Utopias drank

The friday night before Lance and Rob headed back to the homeland, we popped open the Sam Adams Utopias. That's right, bottle number #11663, the same bottle that many of you Tokyo-ites had seen collecting dust in Tanakaya for so long. It was an experience.



Utopias smells like a barley wine that is going to be good but then.... It is "not like beer." This is one statement that all of us agreed upon after the first sip. The maple syrup and the wood aging come on strong. There is a strong alcohol nose but it is pretty subdued for almost 26 %.

A few ounces in, I was really craving a stack warm, fluffy pancakes with melted butter dripping off of them. I would cut out a three layer triangle and dunk it in the Utopias before poppin' it in my mouth.Sam Adams must have used a bazillion different barrels to age the beers they blended to make the 2007 Utopias. You can taste bourbon, scotch, port, and sherry flavors. We slightly chilled the bottle so we could let it get warmer as we tasted it. As it got warmer, it really started expanding and exploding. This stuff coats your mouth and throat.

Lance said, "A taste explosion that beckons all of my sense at once. Yes, that's right. It even calls my ears to its singing beauty. It's song? The Sound of Freedom."

There is not much I can really say about Utopias. Yes, it is too damn expensive. But, it has a taste that is like nothing else. It doesn't taste like beer and it doesn't taste like a liquor. It is somewhere in between but better. Sam Adams is releasing the 2009 series this fall. I'm considering buying one, if that tells you anything.