These seven craft beers defy expectations based on ABV, bitterness, or style. Don’t let them fool you!
Utopias Sam Adams (Boston, Massachusetts)
The now 29 percent ABV Utopias (pictured at top) surprises with its smoothness and drinkability. It has a dry finish from the addition of several hops varieties and a flavor profile unlike any other beer on the market. “A Utopias takes beer into another world. Its flavor is somewhere between a vintage port, a fine sherry, and an old cognac,” says a Sam Adams tasting video. Every two years, the brewery blends Utopias from a library of barrels that the brewery has been aging for many years, some since 1994. The first Utopias release was one of the United States’ first strong ales, weighing in at 17.5 percent ABV.