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Scots unleash world's strongest beer
A Scottish brewer appears to have torpedoed a German rival's claim to the world's strongest beer, by bottling a "quadruple IPA" weighing in at a liver-bashing 41 per cent ABV. Just weeks after German outfit Schorschbrau floated its 40 per cent Schorschbock, Aberdeenshire hop-botherer BrewDog has counterattacked with the …
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 16:16 GMT Disco-Legend-Zeke
At Wal-Mart...
..the cheapest beer in the cooler is 211, a/k/a Steel Reserve.
It is also the strongest, coming in at 8.1 ABV. Nicely, it also claims extra hops, the cousin of cannabis, so its possible to remain blissfully ignorant of the state of the Universe.
Excellence in reporting, a hallmark of El Reg!
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 11:08 GMT Raspy32
Re:I think he meant
"It is the strongest in the WalMart cooler, which probably does not include 'Sink the Bismarck!'"
So why did he refer to the usual "excellence of reporting" of El Reg in a snide way like he was making a correction to their error?
No......I think he misread or misunderstood and made a complete idiot of himself.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 11:08 GMT jake
@Disco-Legend-Zeke
"Nicely, it also claims extra hops, the cousin of cannabis, so its possible to remain blissfully ignorant of the state of the Universe."
Uh ... dude(ette??), hops don't contain THC ... but I'd pay a dollar to watch you run a cone or three of my home-grown varietal thru' your <insert-dope-pipe-of-choice> ... Should be good for a giggle.
That said, Malt Liquor isn't beer. It's inebriation in a container for people who want to get drunk on the cheap, and don't care what it tastes like.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 00:52 GMT Ned Leprosy
Cream Soda
For some reason I misread "Soda Stream" as "cream soda": the thought of a sort of weird barley wine whisky hybrid mixed with cream soda is... well, it's... actually, words fail me.
Words don't fail the Soda Stream contraption I had as a kid, though: it was made of fail, as was that horrid, bitter, syrupy diarrhoea substitute that you'd get in place of cola. That the perpetually almost empty CO2 cylinder would half-heartedly make even more flat than before it started. The '70s were great, but the Soda Stream didn't really contribute to their greatness.
Er, where were we? Oh yeah, frightening beer. I think I'll view that one as a spectator sport.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 11:04 GMT jake
@Jon Double Nice
"Won't it go flat?"
It is probably a still brew, unless they are force carbonating it. This kind of thing isn't designed for your average Friday/Saturday night session ... rather, it's designed for me to provide as a sip or three at some point in a formal meal when I'm cooking when my inlaws are visiting.
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 17:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
Pushing the boundaries
I thought that the normal brewing process topped out at about 12 or 13% ABV, because the alcohol poisoned the yeast that produced it. Maybe this is what they mean by 'amplified'. The standard way to make a beer stronger is to freeze it just below zero, and scoop off the ice that forms. This removes some of the water, while leaving the alcohol behind. I wonder if this is what they've done. I would have thought that this would have a detrimental effect on the taste. At 40 quid a bottle though, I don't think I will take a taste.
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 20:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
Me and my mate
A real mate - not some bloke in the street, or a copper arresting me - once bought a half bottle of vodka in the offy, then went in the pub and got a pint (probably bitter) each. When we'd downed half we emptied the vodka into our glasses, then downed the rest.
Then we went on a pub crawl. Ended up on Newky Brown chased down by Southern Comfort. That was about thirty years ago and the thought of vodka still makes me queasy. And I reckon this stuff sounds just as disgusting.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 11:04 GMT jake
@Dominic Fishbowl
"Then we went on a pub crawl. Ended up on Newky Brown chased down by Southern Comfort. That was about thirty years ago and the thought of vodka still makes me queasy."
Wasn't the vodka, mate, nor the bitter ... I can't imagine what possessed your to mix the broon & sudden discomfort ... That's a recipe for a really, really bad following morning ...
"And I reckon this stuff sounds just as disgusting."
Nah. This kinda thing is good in sips, sometimes drops on a plate. It's just pushing the ancient art of brewing, using modern technology.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 13:58 GMT Anonymous Coward
That was...
...as reading back, it wasn't clear...a half bottle of vodka added to our remaining half pints of bitter. Basically the problem is the taste and smell of neat alcohol mixed with that of the beer (which I remember now was 'Director's'). Of course, we didn't 'sip' the resulting fortified pints, we quaffed them like we would have without the vodka. I knew before we'd left the first pub that talking to Huey was on the cards - which I very rarely did, mostly because I'd tell myself not to. That night my command of mind over matter seeped through the cracks in the floorboards (to dry on the heat of the radiator pipes below).
Anyway, for £40 I'd rather have 2 bottles of Jack Daniels! One thing I suspect is that good or bad it would have to be better than Red Stripe's 'Crucial Brew'! That was one it almost gives me a migraine to think of. As for why the mixing, the answer is probably "because it was there!".
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 11:04 GMT jake
@AC 17:12
"I thought that the normal brewing process topped out at about 12 or 13% ABV, because the alcohol poisoned the yeast that produced it.
Yeast mutates (if you let it), and brewers/winemakers have been selecting for alcohol resistance. I make a near-clone or Dogfish Head's India Brown that comes in at 16% ABV, over twice the original (was a fortunate mistake). The yeast involved started out as champagne yeast ... I don't normally make high alcohol brews, but this one is pretty good. I may go commercial with it. Last time I looked, the highest ABV commercial brew made with traditional brewing processes was just over 25%
"Maybe this is what they mean by 'amplified'."
I think "amplified" is a non-regulated variation on "fortified".
"The standard way to make a beer stronger is to freeze it just below zero, and scoop off the ice that forms. This removes some of the water, while leaving the alcohol behind."
AKA "fractional distillation by crystallization". A friend of mine used to make pretty good Apple & Pear brandy using this technique. It's quite illegal in the USA if you don't have a license, so don't try it at home.
"I wonder if this is what they've done."
Probably.
"I would have thought that this would have a detrimental effect on the taste. At 40 quid a bottle though, I don't think I will take a taste."
Not detrimental, rather concentrated. This is a sipping thingie, and/or a flavo(u)ring agent in a meal, not a so-called "session" brew. If your palate can't handle a high-alcohol, very concentrated beer, don't waste your money.
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 17:12 GMT blackworx
Just waiting for the Daily Mail headline
BOOZED UP HOODIE KIDS ON BEER STRONGER THAN VODKA WREAK HAVOC AND TERRORISE KIDS! WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
...without a single reference to it costing £40 a bottle. Although they may get confused when they try to tie in the anti-Boche angle. perhaps they'll run that one on a different page...
GOOD OLD BLIGHTY SHOWS JOHNNY KRAUT HOW IT'S DONE!
On a saner note, BrewDog beers are generally fucking excellent - well worth hunting out, especially their Punk IPA.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 12:08 GMT Oz
What's a title?
Ironically, I was recommended the Punk IPA and it was absolutely rank. I'm a real ale fan, and I brew my own, so I have a fair appreciation for a decent beer, so I can only assume it's brewed with a target audience of lager drinkers. I do like the slogan on the side of the bottle though: "if you don't like this beer then f**k off" or words to that effect!
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 17:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
Titsle
Had something similar in Germany, obviously to be drank in small portions and very slowly, as you would a whisky. It resembled a very thick guinness, and was actually very tasty. But most people would struggle to have more than a very small glass, just as you would struggle with more than a dram or 2 or bog standard 12 year old malt.
I think the bottle style maybe makes it seem that it's promoting abuse, but I assume it has a twist and re-shuttable cap, rather than your typical beer cap?
In moderation, most food-stuffs are fine.
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 20:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
RE: Titsle
I had a similar German beer at a UK beer festival.
It was served in 1/3 of a pint measures and if you bought one, they marked your hand with permanent marker (the bastards) to make sure no-one sat getting too messed up on it...
It tasted quite good - a bit like Guiness original (not draft!) and 'tis a shame I can't remember the name (due to having imbibed an awful lot of beer that evening!)
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Tuesday 16th February 2010 23:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
Actually you do
You don't need to fortify or distill to get to 40%. Just like Tactical Nuclear Penguin (high 30s) this will almost certainly have had the alcohol content increased with the aid of a freezer.
I never managed to try Tactical Nuclear Penguin on the grounds that I couldn't get it in the US, but I was told by a UK beer drinking buddy that it was actually pretty nice.
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Wednesday 17th February 2010 11:04 GMT jake
@AC 23:44
"You don't need to fortify or distill to get to 40%. Just like Tactical Nuclear Penguin (high 30s) this will almost certainly have had the alcohol content increased with the aid of a freezer."
That's distillation. It's known in the trade as FDC, or "fractional distillation by crystallization".
These days, you can get to around 25% +/- with traditional brewing.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
