BizAims

Samuel Adams Utopias, which went on sale in February 2002, was claimed to be the strongest commercial beer in the world, at 25% alcohol by volume. The beer was stronger than Millennium, a single release brew made by Sam Adams in 1999, at 21% alcohol.

Utopias is made with caramel, Vienna, Moravian and Bavarian smoked malts, and all four varieties of noble hops: Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger, Spalter, and Saaz. The beer is aged in scotch, cognac and port barrels for the better part of a year. It is described as having a "distinctive smell of cinnamon and vanilla with subtle hints of floral, citrus and pine."

The beer was packaged in a copper-finished kettle designed to resemble those used in the brewing process. 8,000 twenty-four-ounce bottles of Utopias were produced in all, with a suggested price of US$100 a bottle.

The beer is considered by some to be more comparable to brandy or sherry than to other beers. Due to legal restrictions, Samuel Adams1 Utopias is not offered in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, or West Virginia.

Utopias is still being made and has been released in 2002, 2005, and 2007. Samuel Adams is to produce 12000 bottles for the 2007 holiday season.

NOTES:

1) Boilers at the Samuel Adams brewery

The company's success occurred as the U.S. craft brewery movement was exploding. By 1995, some 600 craft breweries were producing specialty beers in the United States. That year The Boston Beer Company went public, selling shares of Class A Common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under SAM. Despite the appearance of competitors, the firm remained the largest craft brewer in the United States with nearly 141 million liters (1.2 million barrels) sold in 1996. Sales leveled off after that, and Boston Beer tried to continue its growth by offering alternative beverages, such as Hardcore Cider (1997), and Twisted Tea (2000). The brand was first produced under contract by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, best known for their Iron City brand of beer. Over the years, the brand has been produced under contract at various brewing facilities with excess capacity, ranging from Stroh breweries, Portland's original Blitz-Weinhard brewery (shuttered in 1999), Cincinnati's Hudepohl-Schoenling brewery (eventually purchased by the Boston Beer Company in early 1997), and industry giant SABMiller. Today, more than 60% of its beer is produced at its very own, newly renovated, Cincinnati brewery. One-third of Samuel Adams beer is still produced under contract at breweries in Rochester, NY and Eden, NC. The company claims to bring its own employees, ingredients and brewing processes to these contract sites. The Boston Beer Company also has a small R&D brewery located in Boston (Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, where public tours and beer tastings are offered. Samuel Adams Boston Lager was voted "Best Beer in America" by fest-goers at the Association of Brewers' "Great American Beer Festival" several times in the mid to late 1980s, although that award was mired in controversies surrounding accusations of ballot-stuffing. The award was later cut from the Great American Beer Festival as a result of the controversy.