Samuel Adams Utopias
We're excited to announce the 10th release of Samuel Adams Utopias, the craft beer community’s most renowned and sought-after extreme barrel-aged beer. While we pioneered the practice of barrel-aging, now a mainstay for American craft brewers, our brewers continually push the brewing and barrel-aging limit with proprietary brewing techniques to create Utopias, a beer unlike any other in the U.S.
Brewing, blending, and aging Utopias is a multi-step, time-intensive and complex process. This beer starts with the world’s finest ingredients, including a special blend of two-row pale malt combined with Munich and Caramel 60 malts that impart a rich, ruby color. Three varieties of German Noble hops – Spalt Spalter, Hallertau Mittelfrueh, and Tettnang Tettnanger – are added to balance the sweetness of the malt. After the beer is brewed, the first proprietary brewing method begins – adding special yeast strains. The brewers utilized several yeast strains during fermentation, including one typically reserved for champagne and a “ninja yeast,” created for its ability to survive and continue fermenting in an environment that has such a high alcohol level.
At 28% ABV, the brew is reminiscent of a rich vintage Port, old Cognac, or fine Sherry with notes of dark fruit, subtle sweetness, and a deep rich malty smoothness. With only 68 wooden casks of Utopias created in 2017, just 13,000 bottles will hit shelves nationwide. The first bottles of every Utopias release, however, can be found in the hands of our employees. Since Utopias was first released, each bottle number corresponds with when each employee was hired, making Founder and Brewer Jim Koch number 1 and Brewer Dean Gianocostas number 2.
The 2017 release is a blend of batches, some having been aged up to 24 years in a variety of barrels. To create this year’s one-of-a-kind vintage, the 2017 recipe includes Utopias aged in a variety of barrels including new Scandinavian Aquavit barrels as well as a portion of the final blend aged in Moscat barrels, a first time for the beer.
Brewing, blending, and aging Utopias is a multi-step, time-intensive and complex process. This beer starts with the world’s finest ingredients, including a special blend of two-row pale malt combined with Munich and Caramel 60 malts that impart a rich, ruby color. Three varieties of German Noble hops – Spalt Spalter, Hallertau Mittelfrueh, and Tettnang Tettnanger – are added to balance the sweetness of the malt. After the beer is brewed, the first proprietary brewing method begins – adding special yeast strains. The brewers utilized several yeast strains during fermentation, including one typically reserved for champagne and a “ninja yeast,” created for its ability to survive and continue fermenting in an environment that has such a high alcohol level.
At 28% ABV, the brew is reminiscent of a rich vintage Port, old Cognac, or fine Sherry with notes of dark fruit, subtle sweetness, and a deep rich malty smoothness. With only 68 wooden casks of Utopias created in 2017, just 13,000 bottles will hit shelves nationwide. The first bottles of every Utopias release, however, can be found in the hands of our employees. Since Utopias was first released, each bottle number corresponds with when each employee was hired, making Founder and Brewer Jim Koch number 1 and Brewer Dean Gianocostas number 2.
The 2017 release is a blend of batches, some having been aged up to 24 years in a variety of barrels. To create this year’s one-of-a-kind vintage, the 2017 recipe includes Utopias aged in a variety of barrels including new Scandinavian Aquavit barrels as well as a portion of the final blend aged in Moscat barrels, a first time for the beer.
4.1
1016 reviews
Boston, United States
Community reviews
Aroma
Port alcohol sugars cough syrup corn oak leather oak barrel wood sawdust potent alcohol wort malt tree bark red wine tree sap heavy sugared dark fruits plums figs raisins
Taste
Cough syrup wort syrup toffee dark fruits alcohol sugars sugared dark fruits oak leather corn syrup port wine red wine sherry turbinado sugar tree sap maple syrup caramel tangerine peaches dark wort syrup leather crystallized sugars aged malts massive booze yet surprisingly smooth
A+
Pièce de résistance from my gathering last Friday, as I was one of the few who were able to get this beer online from the LCBO sale. With a hefty percentage alcohol, I thought this pronounced level would be too present like other liquor, but not at all. Served in little glasses to savour as 1 ounce portion, this is extremely tasty and a testament to Samuel Adam’s boldness to make a beer aged for 25 years. Kudos!
Bottle: Poured a clear dark copper color ale. Aroma of oak and liquor with some warming alcohol notes also perceptible. Taste is a mix of caramelized notes with some barrel notes, some oak and light residual sugar notes. The alcohol can be detected but this is in the range that I actually enjoy since it is not burning too much. Quite the experience and very enjoyable overall.
2cl taster from the bottle at Grain. Pours clear shining dark amber. Aroma is plum schnaps, lots of booze, dark dried fruit, caramel, oxidated. Body is heavy and strong, flat and smooth and boozy, softly burning, really a sweet fruit liquor, with a strong malt backbone. Worth the praise, but 2cl are enough actually.
Dark brown colour, no head, slight white rim. Aroma of caramel, booze, mushroom, porto, madeira. Sweet porto flavour, malts, vanilla, sherry. Finish caramel, oak, madeira. Nice.
(from it's special bottle @ Grand Old Lambic Tasting, Jtclockwork's place, NJ. Thanks for sharing, James!)
Celebrating with Leighton, 2009 edition. WOW. Pours brown, zero head. Big boi - cognac, bourbon, sweet malts, sherry, cacao, dark fruits, lots of booze (but smooth). Very big, flavorful, warming, boozy but dangerously smooth with a minor back end burn.
2017 bottle. Clear, reddish color, with no head. Straight sherry on the nose, with some vanilla, toasted oak, light coconut, bitter almonds, and mild cherries. Very sweet, immensely boozy, and a bit tart. Heavy body, with a syrupy, sticky, and flat mouthfeel. This is a stupendous, boozy, and unique beer. Drink it like a nice whiskey, and it mellows and develops in your mouth. Pretty nice, in small servings.
Thanks, Dak! A pure joy. Relinquished impressions of inexplicably smooth, intangibly immersive patience. Smoked caramel; maple sugar; roasted apricot pulp; mint water, bourbon vanilla, wrapped up firmly in a one freakishly good cognac warmth. Worth the price tag and then some, however, this specific review comes from the 2007 batch. I'll branch out to other years once I've stopped fanboying over this masterpiece, which won't be anytime soon.
W aromacie suszone owoce, likier rodzynkowy, wiśniowy, szlachetny alkohol, dębina, winne nuty, wanilia, bardzo złożone, beczkowe piwo. W smaku półsłodkie. Na finiszu czuć szlachetny alkohol, melase rodzynki, delikatne taniny. Alkohol gra pierwszorzędną rolę, aczkolwiek idzie bardzo w stronę destylatów aniżeli piw. Bardzo intensywne, wyklejające, sporo ciała. Świetne złożone piwo, ale alkohol przyćmił trochę ten trunek.
Wersja 2017 bottle no. 5395
Barwa bardzo koniakowa. W aromacie mega suszone owoce, rodzynki, suszone figi, daktyle. Ogolnie bardzo suszone ciemne owoce. W smaku jest dosyc mdlący alkohol/sliwowica. Pozniej wchodzi slodowy charakter i slony karmel. Charaktery tez troche winne ale bardzo delikatnie. Przyprawowe mocno taka kurkuma. Ogolnie super doswiadczenie ale to jest za duzy hardcore alkoholowy. Musi „odpoczac” i jest lepiej. Chmiel strasznie wchodzi na finiszu co psuje ten likierowy charakter. Sprawia wrazenie rozwarstwienia smakow i pewnie za kilka lat bylby to sztos BW. Ocena podwyzszona za aromat 11/10
Rami Rami is drinking a Samuel Adams Utopias (2009) by Boston Beer Company at Mikkeller Bar Warsaw
Pedro ximenez taki. Fajne cialo. Fajny aromat jak pooddycha. Rodzynki, susz. Alko niestety mocno pali usto w posmakach. Wiec niby sups „ale”
Pours a chipper color with no head. Aroma is very malty with dark fruits and plenty of alcohol. Flavor is very strong of the malts and dark fruits. Very dry as well like a red wine.
From Tercertiempocervezas. Tenth anniversary edition (2012) In Teku glass. Watching Black Mirror 4x02, then playing Life is Strange. With almonds, the aceitunas. Sweet port wine/ cognac notes. Really hot because of the great abv, but with alcohol well hidden in flavor. No foam. Superb in aroma
Shared bottle at Mi2 at Cardinal 11.12.17. 2011-vintage. Dark brown. No head or lacing. Superb aroma of old tawny port. Similar and excellent taste, with dates, calvados, dried berries, rasins and a hint of fine alcohol. Superb!!!
Shared bottle (2011 ed.) at Cardinal, Stavanger. Pours hazy copper without any head. Aroma of cherries, grapes, raisins, calvados. cognac, marsipan, alcohol. Taste sweet, but balanced by fruitiness. Extremely complex, one of the best beers ever!
Taster courtesy of Toby. Muddy brown color, pours flat. Aroma is very boozy, turpentine. Taste for a brief second, chocolate, raisins, prunes, then obliterated by the alcohol burn. Sip very, very slowly.
2017 vintage. Pours ruby and brown with no head. Aroma of nuts, wood, berries, malt vinegar, dark grains and alcohol. Taste is medium sweet, light sour, light bitter and medium salt.
Tasted like sherry to me can honestly say I was not impressed
2015. Aromat piękny. Smak gorszy. Słodkie fajnie. Spodziewałem się większej gęstości. Alkohol nie wadzi absolutnie. Rodzynki, masa orzechów, nuty beczkowe, generalnie dużo się dzieje. 4.75/5 // 2012 czyli 10th Anniversary. Jak dla mnie alkohol ostrzejszy i mniej przyjemny niż w 2015 (jest mocniejsze teoretycznie o 1%, ale też 3 lata starsze), przez co gorzej się pije. Za to piwo bardziej likierowe i gęste, co na duży plus. 4/5. Chętnie sprawdzę w przyszłości jeszcze jakiś rocznik.
2700th rating
(unsure of vintage - dark/black metal bottle) nip from previously opened bottle at "Tony's Taphouse"
Never in my wildest dreams was I ever expecting to try this nectar.
Pours like a port - deep tawny, near ruby, next to no head.
Deep complex aroma reminiscent of a Cognac & aged Port - vanilla, toast, caramels, sultana, nutty rancio, spicy peppery note probably derived from alcohol.
It's hard to describe the texture of it - pretty much no carbonation, yet the length in immense, closer to a Cognac than anything yet sweet like a Pedro Ximenez - booze is so very apparent but doesn't burn just blankets you as it unfurls layers of complex caramels, oaken toast, sultanas & fruit cake, pale fruits akin to a good Cognac once again - it evolves & morphs and never lets go.
Spectacular, amazing, a religious experience - so far from any other beer I've ever tried it's difficult to compare.
From Dec 2005
Poured from its container(less than 1/4 of a Chimay Goblet) like a brandy, with no foam and no carbonation.
The smell? Smells like a fine cognac to me and gives me the giggles because I *love* a good cognac. Swirling it in the glass, it looks so thick and syrupy, it's not a cognac, Bill, it is not!
As my mouth sips into the intial offering, I'm thinking, wow. Maple syrup sweetness mixed with the heat of 25% abv...where is the sub zero degree weather when you really would *not* mind it being there??? What a warming drink Sam Adams has cast upon us and for that experimentation, I salute them!
I'm going to let the rest of ths elixir sit right where it is until Christmas *next* year!
Aroma cognac. Tastes super concentrated barley vanilla bourbon. Grapes.Very smooth for what it is. Is that a nosebleed? Intense.
Pour @ Fermentoren, Copenhagen. Vintage 2013. Pours still, syrupy brown. Aromas of walnuts, booze, caramel, dark fruits, vanilla. Taste has porty wine, walnuts, caramel, light acidity, booze, bitter tannins.
Bottle @ Dobry Zbeer, Poland. Pleasant aroma of pistachio, just like fresh grinded nuts with notes of dried fruitiness, some noble caramel touch and cognac-like hints. Deep copper in the glass, almost none head. Taste is semi sweet with notes of dried fruits, caramel cake, noble alcohol which fills the palate very well and some nutty back. Beer is very complex, maybe alcohol is too aggressive, but 27% ABV doing its best. Not sure if it’s perfect, but that’s a unique brew.
Bottle, thanks to Fombe. Dark copper colour with no head. Dense. Smells like something between a sweet wine, sherry and brandy. Sweet, caramel, wood, raisins, vanilla taste. Full body. Amazing.
Bottle@dobryzbeer. Pours dark brown, hazy, no head. Rasins, green walnut, grapes, plums, dry fruits, cocoa, vanilla, wood, barrel. At first strong alcohol, immidately disappearing. Sweet, little sour. Great experience. Full body, no carbonation.
75cl bottle @Cimmeria. 20-07-2017.
Courtesy of this crazy lad of fombe89.
2012, 10th anniversary edition. Botle 9443. Stated above 29% ABV. Buffalo Trace aged, also port and rum barrels.
Pours flat dark amber-light copper, dense, viscous, Lots of sherry and bourbon reminescences in nose and palate, lots of wood, raisins, ageieg notes, vanilla, cacao, mighty malt bill, extremely sweet, smooth and ewell balanced, everything well integrated. Uf this can be called a beer, this beer is the closest to liquor i´ve ever tried. Unforgettable.
Samuel Adam’s utopías 10 th anniversary Ed 2012 botella 9443.
Botella cerámica 75 cl cortesía locura Fombe!!! tomada en Cimmeria 20..07..2017.
(r1000)
Color cobrizo caoba oscuro sin nada de espuma. Aromas intensos penetrantes alcoholicos que recuerdan más bien a un cognac brandy o Jerez. Sabores también intensos con notas potentes dulces y maderas envejecidas en vinos anejos. Dulces tostados que recuerdan a rones y ligeros quemados de bourbon. Notas de especias, vainilla y algo de cacao amargo. Cuerpo intenso con gran sensación alcohólica desde el principio. Increíble cerveza que se asemeja más a un licor entre cognac y bourbon. Impresionante, para repetir sin duda alguna........
Botella. of @Señor Lupulo, Gijon. 20/07/2017
Edición 10 Aniversario.
Color ambarino- caoba espuma bastante escasa, aromas a madera con notas licorosas el sabor es licoroso con ligeras dosis de malta, acabando con notas a madera, cuerpo sedoso, agradable de beber. muy buena.
Bottle (2015 #07548); pours caramel brown with no head; sweet boozy aroma of caramel, dark fruit, and honey with hints of wood and maple syrup; taste is sweet with caramel, molasses, dark fruits, and honey with some wood notes; sweet, warming, boozy finish; quite good