Boston Beer Company: Barrel Room Series

The Boston Beer Company (aka Samuel Adams) is constantly coming up with new and interesting concepts.  I've enjoyed their Limited Released, one-off specialty beers, and the Brewmaster's Collection of beers for decades.  Many of these beers pushed the envelope for more than just the actual beer and used interesting bottling and marketing concepts.

The same is true for the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection of beers. The collection focuses on traditional Belgian-style beers, but with a unique Samuel Adams twist.  Traditional Belgium-style beers use wild yeasts and bacteria that create a signature spiciness and sourness.  Indeed, in some styles, Trappists Lambics for example, wild yeast is allowed to blow into the brewery from nearby fields.  This is not really practical for a full-scale brewery, so Samuel Adams creative staff developed a yeast/bacteria blend that achieves the Belgian-like flavors with more consistency and less time.  They call the mixture Kosmic Mother Funk and it is used in all of the Barrel Room beers.  These beers are also aged in oak barrels and come in totally unique bottles that are corked and caged.

  
My beer vendor had three of the four varieties.  The first was Stony Brook Red, which I would consider to be an imperial red ale.  It is low in bitterness (10 IBUs) and high in alcohol (9% ABV). Three yeasts are used in this beer, including champagne yeast for bottle conditioning.  The second was New World, a tripel brewed with both barley and wheat malts.  This beer is low in hops (17 IBU) and is 10% ABV.  The final beer was Thirteenth Hour, a stout brewed with 13 ingredients (hence the name), including 7 malts.  It is lacking in hops (17 IBU) and is 9% ABV.  The other beer in the collection, that I'm still searching for is called American Kriek.  This one sounds the most interesting of the group and is a traditional cherry lambic, made from Michigan Balaton cherries.  Oh, and Balaton is a registered trademark of Michigan State University. Cool!

Cheers,
Zymus

Samuel Adams Limited Release Beers

The Boston Beer Company continues to produce interesting and satisfying craft brews.  I particularly enjoy their Limited Release series of beers. These beers are self-described as being produced for the beer voyager.  I kinda like that description. Many of the beers in this series are the brewer's version of classic or vintage styles. They are released in 650 ml bottles, each with an interesting label.  Releases that are successful, sometimes come back as a second batch.  Here are the ones I have tried along with a brief description.

Besides having a great name, Cinder Bock is a smoked (rauch) bock style beer (9.4% AV; 25 IBU).

Dark Depths is a heavy Baltic India Pale Ale (7.6% ABV; 55 IBUs) with lots of flavor.  I think this one could use a few more IBUs, but it is still a great beer.

Tasman Red is a Red India Pale Ale (6.75% ABV; 60 IBUs).  The beer highlights Australian hops, particularly ones from Tasmanian and Victoria.  

Griffin's Bow is an English-style Barley wine that has been aged in oak (10% ABV; 45 IBU).  This beer is right on the mark.  Superb.

Norse Legend is a beer style native to the Vikings called sahti (7% ABV; 16 IBU) and features juniper berries  both in the brewing and aging of this beer.   It is a very interesting beer.

Verloren is a gose-style beer (6.0% ABV; 15 IBU).  Prior to having this one, I had never heard of this beer style.  According to brewers, gose is an old German beer style that was common in Leipzig, Germany.  Interestingly, it does not adhere to German Beer Purity Law of Reinheitsgebot, because in addition to water, malt, and hops, the beer has coriander and salt.

The Vixen is a interesting mix of sweet (cinnamon, chocolate) and spicy flavors (chili)--hence the name (8.5% ABV; 20 IBU).  I really like beers that have a subtle chili burn in the aftertaste and this beer has it just right. 

All of these beers have helped me along my personal beer-voyager route. I look forward to the future releases.

Cheers,
Zymus

Samuel Adams Infinium

I very much enjoy when a brewer strives to make something unique and special.  The Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) caught my eye in 1994, when they released their first batch of Tripple Bock. At 17.5% ABV and little to no carbonation, the beer was more like a sherry than a beer. With its blue glass bottle and gold silk screened labeling, it was a beauty for a collector like me. I purchased several, but over the years I have consumed them with various friends who appreciate craft beers.

1994 Samuel Adams Tripple Bock

Over the years, Samuel Adams has periodically produced new specialty beers including: Millennium (1999); Utopias (2002); Imperial Pilsner (2008); and Infinium (2011).  The latter I recently tried.  Infinium is brewed in collaboration with the German Brewery Weihenstephan, who lays claim to being the world's oldest brewery.  According to the brewers, the goal of the Infinium project was to create a completely new beer style, while adhering to the famous German beer purity laws that only allow 4 ingredients in a beer. What they ended up with is a beer that tastes and looks a bit like sparkling wine, except that the beverage maintains a nice head after pouring.

2011 Samuel Adams Infinium

The beer is really very nice and refreshing and would be great for celebrating a special occasion.  Good job Boston Beer Company! I look forward to their next specialty beer.

Cheers,
Zymus