One New York Life

Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection — Stony Brook Red

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company
Brewed In: Boston, MA — also aged there, per the press release.
ABV: 9%
Type: Red Ale

What They Say: This unique brew defies traditional beer style definition. The rich, malty brew combines notes of tart fruit from the yeast with a toasty oak character from the barrel aging. The long dry finish is almost wine-like. This is a beer that is satisfying on its own and also pairs well with many foods such as braised or roasted meats, beef stews and strong salty cheeses. Samuel Adams Stony Brook Red starts out as a strong red ale fermented with a Belgian style ale yeast. This younger ale is blended with over 50% of our Samuel Adams Kosmic Mother Funk. The Kosmic Mother Funk is a Belgian ale that we age in oak casks and tanks for over 6 months. The beer in the oak vessels undergoes a secondary fermentation with brettanomyces yeasts and lactobacillus to give the beer a rich tropical fruit note and some sourness. Stony Brook Red’s resulting blend has an earthy, fruity, and estery character. The beer is also bottle conditioned which creates a secondary fermentation in the bottle giving the beer an extra smooth and balanced flavor

Why I Picked It: The final beer in the vertical tasting of the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection Series. One final thanks to fellow beer snob The Big Show for getting these to me.

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Presentation (5): Check out the first post to see my thoughts here. 5

Originality (5): This is pretty much a red, but with some of the Kosmic Mother Funk and oak-aged goodness. Like I said previously: this whole idea of the Barrel Room Series isn’t the top of originality — it’s the second-best in Boston alone after Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series — but I give Sam the points for trying. 3

Body (10): An opaque red pour with minimal head. Decent amount of carbonation and bubbling. The beer has the same oaken odor as bourbon-aged beers. The texture of the carbonation really manages to pull off the alcohol, successfully off-putting the burn. Really well done body for the type. 8

Taste (10): This is the beer that’s best managed to get mileage out of the oak flavors. As mentioned, the nose is sweet and the taste is an explosion of flavors — sourness from the fruits, sweetness from the oak, and bitterness from the malts. The aftertaste is sort of Belgian, but there’s so much else going on by the time you get there that it can be tough to appreciate. There’s red, Belgian, and oak all going on here. Complex and good. 9

Versatility (10): There’s a lot going on here. These single bottle, experimental beers range between tasty & accessible to tasty & WTF. This one goes more toward WTF. 3

Efficiency (10): Love this beer. The intense flavor forced me to take it slow, but high ABV kept it worth it. 7

The Snob Sez: My favorite of these barrel room collection beers. This won’t change the way anyone feels about beer, but it’s a good single bottle offering that isn’t disappointing.

Final Score: 35 (of 50) — Good beer.

Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection — American Kriek

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company
Brewed In: Boston, MA — also aged there, per the press release.
ABV: 7%
Type: Kriek, although Beer Advocate calls it an “American Wild Ale”.

What They Say: The intense black cherry character in this beer comes from Balaton cherries, which were discovered in Hungary and are now grown in Michigan. These special cherries are prized for their depth of flavor. The tartness from the cherries is balanced by a rich, malty character with toasted oak notes added from the barrel aging. Our American Kriek undergoes a secondary fermentation on a bed of Balaton cherries from Michigan. The taste isn’t like the jarred candy cherry flavor but instead tastes like the deep red ripe fruit. The resulting beer is blended with a small amount of our Kosmic Mother Funk™, to add another layer of flavor and character.

Presentation (5): This was part of Great Big Show Trade. I believe this one cost me a Black Ops. This is the second of three beers in the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection Series.

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Presentation (5): Check out the first post to see my thoughts here. 5

Originality (5): They seem to be using their Belgian recipe here and doing some other nonsense involving trademarked Balaton cherries and “Cosmic Mother Funk.” They get an extra point for non-ironically using “Cosmic Mother Funk.” 3

Body (10): It pours a rather nice red with a about a finger of head which dissipates quickly. Healthy carbonation which is probably necessary given the big flavors. The mouthfeel is is not heavy in the least, and it finishes more like a soda than a beer. Even though the carbonation is bold, it’s one of the few cases where the beer could use even a little more. I don’t know if that would take it fully over to cherry soda. 8

Taste (10): While I’m usually not a fan of Sam’s “Fruit The Beer” offerings, I have to say this one is pretty good. The aroma here is of cherry and yeast. The cherries are used as a subtle, sour flavor that helps the base recipe. In this case, the cherry flavor is a souring enhancement as opposed to the Cranberry Lambic (which I hate) and the Cherry Wheat (which I’m also not a fan of) where the sickly sweet fruity flavors are the star. I do struggle to find any flavor elements — or even aroma — from the oak. This tastes like a nice little ale with some cherry tartness. As an oak-aged beer, I do expect a little more, though. 7

Efficiency (10): This comes in slightly lower than the first review if only because the ABV is lower. At “only” seven percent, the cherry tartness can be overwhelming by the time you get to the end of the bottle. For myself, I want a 22 oz offering to be nine percent or better at a reasonable price for a full score. At 7% for 22 ozs, I’d need two of these to take me home. I’d rather only get one. 6

Versatility (10): This beer gets a few more versatility points than the previous offering. With a much gentler flavor, it’s more accessible for a wider audience. While the corporate marketing of the Barrel Room Collection is trying to get back the snobs they’ve lost, this may at least pick up the burgeoning market of the new “them” snobs while giving the old “us” snobs something to look down their noses at. 5

The Snob Sez: Surprisingly good offering all things considered. I usually have a strong dislike for fruity beer offerings. However, this beer uses the fruit as an enhancement rather than a star. That makes all the difference.

Final Score: 34 (of 50) — OK beer.

Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection — New World Tripel

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company
Brewed In: Boston, MA — also aged there, per the press release.
ABV: 10%
Type: Belgian (style) Tripel

What They Say: Pale gold in color, this ale is big, flavorful and complex. A special Belgian yeast strain adds tropical fruit and spice notes to the crisp dry ale, while Saaz hops add a subtle herbal note. (~10% ABV). Sadly, the neck booklet didn’t make it to New York on this beer.

Website: Other than the press release, I can’t find much info on this beer on their website. According to my newsletter, these are still available at the brewery but I don’t know if they’re anywhere else.

Why I Picked It: In various trades with The Big Show, I managed to get my hands on all three of these. I saw the press release a (long) while back, really wanted them, and eventually got them. They sat in my refrigerator for quite awhile waiting for the perfect weekend. As it turned out, Mets/Yankees Subway Series 2 + UFC + World Cup turned out to be that weekend. This is the first of three beers in the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection series.

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Presentation (5): I love the whole idea of these bottles. I like the caged-cork, I LOVE the BRC logo, and I like the bottles looking vaguely like barrels. Sam usually does a pretty bang up job with the packaging of their specialty offerings and these are no exception. This is what being big enough to have a marketing department allows. 5

Originality (5): This is more “eh” in originality than the other two. I’ve mentioned this before: I’m not a huge fan of American breweries doing Belgian styles because, well, they really don’t do them better than the abbeys that have being doing them for, in some cases, hundreds of years. As also mentioned before, there is one brewery that does Belgians well, and it should, by law, be served on taps at every baseball stadium due to its location in Cooperstown. 2

Body (10): This smells, pours, and looks like a Belgian. The expected heavy-yeasty aroma is cut a bit by citrus. The beer pours a hazy gold with some yeasty, floating sediment. Decent head in a tulip glass that reduces with some nice lacing. It’s a satisfying thickness for the type, with a smooth, creamy mouthfeel that’s quite nice. The carbonation here is just right, but slightly difficult to separate from the burn of the alcohol. 5

Taste (10): I originally decanted in to a Guinness glass until I read the press release which suggested a tulip glass. The rest of the bottle went in to the tulip. The flavors and yeasty aromas really did become much more intense. Honestly, I had a hard time picking up any flavors other than the yeasts, alcohol, and a touch of fruit. Between the citrusy acid, the carbonation, and the strong alcohol it had a very warm finish. The barrel aging, if anything, took away some of the Belgian flavor. As fake Belgians go, the flavor here wasn’t my favorite. Ommegang, as usual, does it better. 6

Efficiency (10): The 10% claim almost seems low. It’s possible I was tricked by the strong alcohol warmness in the finish. I’m not sure if the aging process (about three months) made the alcohol more distinct, but this would be tough to call efficient. Due to the trading situation, I’m not really sure what this cost so I’m working on the assumption the bottles were $7 – $12. The pinnacle of efficiency for this type is Three Philosophers from Ommegang and, well, this just doesn’t get there. 6

Versatility (10): Incredibly low. This is a cute beer and I love Sam trying to claim some of the “we’re going to make some obscure stuff” title from Dogfish and Brooklyn but there are many better Belgian styles on the market. As a Sam completest, this was worth it for me, but I’d never recommend this over some of the other, better ones. 3

The Snob Sez: Acceptable beer, but like I implied in the review of Saranac’s Belgian: it’s a crowded market between real Belgians and Ommegang. If a brewery’s going to bring it, they need to bring it hard. This doesn’t quite bring it hard enough.

Final Score: 27 (of 50) — Good beer.