Being the manager of a beer department has some perks, one of them being the ability to put myself on "the list". Meaning that when my homebrew club expressed interest some time ago in tasting Samuel Adams Utopias, I was able to respond with "Why sure..." (And we started the collection.)
And so, we gathered last night at our meeting, and tasted the $185 (+ 10 cents deposit) per bottle luscious libation.....Viscous, with zero carbonation, copperish colour, sherry, raisins & malt sweetness in the aroma, which all followed strongly through into the taste, a little acidic sourness perhaps in the middle, plus alcohol (25%ABV). No discernable wood. I sipped my one ounce portion slowly, savouring each syrupy droplet as it coated my tongue. (With 17 homebrews to taste also, I wanted to remember the experience!)
From memory, samplings from previous editions may have been a little less sweet, with darker fruits apparent, but it has been a while. I'd like to come back to this edition in a year, and then in another year, but alas! it's gone!
Worth $185? Probably not, but it's an experience, and I'm glad to be able to share these moments with good people.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Labels
- AHA (21)
- australia (26)
- beer (448)
- bio (8)
- brewing (144)
- Buster (4)
- cask (29)
- cheese (13)
- cicerone (28)
- cooking (51)
- curmudgeonliness (3)
- Detroit Beer Week (14)
- draft (3)
- education (16)
- event (188)
- food (200)
- Fort Street (41)
- general (7)
- Grizzly Peak (3)
- merchants (23)
- MI Brewers Guild (13)
- Michigan Beer (30)
- new releases (14)
- pairings (134)
- pedantic (1)
- puck (2)
- recipes (9)
- slows (41)
- Uncle Dave (14)
- verbose (151)
- weirdness (152)
- Whooo (32)
That is one of the best ways I can think of to enjoy these "event beers"!
ReplyDeleteHaven't had any of the recent Utopia. Loved your description-I could almost taste it vicariously!!
The AABG did something similar with the B Nekter/Ken Schramm Heart of Darkness....