Utopias
(has 6 batches)
Samuel Adams in Boston, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Strong Ale - American Special|
Score
8.09
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Truly the epitome of brewing's two thousand year evolution, Samuel Adams Utopias® offers a flavor not just unlike any other beer but unlike any other beverage in the world. Each release is a blend of batches, some having been aged up to 16 years in the barrel room of our Boston Brewery, in a variety of woods. We aged a portion of the beer in hand-selected, single-use bourbon casks from the award-winning Buffalo Trace Distillery. Some of the latest batches also spent time in Portuguese muscatel finishing casks, as well as sherry, brandy and Cognac casks. This flavorful, slightly fruity brew has a sweet, malty flavor that is reminiscent of a deep, rich vintage port, fine cognac or aged sherry.
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7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
No head. Deep brownish red body. Intense walnutty chocolatey raisins and cognac aroma with plum and wood notes. Intense walnut chocolate malts taste suddenly overpowered by massive alcohol. Intense alcohol burn lingers for a long time; kind of reminiscent of cognac. Sticky sugar on lips. Wooden alcoholic sharp chocolatey aftertaste with walnut notes. Bitter taste settles in the mouth. Completely dominated by walnuts and alcohol. An intense experience, maybe too alcoholic for me, but still good.
Tried
on 29 Nov 2008
at 06:55
10/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 10
Flavor 10
Texture 10
Overall 10
Wow, this is good. A sweet aroma with fruit, raisins and caramel. It looks beautiful in the glass, leaving curtains like a whiskey or cognac. The flavour is strong, sweet with raisins and caramel with no burn of the strong alcohol.
Tried
on 10 Oct 2008
at 16:34
9/10
2007 vintage a few years ago
Tried
on 21 May 2008
at 10:24
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
2019 - the 2012 is very nice. / Original: Bottle shared by Marcus. This beer has legs. The aroma is cognac. A hint of maple when it comes close to the nose. Very thick body with hardly any carbonation. There is heat. It burns down the throat. It’s a bit maple-like, and rather woody. Some brown sugar in the finish. Much more impressive than the Triple Bock.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 May 2008
at 23:42
8.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 9
#100 Barley Wine rating
Huge thanks to the Oldsmar Tap House owner Tony for allowing us beer geeks (Degarth, Quake1028 and myself) to finally get a chance to sample a beer we’ve been collectively Jones-ing for for months. The sample pours out crystal clear amber with lots of legs along the edge of the glass and zero head. Wow, big big tasty aroma. Love it. It is sweet and yummy. A deep drag pulls up sweet rich creamy sticky caramel malty sweetness. I also get some opulent dark fruity esters with dates, grapes and perfectly ripe cherries. As the drag continues the phenols start to kick in and almost burnt the nose with alcohol. This is the thickest, richest, boldest and most alcoholic barleywine I’ve ever experienced. The taste begins with a slick sweet nectar that slips in on its own. The taste is just rich and decadent. There is a rich creamy and bold caramelness that seems to happily dominate the flavor. There’s also lesser amounts of dark fruitiness way out in the background. Toward the finish the heat does build up a bit along with caramel mixed with almonds, chestnuts and filbert nuttiness. WOW!!!
Huge thanks to the Oldsmar Tap House owner Tony for allowing us beer geeks (Degarth, Quake1028 and myself) to finally get a chance to sample a beer we’ve been collectively Jones-ing for for months. The sample pours out crystal clear amber with lots of legs along the edge of the glass and zero head. Wow, big big tasty aroma. Love it. It is sweet and yummy. A deep drag pulls up sweet rich creamy sticky caramel malty sweetness. I also get some opulent dark fruity esters with dates, grapes and perfectly ripe cherries. As the drag continues the phenols start to kick in and almost burnt the nose with alcohol. This is the thickest, richest, boldest and most alcoholic barleywine I’ve ever experienced. The taste begins with a slick sweet nectar that slips in on its own. The taste is just rich and decadent. There is a rich creamy and bold caramelness that seems to happily dominate the flavor. There’s also lesser amounts of dark fruitiness way out in the background. Toward the finish the heat does build up a bit along with caramel mixed with almonds, chestnuts and filbert nuttiness. WOW!!!
Tried
from Draft
on 25 Feb 2008
at 20:52
8.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
[What a fanstastic treat - thanks yespr!] Dark amber with no head. Aroma has strong alcohol, fruits, oak, port and cognaq notes. Flavor is sweet and strong with port, cognaq, caramel, grapes and oak notes. Full bodied with lovely curtains in the glass. Although strong it is very balanced. Wow...
Tried
on 17 Jan 2008
at 23:16
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Two ounce pour from a bottle purchased by my homebrewing club. Room temperature. 2007 bottling. Pours clear mahogany brown and is totally still, no head whatsoever, indicated to earlier by an absolutely silent release of the cap. Very leggy. Huge complex aroma of dried fruits, raisins, prunes, dates, figs, brown sugar and ALCOHOL. A very complex flavor as well. The alcohol is dominant, but there is an intense fruitiness underneath it if you can search for a bit with your tongue. Big alcohol burn, but this is very smooth and drinkable. At over $100 a bottle, I won’t drink this often, if ever again, but if it was ever priced along with the liqueurs, this would be nice to have around now and then.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Jan 2008
at 12:08
8.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
tytoanderso was good to share a taste of his ’03. Powerful aroma of alcohol and maple. Flavor is very sweet, with more maple, sugar, oak, and some whiskey. Very nice palate, thick and heavy, and no carbonation. A rich liqueur for slow sipping.
Tried
on 20 Oct 2007
at 01:49
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
70 cL cobber coated ceramic bottle, #315. Pours hazy amber with no head. Thick roasted aroma with clear alcohol note. Fullbodied, thick alcohol feel. Flavour is intense with a clear alcohol flavour here too. Quite distinct roasted note and a lot of dried fruit flavours in an advanced mix. Complex and powerful. Really only for sipping from a large cognac glass on a late Friday evening during Autumn or Winter.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Oct 2007
at 03:39
8.5/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 9
Flavor 10
Texture 8
Overall 9
(Copper coated ceramic bottle) Courtesy of yespr. Bottle # 315. Pours ahazy amber with absolutely no head. Fat aroma of caramel, overripe fruit and alcohol. Very - no EXTREMELY full-bodied - this pours thick as maple syrup. Intense and very complex notes of cognac, sweet caramel and fruit. The finish is oh so hot with nothing much but alcohol. Extreme - and extremely challenging. A masterpiece. 280907
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Oct 2007
at 07:56