Utopias and Coffee Stout Releases

Tailgate is the only appropriate space for a Utopias opening

This week I plopped down the tailgate of my old-timer Toyota pickup and (thanks to a Perfect Pour listener, Wazzu) got to have my first taste of a Sam Adam’s Utopias.

I don’t know how to describe it.

There is cherry, barrel, wood - very well balanced.

One tends to get caught up in the price of a bottle ($200 to $500 or so) and the brain goes “Let’s see what two hundred dollars tastes like.” But I think it’s the wrong way to approach it.

When you factor in the amount of alcs in the beer, it is kind of amazing how easy to drink it is. You get the burn from it, and that’s the only resistance keeping you from drinking it like a small beer.

You are paying for the experience, the bottle, the lore, that’s for sure. It’s impossible to have something taste like $250 and that is what you’re looking for, so it can mess you up.

(At the moment of writing this, there is a $280 bottle I found on Instacart, if you’re interested - there are many other places, like Total Wine and Costco, etc.)

Utopias is one of the fun stories and experiences of beer geeking, I am happy to have tried some and look to do it again.

Beer Journal: Rush Day 2023

Also happy to have gotten out of the house this week to Fresno’s Rush Day (their annual Coffee Stout releases) at Tioga Sequoia Brewing. It’s our only traditional big beer release day in town and a nice day to catchup with local geeks and see what they’re drinking.

The entrance to Tioga Sequoia

Rush Day is always in December and I kinda wish it was January or February so there was more time to hangout without Holiday stress looming over every sip, but still a great day I look forward to every year.

Many thanks for the read. I am not done with shopping or getting our house ready for family, so I am pretty stressed - hopefully, I will find a couple of good beers this week to calm me down.

-Mikey

Peace ✌️ Beer 🍻 & Metal 🤘

PS: Today’s affiliate sponsor of D&T is the Square Keg - for the person who likes a draft edge to their beer, no matter where they go. Check it out.

(I don’t know that I would put a Utopias in it, but why not!?)