Sam Adams’ Latest Beer Is Illegal in 15 States

Hey there! It’s Tony Rehagen, manager of the beer aisle in the Top Shelf bottle shop, and as such, my topics typically fly well below those of my colleagues when it comes to alcohol content. But this month, I’m writing about the quiet and perhaps paradoxical rise in popularity of high-gravity brews, including a beer that soars well above the rest—an ale that reaches an alcohol level so high it’s illegal in almost a third of the country. But first, some brew news:

The last thing any drinker wants at a beer confab is to have to keep an eye on the clock. But that’s where I found myself at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, nearly three hours into my evening tasting session, alarm set for 8:13 p.m. That was when the Sam Adams booth was set to tap Utopias.