Leave it to the Germans to ruin Britain's reign.
The currently Strongest Beer in the World: 40% Alcohol
Available in 0.33 liter ceramic bottles, personally signed and hand-numbered by the Braumeister himself. Each bottle is sealed with wax by hand and comes in a wooden case with a transparent window on one side.
Awesome name as well, "Schorschbrau Schorschbock"
8 comments:
According to Wikipedia and a brief glance at google, Schorschbräu Schorschbock is 31%.
Rule Britania! Britania rules the stouts! England never ever ever will give in to the Krauts!
Apparently there's some kind of beer war going on as we speak. At one time Sam Adams Utopias at 27% ABV was the world's strongest beer. Then, as John says, Schorschbräu Schorschbock weighed in at 31%. Not to be undone, on November 26, 2009, BrewDog launched its Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32%. Schorschbräu Schorschbock came roaring back within -- it looks like -- days (early December) with a record shattering 39.44% ABV content. Could this be Dunkirk all over again? Here's the webpage: http://www.benz-weltweit.de/derbraeuvomberch/index_eng.html.
I'd say that this is a war where everybody wins.
I guess I don't understand. Why not make a beer 99.9% alcohol, if that is your objective? It's not as if there are different kinds of alcohol (i.e. ethanol - C2H5OH). Just add a drop of your favorite beer to surgical alcohol.
Um, because, for one, that wouldn't be beer.
So at what percentage does it not become beer? Or, are you saying that if you add alcohol to beer, it is no longer beer? (or, it can no longer compete in the most alcoholic beer contest?)
To help you answer these questions, please list other things that, if you add, you lose the beer label. (Note: we had chocolate beer last night at Peter and Lisa's)
Chocolate beer is new to me, but beer by definition is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of cereal grains -- most commonly barley (although wheat, corn, and rice are also used). I confess that I could be wrong on this, but I suspect that surgical alcohol is not made from barley.
On the other hand, you make a perfectly valid point: why the obsession with alcohol level?
Well, here's what James Watt, BrewDog's managing director, had to say:
"This beer is about pushing the boundaries; it is about taking innovation in beer to a whole new level. It is about achieving something which has never been done before and putting Scotland firmly on the map for progressive, craft beers.
"This beer is bold, irreverent and uncompromising - a statement of intent and a modern-day rebellion for the craft beer proletariat in our struggle to overthrow the faceless bourgeoisie oppression of corporate, soulless beer."
What could be more "irreverent and uncompromising" than adding alcohol to beer?
Well, Jim, now I see your problem. I'm sure Joe Nascenzi and Pete the Younger understand this process better than me but, based on my elementary grasp of things, they don't add anything to the beer. Instead, they remove what's not alcohol and so increase its concentration. Since water freezes before alcohol, they actually freeze the beer several times; and each time, the frozen water is removed, leaving behind sugar, alcohol, and hop oils. So each freezing simply concentrates the remaining beer more.
Again, however, you still have a valid point. Purests insist that the distillation process produces a product that is technically no longer beer, since brewer's yeast cannot work beyond a strength of 12 or 13 percent alcohol.
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