In just over a week, the Brewers Association will host SAVOR, their annual beer and food pairing event at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. For those fortunate enough to have already purchased tickets to the incredible sold out two-day event, they will have the privilege to try the collaboration beer from Samuel Adams and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery called SAVOR Flowers. It will only be available to attendees of the event who will each receive a cork and caged 750ml bottle of the special brew to bring home with them and it will be available to sample at the event as well.
Both Sam Adams and Dogfish Head have continuously pushed the envelope of what beer could be and they have steered away what beer should be and I am so excited to have received a bottle of this and I can’t wait to try it. As we know, beer is made from four main ingredients – yeast, hops, barley, and water – and all but one, water, have been messed around with to create new and exciting beers. For SAVOR Flowers, they have decided to change this. Through an age-old distillation process, they created rosewater which would serve as the base liquid of the beer and this in turn inspired them to continue exploring the use of flowers and eventually dried lavender, hibiscus, jasmine and rosebuds would be introduced into the brewing process to create SAVOR Flowers. Also to be used would be a new hop breed simply known as #369 that is known for its intense floral notes which Jim Koch would acquire 30 pounds of from Yakima, Washington.
The beer would then be aged in Barrel One, the same bourbon barrel Jim used to age the premier batch of the first “extreme beer”, Samuel Adams Triple Bock in 1993. According to Sam Adams, Barrel One is the first barrel originally used for spirits which was then used to age beer and for the last 18 years it has been filled with Samuel Adams Triple Bock.
According to Jim Koch of Samuel Adams, “Sam and I had a great time gathering these ingredients, and I am excited to collaborate with such an innovative brewer on this beer for SAVOR. Sam’s originality and imagination are endless – he came up with the creative idea of distilling rosewater for this brew. We share the same intense passion for pushing the conventional definition of what beer can be and we put that same passion into our beers.”
Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head continues, “Jim is the godfather of craft beer, and he’s got unbelievable ideas about what beer can be, along with the knowledge and palate to make those crazy beer dreams come true. I am with him on his philosophy and thrilled to be working together on this groundbreaking brew. We share a commitment to elevating beer to its proper infinite height, as both a beverage and a pairing for food.”
