Happy New Years to you all! I hope you all had a great New Years Eve and New Years day! I spent it with Family/Friends/Love Ones as I would hope you all did as well. I know I had a great night last night. So good in fact, it made the first beer of the year a bit tricky to try. As I said, no matter what I will drink a beer every day. I was in Market District yesterday looking at different beers. I was reviewing the Dog Fish Head selection as that was a request for me to drink the first day and I stumbled upon this beverage. I had read a little about these a few weeks back; champagne of beer! No I'm not talking Miller High Life which calls itself the Champagne of Beer. These are actually beers that are brewed to a champagne like quality. I thought no more perfect a choice to drink on New Years Day then a champagne beer.Luckily I found this Sam Adams Infinium. This is a collaboration brew between Samuel Adams and Bavarian State Brewery Weinhenstephan. The tag on the bottle reads "a ground breaking beer that unites European brewing heritage with American innovation." The challenge was to make the beverage light, bubbly, fruity like champagne by brewing in the Reinheitsgebot beer purity law. For those of you who do not know of this - this law states that beer should only ever be brewed with 3 ingredients; malt, hops, water (the fourth being added several years later once they understood the science and splendor of yeast.) The tag states "Its light malt character is balanced by the Noble hops that impart a soft citrus and floral flavor."
The experience: I allowed this bottle to sit on the bar for a period of time to remove the chill off the beer. It should be served between 40-42F (I used my best judgement of when to drink). The pour is aggressive with a strong head exploding upwards like a champagne pour. The head sticks around for your first sip or two of the beer and dies down to a more thin white cover. The color was hard for me to see as I was without power when I first started drinking it. I would call it a light cloudy yellowish brown color. As for the smell, it was a malty bread like smell to it. It was not the most pleasing smell of a brew I've had but not offensive in any way. I had read a few reviews about this and was nervous for the taste of this beer. To me the flavor was slightly sour to taste (not offensive sour but somewhat pleasing sour). I get huge hints of citrus in every sip. The one thing that I found was this beer was lighter then originally expected. That seemed to be most people's complaints - that it was not light enough to consider it champagne like. I tend to disagree. It may not be as light and bubbly as a champagne but oddly enough - it isn't champagne so why would it be! The carbonation is loud and proud. It bubbles in your the glass all the way to your mouth just like a fine champagne. Though I wouldn't say I would go out of my way to find this beer again I think it is a fine beer. It has a great purpose on any beer lists! Probably the most disappointing factor of this beer would be the price. I'm sure the brewing ingredients and process are of the highest quality - but I don't think it lived up to its $20 value.
So there you have it; day one! Now only 365 more days (since this is a leap year). I think I will definitely enjoy this journey and I'm glad you guys are along for the ride. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook at '@blute 365 beers'. I can also be found on twitter at blute365beers. Can't wait for day two.
The experience: I allowed this bottle to sit on the bar for a period of time to remove the chill off the beer. It should be served between 40-42F (I used my best judgement of when to drink). The pour is aggressive with a strong head exploding upwards like a champagne pour. The head sticks around for your first sip or two of the beer and dies down to a more thin white cover. The color was hard for me to see as I was without power when I first started drinking it. I would call it a light cloudy yellowish brown color. As for the smell, it was a malty bread like smell to it. It was not the most pleasing smell of a brew I've had but not offensive in any way. I had read a few reviews about this and was nervous for the taste of this beer. To me the flavor was slightly sour to taste (not offensive sour but somewhat pleasing sour). I get huge hints of citrus in every sip. The one thing that I found was this beer was lighter then originally expected. That seemed to be most people's complaints - that it was not light enough to consider it champagne like. I tend to disagree. It may not be as light and bubbly as a champagne but oddly enough - it isn't champagne so why would it be! The carbonation is loud and proud. It bubbles in your the glass all the way to your mouth just like a fine champagne. Though I wouldn't say I would go out of my way to find this beer again I think it is a fine beer. It has a great purpose on any beer lists! Probably the most disappointing factor of this beer would be the price. I'm sure the brewing ingredients and process are of the highest quality - but I don't think it lived up to its $20 value.
So there you have it; day one! Now only 365 more days (since this is a leap year). I think I will definitely enjoy this journey and I'm glad you guys are along for the ride. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook at '@blute 365 beers'. I can also be found on twitter at blute365beers. Can't wait for day two.
