more complex over time.”
Koch was coy about what the next release of Utopias might bring – sometime in 2019, I assume. “It’s a bit early to share anything, but at the brewery we’re already talking about what’s next for Utopias and how can we top this year’s batch and continue to surprise and excite drinkers' palates.”
Scour your favorite liquor store starting right about now to score a bottle.
