When I first saw this year’s Samuel Adams Winter Classics offered for sale, I was a bit perplexed. Not that they were being sold, of course, because Boston Beer releases a 12-pack assortment of six different beers each holiday season. Nor was I puzzled that they were introducing a new style of beer, since they usually do that too. Many of their beers made their first appearance in a Winter Classics sampler, including their Boston Ale, Cranberry Lambic, Spring Ale and White Ale.

What surprised me as I studied the offerings in this year’s collection was that the new brew is Samuel Adams Vienna Style. Vienna is a style often lumped together with Oktoberfest/marzen beer, mainly because the styles share common roots and are for all intents and purposes identical. Yet, Samuel Adams already offers a very popular Octoberfest beer, which is probably their best selling seasonal brew.

As I drove home with my prize I ran a possibility through my head. Octoberfest, of course, is a seasonal brew, and perhaps Boston Beer figured they could sell it more easily in June under the name Vienna Style. Nobody wants a 9 month old Octoberfest beer, after all. I took a sneak peek at the neck label to see what it could tell me:

This traditional lager is brewed in the classic European style using only hand selected noble hops and specialty malts. A generous portion of Vienna malt is used to impart a robust, malty flavor and a smooth clean finish.

Interesting, I thought. To my knowledge, Samuel Adams Octoberfest doesn’t use Vienna malt. So, when I got home I eagerly popped the top off a bottle and poured into my glass. To my surprise, this beer was very much unlike Samuel Adams Octoberfest. That beer has a distinctive crystal malt character to it that was definitely lacking in the Vienna Style.

Like the Octoberfest, Samuel Adams Vienna Style pours to a deep orange color with a medium head formation and a sweet malty nose. From there, however, the two brews diverge. Vienna Style suggests chocolate in the palate with a slightly toasty nuttiness and dark malt flavors. The finish is slightly sweet at first and then balances out with a touch of bitterness.

In many ways this beer reminds me of Negra Modelo, a Mexican interpretation of Vienna Style lager. Around the turn of the century there was a wave of German immigration to parts of the American Southwest and Mexico, and when they relocated to their new countries they brought their beer with them. Mexico boasts several very good beers broadly in the Vienna style, among them Dos Equis and Noche Buena.

Negra Modelo has always struck me as a bit darker and sweeter than the aforementioned beers. Perhaps this is the model Boston Beer had in mind with their new Vienna Style lager.

For now, you can only find Samuel Adams Vienna Style lager in the Winter Classics samplers, but don’t be surprised to see it released in six-packs sometime in early 2003. It’s a delicious beer that I will definitely be buying in the future.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.