BOSTON -- After three years of experimenting with test batches in the nanobrewery at the Sam Adams Boston Brewery, the brewers have released the first three brews from the Samuel Adams Nitro Project: Nitro White Ale, Nitro IPA and Nitro Coffee Stout.
Nitro beers are most commonly associated with stouts--most famously, Guinness--but Sam Adams' brewers stretched the boundaries and started "nitrogenating" a variety of styles to see what worked. Nitro beers seemed, to the brewers at Sam Adams, "like the perfect way to fundamentally transform the flavor profiles of a variety of beer styles," the company said.
The first three beers to hit shelves:
- Nitro White Ale is a smooth, velvety, medium-bodied brew. Orange peel, coriander and grains of paradise lend hints of orange and peppery spice, and the first sip reveals these flavors alongside a light wheat character. When poured, Nitro White Ale shows off a billowing white head and a pillowy body that softly cascades into bright gold. (5.5% ABV)
- Nitro IPA is boldly bitter yet smooth. The brew has an initial cap of creaminess, which gives way to hop intensity gathered from Amarillo, Centennial, Galaxy, Polaris, Simcoe and Zeus hops. The hop varieties lend resinous pine, citrus and floral notes to the amber-bodied brew. (7.5% ABV)
- Nitro Coffee Stout is a jet-black brew with a rich, robust character. Dark roasted malts create notes of bittersweet chocolate with hints of dark fruit. Sumatran Mandheling and Indian Monsoon Malabar coffee add a deep roast dimension to the brew. (5.8% ABV)
“We started experimenting with nitro beers in the mid-1990s when we brewed a Boston Cream Ale, and over the years, I’d estimate we brewed more than 50 beer styles and worked with 200 recipes to ultimately create these three unique beers," Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch said. "We quickly discovered that you can’t just put any beer on nitro. We needed to develop recipes where nitrogen was the unexpected fifth ingredient [after water, malt, hops and yeast] and brought out the desired flavor profile of the brew.
"For example, with the IPA, the lack of carbonation reduces the perceived bitterness by cutting the acidity (carbonation produces carbonic acid on the tongue; nitrogen doesn’t) so without the carbonation, we really had to amp up the amount of hops we used. We’re excited for drinkers to finally get a chance to try our Nitro beers and experience the cascade, which is like a science experiment in a glass.”
Nitro White Ale, Nitro IPA and Nitro Coffee Stout will be available in four-packs of 15-ounce cans beginning in February for a suggested retail price of $8.99 to $10.99.
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