This Beer Has Been Banned In 15 States And It's Not Hard To See Why

With the rise of the craft beer movement there aren't too many brewing taboos left unbroken, but one beer pioneer has managed to produce a special edition beer that is actually illegal in much of the country. That beer maker would be none other than Sam Adams, the Boston beer brewery named after the founding father, which helped bring craft beer to prominence after opening back in 1984. That legacy has pushed Sam Adams and its founder Jim Koch to continue experimenting over the decades, including being one of the first breweries to try barrel aging beer. After more than 30 years of working on barrel-aging, Sam Adams' most recent version of its special edition Utopias beer hit a milestone, coming in at 30% alcohol-by-volume (ABV).

That 30% ABV puts Sam Adams' Utopias more in the realm of a spirit than a beer, and is above the legal limit many states impose on beer. The laws limiting a beer's ABV level date back to just after Prohibition, when states imposed a variety of controls over alcohol sales. Because the definition of beer back then was so limited, some states imposed alcohol limits as low as 6%, although most have since been reformed. Yet 15 states still persist with some kind of ABV limit for beer, with the cap averaging around 15%, well below Sam Adams Utopias. So if you live in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont or West Virginia, you'll need to make a drive across the border to buy it.

The first Sam Adams Utopias were released back in 2001, but its history actually goes back a little further. Sam Adams' early experiments with barrel-aging led to the release of its Triple Bock beer in 1993, which had an alcohol-by-volume (ABV) close to 18%. That was very unusual at the time, and the barrel-aging was actually needed to mellow the burn of the alcohol from the still experimental process. The Triple Bock was eventually followed by a blend called Millennium Ale in 2000, which evolved into the first Utopias beer the following year.

The first Utopias was 21% ABV, already high enough to be illegal in many states, and the number has only grown since then. The name is a reference to Thomas More's classic satire "Utopia," from the 15th century, with the word roughly translating to "nowhere," in its original meaning, and the beer's use of the name nodding to the fact it was impossible to classify.

From the beer's early use of whiskey barrels for aging, Sam Adams has added a host of other barrels including Amarone, white and ruby port, Carcavelos, and Cognac. Utopias actually pass through multiple breweries, with each one blending and adding their own touches. The blends include past years of Utopias beer, and some of the beer used in the blend has been aged for as long as 30 years. This produces not only a high ABV, but an incredibly complex flavor. It also produces a high price point, with a bottle going between $240 and $300. So even if you live in a state where it's legal, Sam Adams Utopias aren't easy to come by.