Saturday, January 1, 2011

First beer of the year!

Lets get this party started right!
I rang in the new year with something really special. This is Sam Adam's Infinium, a limited release beer they created late in 2010. They partnered with the Weihenstephan brewery of Germany, one of the oldest in existence, to produce a new "champagne like" beer that follows the Rheinheitsgabot, or German Purity Law, meaning it uses only water, malted barley, hops, and yeast.
Its a lovely deep golden color, with plenty of carbonation. The bottle conditioning gives it tons of tiny bubbles. The aroma is strongly citrus, from the noble hops, with some sweet undertones of peach and a bit of floral spiciness. The taste is just lovely. It has plenty of body, giving it a thick and slippery mouthfeel, but not an overpowering flavor. Theres a good sweetness from the malt, balanced by flavors of lemon peel and apricot. The hop finish is light and clean, and leaves you wanting more.
It comes on with a bang, at 10 percent alcohol, but the alcohol flavors are barely detectable. Great beer for a celebration.

Scoring:
Look: 4 - deep gold with lots of fine bubbles
Aroma: 5 - lots of citrus and spicy hops
Taste: 5 - layers of malt, fruit, and hops
Feel: 4 - lots of body, but still light and creamy
Total: 4.5

2 comments:

  1. Great minds think alike; I bought this one for New Year's Eve also!

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  2. Damnit, They didn't have this at my BevMO and it was sold out at my Total Wine. I'm jealous as hell.

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