Sam Adams crafts beer that drinks like Champagne
By Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee
Champagne of bottled beers? A new brew fits that description with bubbles to spare.
After two years of research and experimentation, Samuel Adams rolled out its much-anticipated Infinium in time for New Year’s celebrations. This is no ordinary ale; according to Sam Adams founder Jim Koch, Infinium is the first new beer style created under German Reinheitsgebot standards in a century.
Koch and Josef Schradler, managing director of Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery, collaborated on inventing Infinium, which looks and drinks more like champagne than beer.
As a special winter release, it comes packaged in a heavy 750-ml bottle with a wire-caged cork, just like sparkling wine. It’s priced like champagne, too, at a suggested $19.95 per bottle.
Poured into a champagne flute, amber-hued Infinium offers a frothy head and pinpoint bubbles. It smells fruity – a mix of apple, apricot and vanilla – and much more like wine than beer.