BOSTON – After years of experimentation, the brewers at Samuel Adams are rolling out the Samuel Adams┬« Barrel Room Collection to select markets including Denver, Chicago, New York, New England, and Atlanta, with the release of two world class beers — Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour and Samuel Adams New World.
The Collection is made up of Belgian style beers that the Samuel Adams brewers have created through experimentation with blending, aging, open fermentation and conditioning techniques, resulting in these wild and flavorful brews. Both beers are packaged in a 750mL bottle finished with a champagne cork.
The newest addition to the Collection, Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour is a Belgian stout that combines the roasted chocolate and coffee flavors of a traditional stout with the spicy character of a Belgian ale aged in oak. This brew gets its name from the mythical “witching hour,” referring to its mysterious combination of flavors and playing off its 13 brewing ingredients.
Previously available only in New England and Denver, Samuel Adams New World is a flavorful and complex tripel-style ale with a pale gold color. A special Belgian yeast strain adds tropical fruit and spice notes to the crisp dry ale, while Saaz hops add a subtle herbal note. Winner of the silver medal in the Belgian-Style Tripel category at the 2010 World Beer Cup, Samuel Adams New World has already been recognized as one of the world’s best tripels.
“For more than eighteen years, we’ve been playing with barrels at the Boston brewery, aging small batches of beer in our Barrel Room,” said Jim Koch, Samuel Adams Founder and Brewer. “After much anticipation, we’re excited to roll out the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection to select markets, allowing more of our drinkers to taste the passion that our brewers have for experimenting with new and interesting beers.”
Each of the styles in the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection is blended with Kosmic Mother Funk®, a unique ale aged at the Boston Brewery in oak casks and tanks for an average of 12 months. The brewers use Eastern European oak barrels, originally used to age brandy in Italy, to impart a subtle sweet, toasty note. These barrels also allow a small amount of oxygen to slowly seep through the wood, smoothing out the flavors in the beer. During this long, slow aging in the oak vessels, a secondary fermentation process takes place with wild organisms such as brettanomyces and lactobacillus yeasts, and other unidentified organisms found in the 150-year-old brewery that give the beer rich tropical fruit notes and soft sourness.
Passionate about pushing the boundaries of brewing, the Samuel Adams brewers are constantly experimenting with new techniques and pioneering new recipes. They have long been involved in marrying barrel-aging with craft brewing ingenuity, beginning with Samuel Adams® Triple Bock which was first brewed in 1993 and was the first beer to be aged in used Bourbon barrels, to six batches of Samuel Adams Utopias® released since 2002.
More than 27 years ago, craft beer pioneers like Samuel Adams began introducing more full-flavored, high-quality brews like Samuel Adams Boston Lager┬« that were unlike the beers American drinkers were accustomed to at the time. The craft beer revolution continues today with beers like the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection, in which the brewers have taken traditional Old World techniques and evolved them to create these new and interesting beer styles, challenging beer lover’s palates to reach beyond the expected.
Beginning this month, Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour and Samuel Adams New World will be available year-round at select retail locations in Denver, Chicago, New York and New England, for a suggested retail price of $9.99 per bottle. Samuel Adams New World will also be available in New Jersey. In addition, the brews will be served at select bars and restaurants in Atlanta. The Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection also includes Samuel Adams® American Kriek and Samuel Adams® Stony Brook Red, both available only in New England and Denver.