“Would you like some of my champagne beer?” I asked guests at a recent party.
With a champagne-like effervescence, Infinium, a collaboration between Samuel Adams and Weihenstephan, is the new new wine, or the champagne, or the new whatever, it’s downright good. It’s a lot fun: a sort of bubbly, very smooth, beer champagne.
Thanks to a sample bottle, I got the chance to serve Infinium a recent apres-ski party before it’s available. My guests, a mix of beer lovers and wine-drinkers, loved the new Infinium.
“It tastes like if you mixed champagne and beer.”
“It tastes better than beer but not sweet.”
Infinium is hard to describe. It’s made according to German beer purity law called Reinheitsgebot, meaning it can only contain malt, hops, water, and yeast. This is the first new beer under Reinheitsgebot in 100 years, and it’s made in partnership with the oldest brewery in the world, Weihenstephan Brewery, which was founded by monks in 1040.
Enough of the beer trivia, eh? Infinium is a dark gold color (beer!) with fine bubbles (champagne!) and a slightly fruity flavor but lots of malt body (beer!). It comes in a champagne-style bottle (champagne!) and is 10.3% alcohol by volume (both!).
The companies are heavily promoting Infinium as a champagne alternative for men to ring in the New year. They cite a Wakefield Research study that reveals that the majority of men would rather toast with beer than champagne. I love my chompers, but I wouldn’t mind toasting with a little Infinium either!
Available nationwide starting this week, you can hit the beer finder feature on SamuelAdams.com to find out where to buy your bottle of champagne beer champagne. Retail is $20 a bottle.