A while back was a damn good Wednesday, let me tell you! First, I had finally gotten a job offer for a position I had interviewed for! BAM!! Secondly, the Bruins were playing in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990 and were aiming for their first cup since '71-'72. This totally justified finally breaking out one of the bottles of Infinium I had gotten over the holidays and a friend coming to watch the game happened to score a bottle of the 2011 Utopia! Fuck. Yes. The only thing that would've made that night better would have been a Bruins win...BUT in the end they took the cup and it. was. GLORIOUS! (side note: got the job offer the same day as game 1..was supposed to start the 13th of June, but that was pushed back to the 20th..thankfully because game 7 ended up being on the 15th and if I had started that week I would not have been able to revel in the glory that night in Boston! AND on the 4th week of the new job..yep. Stanley Cup! Got my picture taken with that big, shiny piece of epic wonder! Awesome job I got, eh?)
Samuel Adams Infinium!
A collaboration with Weihenstephan, the world's oldest brewery. If you've never tried a Weihenstephaner Hefe-weizen..ohhh man! A hefeweizen in all its sheer, simple perfection! So knowing Sam Adams' style of brewing and their love of uniquely crafted beers and how amazing Weihenstephan is PLUS knowing it will be a 'champagne-style' beer.. I HAD to get a bottle! And at 10.3% ABV a solid choice for a beer and a slightly ligher-end champagne. The pop and pour was ALL bubbly, sooo cool to pop the top on a Sam Adams! A golden straw pour and huge lacy head really stood out. Again, the aroma was a combination of champagne and German hefeweizen, as expected. Fairly dry, yeasty aroma, hints of apples, pears, apricots..some grapefruity hops and toasted cracker-type grains. First tastes were pure hefeweizen.. slight banana, clove, mild malty sweetness, but also had underlying alcohol notes. From here, the taste stuck mildly sweet but turned dry like a champagne. All the while a faily heavy amount of carbonation mingled all the notes together. A very dry, peachy/apricot finish to the brew. Overall, I was fairly impressed, yet slightly disappointed. An awesome merger of two styles, but slightly overboard with the carbonation in attempting to make it champagne-style. All the flavors were there, but it was a bit too fizzy and maybe a touch too sweet. Maybe a B+..but still awesome to be able to have one of these limitedly available brews, and I got to pop bottles in celebration of a job!
..and for the piece de resistance.. UTOPIA! Holy hell..the bottle alone is amazing. I had a taste of their Triple Bock a while back, back before I was big into beer and it was just far to rich, thick, sweet.. This however was a completely different story! 27% ABV...WOW The comparisons of this to a cognac or sherry were spot on. The pour alone was ten-fold lighter than the Triple Bock ever was, truer to a liquor. Hugely sweet aromas emanating from the bottle just upon opening alone. Plums, blackberries, molasses, vanilla, rich spice all dance on the nose. The alcohol is definitely the first to hit your tongue, but is in no way overpowering. Immediately it is followed by sweet maple syrup, vanilla, molasses, honey, oak and a faint peppery spice. The finish is again heavily sweet, yet not too thick..caramel, vanilla, hints of sweeter red wine and toasted almonds/pecans. I may only be getting half..if not less, of all the different tastes, aromas, hints all mixed together in this unbelievable concoction. For sure a masterpiece. Not enough amazing things can be said about this..pure masterpiece.
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