• November 22, 2010

The Boston Beer Company, makers of Samuel Adams and other craft beers, has teamed with German brewery Weihenstephan to launch a "champagne-like" beer, Infinium, in time for the holidays.

The limited-time offering reflects research showing that more than 60% of men would prefer toasting with a beer, as opposed to champagne, if given the choice.

Samuel Adams brewer/founder Jim Koch worked with Josef Schradler, managing director of Weihenstephan Brewery, to create Infinium, described as having a "crisp acidity" that gives it dryness and tartness balanced by "smooth malt body." 

The new sparkling beer, packaged in 750-ml cork-finished bottles and containing 10.3% alcohol (about twice the amount in an average beer) has a suggested retail of $19.99 and will be available in select locations worldwide, starting in early December.

According to the brewers, Infinium is the first new beer in more than 100 years to be created under "Reinheitsgebot," the German purity law that requires all beer to be brewed using only four ingredients:  malt, hops, water and yeast.  The nearly 1,000-year-old Weihenstephan Brewery (the world's oldest existing brewery) is located in the Bavarian city of Freising.