Samuel Adams Utopias

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Barley Wine
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: FEB 17, 2010 Dark amber copper color. Good, rich amaretto, almond and vanilla aroma. Extremely rich, burning the tip of my lips and the back of my mouth. Very smooth considering that it 24% (as it says on the bottle, not 25%). Huge thanks go out to Nuffield for sharing this rare "beer" with me and my friends.

GABF - Color me against the grain if you will. I went back to sample so many times I presumed I would be cut off or asked if I was only in it for the ABV. I can see that there is a world of flavor there and perhaps if I were in a smoking jacket in the study with my feet propped up in slippers rather than standing in a noisy hall cramming my over sized schnozz in a small tasting glass I would have found more than an ever present alcohol that kept battling the flavor. Highly unimpressed.

Tried this at the GABF. Probably the only place I'd be able to afford it. I really loved this "beer." I'm not sure I'd use the word beer to describe it...but it was damn good. Very complex. Warming. Incredible aftertaste...I didn't want to try my next beer at the Great American Beer Festival for fear of losing the beautiful flavor lingering in my mouth.

Dark copper, like exotic honey, no head. Infinitely complex nose, with spikes of nuts, dried apples, plums, earthy. Taste is like a heavy, velvety rare liqueur based on exquisite brandy, fruits (plums again), all the esters, and - remarkably - maple syrup. Overfull body, immmensely warming, and amazingly velvety mouthfeel. This is truly superb and unique. It cut through a series of abbey-ales as a Cru Classé Pauillac through some Médoc villages.

UPDATED: SEP 25, 2003 Wow, this is huge. Aroma is alcohol, maple, vanilla. Taste resembles a congac, has some hazelnut, and earthy flavors. Big beer with complex flavors. Unlike anything else

vanilla, woody, strongly alcoholic, fusels? a bit of paint thinner, glue flavor: maple, very fruity, plums, wine, hops?, vinous, wee bit of tobacco

Ok - just the facts: 24% ABV - $100 / bottle. Huge doesn't begin to describe this beer. Insane in it's strong flavor. Rasins, candy, vanilla, coconut, alcohol and malt - all at a Spinal Tap shaming volume level of 15 on a scale of 1-10. I'll take a second try in 25-50 years after this beer has settled down a bit! Very difficult to review since NOTHING is even close to it and it's in a category by itself. Well, almost - Dogfish Raison d'Extra is 22% - and both are pretty similar. If I had a choice between the two right now, I'd probably go Sam Adams (not sure if it's a machismo thing because of that extra 2% or whether it tastes better). Who cars - after 1/2 a wine glass you're buzzed and they both taste like some NASA creation.

Thanks to jcalabre for sharing some of this with me. Wow! Totally unique, more like a sweet cognac than a beer; a dessert pleasure. We appropriately finished a high-end tasting session with this wonderful creation. A specialty to savor live and in memory later.

UPDATED: JUL 23, 2003 A Huge Thanks to hopsrus for this one Appearance: Crystal clear reddish/brown color. It pours w/ no head. Flavor: Tastes like a liqueur. It is buterscotch/cognac taste Aroma: alcohol, butterscotch Overall: simply beautiful. The alcohol flavor is extremely well hidden, which I appreciate. This is beautiful to drink. Great job.

Intense alcohol burns but is surprisingly overtaken by pure, tree-tapped maple syrup flavor. This maple syrup is where all the flavor is hiding. Notes of vanilla, port, caramel, even some dry grassiness (but not at the finish where I'd expect). Finish is short and swift, burning alcohol and more maple thickness. Palate killer, so beware if you are trying it at a festival, it took many pieces of bread and some water before I could get a grasp on by tastebuds again.