Tax Day Beers: The Most Expensive Beers To Buy With Your Refund
A dreaded time of year is approaching: Tax Day will be here soon. We can get through this together. And with any luck, some of us will have a little extra cash to show for it.
Our favorite way to cope with Tax Day stress is to drink beer. Since we might get a tax return in the mail any day now, we can really splurge on that beer. So let's start planning — what beer will we buy?
To that end, we rounded up a few of the most expensive beers made in the U.S. Which do you want to try?
Black Tuesday, $30
The Bruery, Placentia, Calif.
Released once a year in October, Black Tuesday is one very lusted-after beer. Dark black in color and thick, the beer is brewed in bourbon barrels and that really comes through in the flavors. Notes of boozy warmth are accompanied by candy sweetness, dark fruits, and roasted malts — which lend coffee-like flavors. Alcohol by volume for this one caps out at 19 percent (the average ABV for a beer is around 5 to 6 percent). And that high alcohol probably partially accounts for the price. But it also has to do with the fact that The Bruery only produces a limited number of these beers each year. Last October, 3,000 bottles of Black Tuesday sold out in about 10 minutes. Now those bottles are being sold for inflated prices all over the Internet — up to $100 per bottle (and sometimes just for the empty bottle).
Samuel Adams Utopias, $190
Boston Beer Company, Boston
At 56 proof and about 27 percent alcohol by volume, this is one of the strongest naturally fermented beers ever made. And it looks like a piece of art. The beer is contained in a ceramic bottle made to look like a brew kettle. Before it gets to that bottle, it's aged in a series of barrels, each contributing to the red-hued ale with flavors of toffee, caramel, and dark fruits. And of course, that boozy warmth. The beer was first made in 2002. It's now released every year and the concoction has changed with each new release. The price has slowly risen over the years. It started at $100 but the last release in November 2012, went for $190. After the bottles had sold out, they started appearing online for upward of $350.This beer has not been brewed since 1994. Since then, Hair of the Dog has held onto a limited number of bottles. In 2008, they released several priced at $80 per bottle but those bottles are now being sold for much more than that online. In fact, two bottles sold for $4,525 at a silent auction last year.
White House Honey Ale, $1,200
The White House, Washington, D.C.
Last year, there was a lot of buzz around the beer brewed by White House chef Sam Kass. In September, the recipes for Kass' beer, including the Honey Ale, were released to the public. Garrett Oliver produced a small batch of it. According to The New York Times, it was auburn in color and tangy in flavor but pretty refreshing overall. It's not a super extreme or rare beer but this particular "brewery" does have a vanity address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So this probably explains why a bottle of this beer went for $1,200 at a January 2013 auction. We can only hope that more of these bottles will be auctioned off in the coming years!