Damn Sam

Samuel Adams has released a couple news items recently. One is about teaming up with the oldest brewery still open, Weihenstephan Brewery, to make a collaboration beer. The most recent press release is about their limited release Barrel-Aged beers. A lot of beer enthusiasts are annoyed at all of the barrel-aged fad, but for me it is just some more bottles to add to my obsessed collection. They are coming up with a Tripel, a Kriek and a Red. These will only be sold in 4 states (3 in the Northeast and also Denver, CO). Who knows if I'll get any of these but figured I'd show my ever-growing Sam Adams collection where each of those pictured is Sam Adams:

Winter is Here!

So what is your favorite winter beer?

Anyone want to go in half on a Sam Adams Utopias with me? It's only $200 a bottle. Gomer's Midtown just got some in, not sure how many. Oh and I'm only joking about buying one. I already have an empty bottle of it and the smell alone will get you drunk. Utopias is 27% abv and barely a beer. The bottle is shaped as a brew tank. Pretty cool.

I really like Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. Great stuff. Also you should buy some Nutcracker that I got to help dry hop this year!

KC Breweries, Old, New, Hopeful

I've been meaning to get to this post for a while, but I've really been slacking. A quick note, you should really try the Sam Adams Imperial Series. Just don't drink 6 or 7 at once like I did. There's been a lot of change in breweries with the economy sinking. Late last year Power Plant Brewery in Parkville shut down "indefinitely", according to the sign on their door. Economy, service, and a political mess ended that brewery but I am hopeful that it will open again. With Parkville's exciting Microbrewfest (coming May 2nd) you'd think they'd get a lot of business.

River Market Brewery was another casualty. To me it's not a huge surprise. With the new Power & Light district dominating the downtown cash flow, RMB became an okay lunch spot, if that. The beer was decent, the service not so great. Still it's sad to see another original bite the dust.

So did Flying Monkey close down? I heard rumors that Flying Monkey Brewery in Olathe shut down, but haven't confirmed that. I saw that up in Ontario recently a brewery just changed its name to Flying Monkeys Brewery. Hmm...

On a brighter side of the topic we've got two hopeful breweries in DCB and DBC both in KC area.

Doodle Brewing Company in Liberty is underway with a building site. Nick Vaughn from KC's 75th st brewery has a good resume of brewery experience and knowledge. Nick is taking a leap with his kids college money to construct his dream. KC should really help Matt once he gets his operation in full force.


Dead Canary Brewery has kept us awaiting some good news for a while, but has plans in the West Bottoms to create a fun nano-brewery that contains a dodgeball league. Also they did a better job on the new logo.

Sam Adams Triple Bock

Wow. So I finally opened a bottle of Sam Adams Triple Bock. I found this online at a store in San Diego for $4 per bottle. I had a very nice family member ship me 3 bottles. This is a very historic brew that pushed the envelope for craft brewers in the States. It was only brewed 3 years in the mid-90's. I had read that it gets better with every year. Man, I am glad I didn't try it the first year it came out. Well over a decade this bottle has been sitting and aging. Right when I opened it up the smell will knock you on your ass. 17.5% ABV.

Ingredients: Maple Syrup, Malt and Craziness. I will admit that I could not finish this as it was my first beer of the day. I had read about the cork getting wet and because this was shipped to me, well I had a bad experience opening the bottle. Some of the cork may have fallen into the bottle. Oops.

Well we all know Samuel Adams beer has a variety of awesome beers and they're doing very well. Now if I can just get my hands on some Millennium and Utopias, my set will be complete.