Bringing in the New Year with Infinium

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, let me present to you a fizzy, celebratory collaboration between Sam Adams and Weihenstephan, the oldest brewery in the world, known as Infinium. Infinium is an example of a Biere de Champagne, a sort of cross over between beer and champagne. These usually undergo a long maturation process, and are sometimes even cave-aged in the Champagne region of France, and as we all know, Champagne is only Champagne if it's made there. (Otherwise it's sparkling wine.) They also have a special method for removing the yeast, which is called remuage and dégorgement. Remuage (riddling) involves rotating the bottles so that the yeast moves into the neck of the bottle. Degorgement (or disgorgement) is when the neck is flash frozen and the yeast sediment removed. (For more information on this style of beer, click here or here.)

For the 2011 release of Infinium, riddling and disgorgement were not used. Instead, they used a process called Charmat, "in which the re-fermentation takes place in steel tanks and the beer is gently drained off without stirring up the yeast sediment on the bottom." (From the Washington Post, see above link for more info.)

Now that you have some background on the style, lets move into the review, shall we?

Color: Dark blonde colored, with a white, foamy head. Slightly cloudy. Pours really bubbly with a huge head--there is literally no helping it. There are lighter/darker hues in the glass, depending on how the light hits it. It's like a darker champagne, and not as clear. Think a light caramel colored Champagne. Nice carbonation.

Aroma: Doesn't smell like too much to be honest. Perhaps a little yeasty and fruity, but everything is really rather subtle. I did stir it up a bit to release any aromas, and it's still very subtle. There are hints of fruit and spices, and maybe a little sourness, but nothing is over powering.

First Sip: The first thing I notice is that there is a little bit of a sour taste. It's slightly bitter, but also a little sweet at the same time. There's also hints of spices. The yeasty flavor that I thought I smelled isn't present in the flavor, which is probably as it should be considering the process they used to remove the yeast sediment. It's bubbly, but not overly so, and not as bubbly as champagne. This might have been because I traveled with it at 35,000 feet, but I dont know how much that would affect something like carbonation.

Interesting fact: Infinium is made only with the original ingredients for beer--water, barley malt, hops, and yeast. There are no other flavors added in, which makes for an interesting taste. It probably also makes for an interesting brew process.

Mouthfeel: A little more fruit taste comes through, which may come from the Noble hops, and the sweet taste is most likely coming from the malts. The sweetness isn't cloying, it's definitely subtle. It's a bit citrusy and floraly (I know these are not real words) with some bitterness tied in. Warms my throat, as it it's 10.3%, but that's the only way you'd know it was that high of an ABV. My boyfriend described it as tasting like a sour caramel, which I didn't taste as much as he did, but the flavor is there.

Aftertaste: Sweet, malt-like taste leftover afterward. I really feel it in the back of my throat.

Overall, a great drink to start off New Years Eve. I then proceeded to go out to a bar and drink a couple more beers and a glass of actual champagne, but the Infinium was the best, and a great way to start off the night.