Sam Adams Is Releasing a $200 Beer That's Illegal in Over a Dozen States

Unfortunately for the human race, having stuff you're not supposed to feels good. Children and the heroines of overlong 19th-century novels know this all too well. It doesn't change. Another thing that pretty much always feels good: drinking high-ABV, rare booze. Samuel Adams is providing us with both of those pleasures with its latest rerelease of the limited-edition Utopias beer.

Utopias will set you back $200 and is illegal in as many as 15 states, according to a Boston Beer Company spokesperson. It is, therefore, objectively cool (and one of the most sought-after beers in the country). The Boston-based brewery releases a batch of the "extreme barrel-aged" beer every two years, and this marks its 10th vintage. The batch of 13,000 bottles will go on sale early next month.

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia have all banned the sale of the beer because of its outrageously high ABV, according to a report by Fortune. That's a 28% ABV, to be exact. To put that number in context, the Boston Lager has an ABV of 5%. Utopias is also uncarbonated (alcohol kills CO2), and the recommended serving size is just 1 ounce.

Earlier reports indicated Washington was among the states that prohibit the beer, but great news, a spokesperson for Sam Adams said it is actually fully legal to purchase there.

It's best to treat it more like a fine liquor than beer. According to the Sam Adams website, Utopias is "reminiscent of a rich vintage Port, old Cognac, or fine Sherry with notes of dark fruit, subtle sweetness, and a deep rich malty smoothness." And again, it's very, very strong.

Yes, this "beer" is wildly impractical, but that's the point.

“My original idea for Utopias was to push the boundaries of craft beer by brewing an extreme beer that was unlike anything any brewer had conceived,” Jim Koch, who founded Boston Beer Co. (aka the parent firm of Samuel Adams), said in a statement. "I’m proud to present to drinkers this lunatic fringe of extreme beer worthy of the Utopias name.”

If you're on that lunatic fringe, be on the lookout early next month.