Swedes brew up 18.5 per cent 'Ace of Spades Porter' A Swedish brewery has concocted a tipple that packs an impressive 18.5 per cent alcohol content, giving the country's citizens something to conclusively celebrate in the wake of an a depressingly inconclusive election. The recipe for Sigtuna Brygghus' Ace of Spades Imperial Stout includes fresh figs, raisins, honey and almost …
I remember trying the freezing technique, back in my home brewing days. Works OK, if you decrease the hops (otherwise it is very bitter). And a lot safer than using a pressure cooker and a length of plastic tubing to ... well that's another story. (Don't try that at home)
Ultimately I didn't see the point. You can get to 12%+ using ordinary wine yeast. If you enjor beer, why would you want to drink a brew so strong that you are unconscious before you have finished your first pint?
uh-huurrrr!
thanks for playing here's your blanety-blank checkbook and pen and busfare home.
from personal experience - bismark is proper no shit brewed beer, i thinkthere is something that sounds like freeze drying involved in the process.
more a nod in the direction of applejack i suspect than say bunging antifreeze in cheap hock :-)
btw it tastes revolting, hangs around on the palette for ever.
Ask the Boston Brewing Company, makers of Samuel Adams beers (their standard-bearer is a lager, but as a craft brewery, they make all sorts). Where the overkill comes in is a rare little gem from them called Utopias. Last I checked, it is the strongest (in terms of alcohol % by volume) all-naturally-fermented beverage in the world. Figures vary (since it's different each time they make a batch), but it hovers at around 25% alcohol by volume (stronger than your typical fortified wine at <20%, but not as strong as the average liquor at ~40%).
This side of the pond also has the Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware, where they brew their 120-minute IPA, Fort ale, and World Wide Stout, all of which hover around 18% ABV. They also brew Chateau Jiahu, the world's oldest beer recipe still in use, based on residue from a 7th millenium archaeological site in China.
What is the point of this article? Don't get my wrong, it sounds like scrummy beer, but nothing revolutionary. Also, how does one miss out "Tactical Nuclear Penguin" (32%), "Sink the Bismark!" (41%) and "The End of History" (55%) when mentioning BrewDog's beer strength records?!
</brewdog shareholder>
18.5% pales in comparison to some of Brewdog's more extreme efforts:
Tactical Nuclear Penguin 32% ABV
Sink The Bismark 41% ABV
and the limited edition, and now sadly sold out The End of History a with 55% ABV (Be sure to check out the packaging: http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article.php?id=341)
It is actually quite good, and not the chilled horse-piss one expects of a weak (in alcohol terms) beer.
The Tactical Nuclear Penguin is also good, but in a 'dont drink too much' sort of way, slightly fizzy (due to the freezing process removing CO2) and a strong but not too sweet flavour.
The Brew Dog promotion videos for TNP and Sink The Bismark are well worth watching!
Traditional yeasts naturally die off as the alcohol content approaches 15% - traditional drinks such as port and sherry that are stronger than this have been 'fortified' by the addition of distilled grape spirit. This brew has had a secondary fermentation using a 'super-high gravity yeast' from the US which can go as high as 25%. What this does to the taste, I'm not sure I want to find out ...
And let's not forget....
Dogfish Head 120:
http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/120-minute-ipa.htm
and World Wide Stout:
http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/world-wide-stout.htm
Both around 18% ABV. And there are just a few hops in there too.
Great beer!
has been used by the Germans for a long time, without complaint - it's called eisbock. The difference is that the reason behind it has traditionally been to concentrate the flavour rather than to create distillate strength beers, hence eisbock is usually 10 - 12%.
I haven't tried any of Brewdog's top end strength beers, so I can't comment on the flavours, but personally I would rather have a good single malt if I was going for a beer based drink at that strength.
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