Samuel Adams and the “Imperial-List”
Monday, September 21st, 2009
(A sad violin plays in the background) What’s the matter Bubby? You say your beer-life has been a bit boring lately? Can’t seem to find that beer that sets the salivary glands in motion? You obviously haven’t been down the beer aisle at your local grocers lately…
Okay, I know many of you “hard-core” beer geeks are still left wanting; Stone and Avery haven’t made it here along with countless other great American brews. But, we are at a point where one can at least find one decent example of many of the most traditional, popular or trendy beer styles.
Earlier this year, The Boston Beer Company rolled out what they call their “Imperial Series”; a release of three relatively traditional beers that could be classified as “big”, but certainly not extreme. What’s the difference you ask? Well, I would generally say that the “extreme” moniker is used when the beer goes way-off the “traditional” reservation, like maybe an 11% Pilsner that’s brewed with cinnamon or something. On the other hand “big” is just big, which could mean big on the hops or maybe big in the alcohol department or both; you get the picture. The Sam Adams Imperial Series beers are big beers, with a little “extreme-ness” by way of a 10.3% witbier.
The first beer in the series is the Sam Adams Double Bock. This beer has been brewed as a seasonal beer by Boston Beer Company since 1988. The recipe is based upon and closely follows a very traditional German Doppelbock beer, with a very rich malty flavor and texture. The beer is stronger than its most traditional German counterparts.
Next we have the Imperial White Beer. A rich, spicy ale based on the Belgian Witbier style, though twice as strong as tradition would suggest. BBC’s brewers do a fine job of making this work at the higher abv levels. Traditional witbiers use citrusy spices to enhance the refreshing nature of the wheat based beer, but the spices in this bigger version work to add enough complexity to keep things interesting on the way up to 10% abv. I am going to leave one of these out for Santa this year along with his cookies…
Finally there is the Imperial Stout. This is the Sam Adams take on the beer style that was responsible for bringing the term “Imperial” to brewing as it was a style that was specifically brewed for Russia’s Catherine the Great; so you could technically say that this a 9.2%abv “chick beer”. Dark chocolate (cocoa) flavors dominate this rich and creamy beer. This is the beer you want for dessert, either by itself or paired with something like vanilla ice cream or something with cherries and cream.
The Boston Beer Company’s website covers each beer and also suggests food pairings. Three beers does not a food pairing toolkit make, but it’s a heck of a lot better than our options this time last year…
