Samuel Adams Utopias

Utopias

 

Samuel Adams in Boston, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸

  Strong Ale - American Special
Score
8.08
ABV: 28.0% IBU: 45 Ticks: 167
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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7.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle.Clear amber colour with no head.Aroma is strong sweet with note of portwine caramel and honey really sweet and warming mouthfeels with smooth finish.

Tried from Bottle on 16 Mar 2019 at 13:55


6.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

From backlog. Sample from a mug @ EBF 2019. Malty, sticky and syrupy with loads of booze, toffee and caramel notes. Heavy with barrel and oak notes. Feels more like a liquor than a beer.

Tried on 15 Mar 2019 at 19:46


8.5
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

8000th review! 8 ounce pour from a 24 ounce bottle; 2017 vintage bottling. Bottle #14819. Pours still, slightly hazy ruby reddish/orange/copper color. No head or lacing, but tons of alcohol legs on the glass. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, berries, red grape, port, sherry, rum, brandy, cognac, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, honey, caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, biscuit, roasted nuts, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, chocolate, cocoa, oak char, leather, tobacco, cinnamon, peppercorn, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Increasing booze in the aromas, but not too overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and multiple barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, berries, red grape, port, sherry, rum, brandy, cognac, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, honey, caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, biscuit, roasted nuts, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, chocolate, cocoa, oak char, leather, tobacco, cinnamon, peppercorn, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Taste of huge raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, berries, red grape, port, sherry, rum, brandy, cognac, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, honey, caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, biscuit, roasted nuts, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, chocolate, cocoa, oak char, leather, tobacco, cinnamon, peppercorn, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Light oak char bitterness, and barrel tannin/alcohol spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark fruits, cherry, apricot, berries, red grape, port, sherry, rum, brandy, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, honey, caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, biscuit, roasted nuts, brown bread/crust, licorice, molasses, chocolate, cocoa, oak char, leather, tobacco, cinnamon, peppercorn, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and multiple barrel flavors; with a great malt/oak spiciness balance, and no cloying sweetness after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering barrel tannin and spicy alcohol. Fairly full body; with a smooth, creamy/slick, and lightly syrupy/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Light-moderate increasing warmth of 28%, some lingering barrel booze after the finish; but not overwhelming. Overall this is an amazing barrel aged strong ale! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and multiple barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on slowly for the enormous ABV. As expected this is like a cross between beer and all above mentioned spirits. Mind blowing amounts of complexity; and everything is perfectly integrated with all the different barrels. A highly amazing offering, and world class beer for what it was. A truly unique experience.

Tried from Bottle on 27 Feb 2019 at 05:33


8.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

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.

Tried from Bottle on 19 Nov 2018 at 19:09


9
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

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.

Tried from Bottle on 18 Nov 2018 at 21:05


8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

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!)

Tried from Bottle on 31 Oct 2018 at 22:23


6.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

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.

Tried from Bottle on 03 Sep 2018 at 16:04


9

Tried on 31 Aug 2018 at 19:43


9

Vad ska man säga..

Tried from Bottle on 15 Mar 2018 at 18:46


8

Pedro ximenez taki. Fajne cialo. Fajny aromat jak pooddycha. Rodzynki, susz. Alko niestety mocno pali usto w posmakach. Wiec niby sups „ale”

Tried at Mikkeller Bar Warsaw on 09 Mar 2018 at 12:58