Boston Beer Company has launched Samuel Adams nitro beers across the US, after three years of trials.
The three new ales - Nitro White Ale, Nitro IPA, and Nitro Coffee Stout, are the result of Samuel Adams Nitro Project. 'Nitro' refers to nitrogen gas.
Nitro White Ale is medium-bodied brew, which includes orange peel, coriander, and has orange and peppery spice hints.
Nitro White Ale is 5.5% ABV drink.
Nitro IPA, with 7.5% ABV, is a smooth yet bitter drink, which comes with an initial flavour of creaminess. Due to hop variants, the brew features resinous pine, citrus and floral notes.
Nitro Coffee Stout, as the name suggests, comes with notes of bittersweet chocolate with hints of dark fruit. The jet black brew contains Sumatran Mandheling and Indian Monsoon Malabar coffee, and has 5.8% ABV.
Nitro beers contain a combination of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. As nitrogen is mainly soluble in beer, it results in smaller bubbles and gives a rich, creamy texture to the drink. Usually, all beer contains significant amounts of carbon dioxide, when beer is carbonated during the brewing process. Drinks with carbon dioxide have larger bubbles and more acidity and a carbonated texture, the company claims.
Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch said: "We started experimenting with nitro beers in the mid 1990's 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. 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 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."
