Crafty!

Samuel Adams’ Utopias sets a high standard in craft beer.

The craft of beer is often overlooked, or ignored completely, often relegated to small groups of enthusiasts who find immense pleasure in the latest microbrew from some obscure, cold and probably mountainous region. The pendulum then takes a long, smooth, arching swing to the other end of the continuum. Twelve-packs of watered down, pale, straw-colored beer are the preference here, resembling very little the malt, hops and water that bore them.

And then there’s the other category, one that doesn’t have many entries: the craft beer category. These beers have a very small annual production, and have fuller, more complex flavors that result from the use of specialty malts and hops. They are high quality and generally all-malt beers, meaning that other cereals such as rice, oats and wheat are not used in the fermentation. Boston-based Samuel Adams is the largest American craft brewer, and is also the holder of the über-craft beer title for its Utopias.

Rich, dark and uncarbonated, Samuel Adams’ Utopias seems less like a beer and more like a vintage Port or refined cognac. It has a lot of “mosts” in its long list of bragging rights, including “World’s Strongest Beer” at 27% alcohol by volume, and also “World’s Most Expensive Beer” at well over $100 per bottle. The brewing process is also like no other, beginning with a blend of Caramel and Munich malts, which complement each other through the high, sweet, honey-like notes of the former followed by the lower, more robust, grainy tones of the latter. Fermented with a selection of yeast normally reserved for Champagne and accented with three types of Noble hops (Spalt Spalter, Hallertau Mittlefrüh and Tettnang Tettnanger), the beer is then combined with a variety of wood-aged liquids – some of which have been aging for up to 13 years – and finished in Sherry and Madeira casks from Portugal, which add nutty and toffee-like aromas, respectively.

We tried the Samuel Adams Utopias recently at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Costa Mesa (but not before diving into the revered steakhouse’s Bar Bites menu, of which we sampled the miniature prime cheeseburger trio and the blue cheese French fries, which was a match made in heaven with a primer of Chimay beer). I was told that that the mini cheeseburgers were the best around, and they were: plump, juicy and surprisingly like the best backyard burger you can recall.

But I digress – onto Utopias. The beer was served in a two-ounce pour in a cognac glass, a heavy whiff of alcohol and toffee-like aromas wafting from the small aperture. It was a dark ruby-black color with a generous viscosity. The taste has all the elements of the extensive brewing process, including the subtle oaky flavors of the various barrels used, as well as strong overtones of maple syrup and coffee. Underlying aromas included honey, vanilla and molasses with a lingering spiciness on the tongue and a faint floral character that lightened the overall richness of the beer. Perhaps the most unexpected quality of the Utopias, and the one that sets it apart from other beers, is the fact that it is uncarbonated, best enjoyed as an after dinner drink in one of the custom Riedel glasses with a curved rim designed specifically for the beer.

Utopias is at the far end of the craft beer spectrum, raising the expectations of what beer is and can be. It certainly raised ours.
Samuel Adams’ Utopias is available at Morton’s The Steakhouse, 1641 W. Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa; (714) 444-4834, www.mortons.com

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