The Bar Towel

Does anybody know where this SA effort can be purchased. Hopefully it's an improvement over the triple bock

You might be able to find Utopias at the Premier in Buffalo. Expect to pay through the nose for it, though.

Here are my notes from the Sam Adams tasting at the Bier Markt last year...

"Reddish-amber colour with no head or carbonation. Aroma and mouthfeel of a sweet bourbon. Flavours of maple, butterscotch, vanilla and raisin. A bit of its beer pedigree can be sensed in the slightly malty finish, but it's more like a bourbon than anything else. Not quite as complex or balanced as the Millennium, but I imagine it will be outstanding in a couple of years."

And as for the Triple Bock, don't sell it short, as it has improved with age...

"1994 vintage. I'd been warned to expect this to taste like soya sauce, but I was pleasantly surprised. The colour is dark brown-burgundy. Aroma of whiskey, chocolate, oak cask & sweet maple. Flavour of maple and molasses, and an odd twinge of rye and coke. Moderately dry finish. Very, very nice - I'm glad I waited nine years to try this, as it sounds like any younger samples have been pretty nasty."

Well I guess I should have waited one more year on that '95 Triple Bock I had the other night. It was a real chore to choke it down; I wouldn't recommend the beer to anyone.

I think Greg may have been temporarily insane - that triple bock is nasty nasty stuff, no matter how young or old it is.

I dont think Premier has ny Utopias. I dont recall seeing any a few months ago.

On 2004-01-16 11:43, A wrote:
I think Greg may have been temporarily insane - that triple bock is nasty nasty stuff, no matter how young or old it is.

My sanity is questionable at the best of times.

But the nine year old Triple Bock they served at the Sam Adams tasting last year really was quite nice. There were several Towellers there who can back me up on this, including Josh - here are his notes from RateBeer:

"Whenever I've had this before it was young and I didn't care for it. I enjoyed the aroma but the palate was all whisky and soy sauce. Well, I'm going to do an about face here. Not that I like this beer young, but I just had a 1994 vintage and at nine years old it is a turned itself into an excellent beer. Very dark brown, kind of murky after all these years. Whiskyish aroma with vanilla, molasses, maple sugar, and overlappig malt on malt. Very sweet - sugary, mapley, flat and slightly oily. A little alcohol dryness in the finish. Long, sweet, and complex."

Yes, this is one of those beers where there doesn't seem to be a middle ground - either you like it, or you don't.

Last time I was at Premier (August), they had three bottles of Utopia. They were not on display and as I recall, they were at a relatively resonable (?) price. You might want to give them a call and see if there are any bottles left.