Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer, took some time to talk with us about the history and inspiration behind their ABV behemoths Millennium and Utopias, giving us some insight into their production and plans for the future.
CB&B: What was the inspiration for Millennium? What were you hoping to achieve?
JK: The motivation was kind of a Star Trek thing—to take beer where no beer had gone before. Since I first brewed Boston Lager in my kitchen in 1984, one of my goals has been to stretch the boundaries and challenge the notion of what beer can be. We brought out our first extreme beer in 1994, when we released Triple Bock, which at the time was the world’s strongest beer at 18 percent ABV. Triple Bock was the inspiration for Millennium, a once-in-a-lifetime beer brewed to commemorate the third millennium.