Samuel Adams Utopias

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

Sample from bottle at Cardinal, Stavanger. Pours a clear deep copper color with no head or carbonation. Tons of caramel, port wine and strong alcohol fusel on the nose, not appealing. Very heavy on the palate with toffee, caramel, candied dark fruits and alcohol being dominate. Sweet treat.

Sample from bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Beautiful chestnut colour. No carbonation, and accordingly no head. INTENSE aroma of port wine, dark dried fruits and fusel alcohols. The latter unfortunately detracts from the aroma score. Intense, concentrated and sweet flavour of old madeira, raisins / rum-raisin and oak.

Copper colour with a lot of fruit and oak in the aroma and of course alcohol. It is thick as hell and it the flavor is amazing! So intense with a huge and nice burn from the alcohol.

Vintage 2007. The bottle was opened for the first time about a year before I sampled it. Shiny amber color, clear liquid. Obviously no head. Lots of sweet fruit aromas (apples, plums, cherries), raisins, brandy. Notes of wood and a hint of dusty cellar. Big alcohol fumes, but they are well integrated and the smell is actually quite balanced. Very rich. The flavor is intensely sweet with notes of fudge and toffee, chocolate, nuts and rich aromas of ripe fruit. Boozy raisins, brandy and barrel notes. The taste is richer than the smell and more complex. A faint cellar character is detectable, but not as clearly as in the smell. The finish is really hot with lots of spicy and sweet alcohol and lingering liqueur-like sweetness. Great mouthfeel. Big body with a very sticky and chewy texture. Completely flat. I liked this one. Of course, it’s more reminiscent of a fortified wine or liqueur than a regular beer, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. A great sipper with a sophisticated yet cocky character. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Giant thanks to Snojerk321 (Torrey) for opening this 2007 bottle. Poured a rusty copper color with obviously zero carbonation. Nose was loaded with toffee, vanilla, cherries, and woody earthiness. Taste was extremely complex, tastes just like a nice cognac, tobacco, toffee, vanilla, oak, peach, raisin, and a metric shit ton of booze heat.

Pours clear with no head or visible carbonation. Brown. Out of the bottle, I smelled booze, but once I got my nose in the glass, it was almost hard to place. Brown sugar, molasses, and banana predominated. I couldn’t place hops through the sweetness. On the palate, the stuff is like syrup -- very thick and sticky. There’s a lot of alcohol warmth and a bit of burn on the finish, but it’s by no means overpowering. The flavor, sweet with dark sugars of molasses and maple, really covered it well. I actually had low expectations for this, and I was pretty well blown away. Absolutely terrific.

Pours rich, red amber glow. Aroma is much like a tawny port, fermented apple, cream sherry, cognac, dried fruit, sweet and salty soy sauce. Flavor is much the same with an upfront saltiness and mild sourness that distinguishes it from sherry and port. Unique and delicious, but not for the $$$ it costs.

RnH: sample: Damn, I wish this beer wasn’t so expensive!!! My favorite style, no doubt, and this brew do not disappoint at all. Pours like a highland scotch: deep caramel in color, heavy esters on the nose with hints of sweet fruits. The taste is immediately heated, loads of alcohol... enough to make even the most seasoned drinker cough...however a very deep and complex, aged booze, nothing gratuitous here. Medium aged, ripe dark fruits, raisins, apricots maybe...butterscotch, earth, forest, caramel, creamy, nutty, lightly roasted. D.EL.I.C.I.O.U.S.