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Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the World's Strongest Beer

Posted by samzenpus on from the shot-of-beer dept.

cheros writes "No, it's not a new game, and it's not a new Linux distro either (although it would be quite a name), it's beer. What's more, it's not your average new taste either, it's incredibly strong stuff with 32% alcohol. Please do not drink too much of this, or you'll become too risky to cremate."

21 comments

  1. What about the yeast? by Billy+the+Mountain · · Score: 1

    Wow, that's pretty strong stuff. What kind of yeast strain can withstand that level of alchohol? The Ninja yeast that Sam Adams uses is good to about 25% or so. Is the yeast open source?

    --
    That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
    1. Re:What about the yeast? by kick6 · · Score: 1

      They probably add ethanol after the brew process. Most of the majors already do this.

    2. Re:What about the yeast? by snl2587 · · Score: 1

      Which makes me question the quality of the beer. And if they just add it in, what's to stop me from taking a bottle of lab-grade ethanol, putting a drop of beer in it, and claiming the record for the world's strongest beer?

    3. Re:What about the yeast? by psyque · · Score: 2, Funny

      Because nobody would survive to confirm it.

    4. Re:What about the yeast? by gujo-odori · · Score: 1

      No, you can drink pure ethanol. Not much of it, but you can drink it. Everclear is (was?) pretty close to pure alcohol.

    5. Re:What about the yeast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everclear is usually 75 to 95% alcohol (150 to 190 proof). Some people make moonshine that is closer to 100% (200 proof). Many people drink this stuff.

      Personally Everclear and the like make my stomach hurt even when mixed with other things. The alcohol effects also seem to burn off a lot faster.

      Drinking it straight is almost impossible for the untrained mouth; it's like drinking kerosene.

    6. Re:What about the yeast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most likely they freeze distilled it, cooled it down and removed the ice because water freezes before alcohol, which if in the U.S. is technically distilling so you can't home brew this way but can still be called beer. Either way I have never heard of freeze distilling to this level.

    7. Re:What about the yeast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was freeze distilled, hence the "penguin" in the name.

    8. Re:What about the yeast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you can drink approx 0.5 Liter of 95% alcohol without dying (with training that is)

      greetings from norway

    9. Re:What about the yeast? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      No, you can drink pure ethanol. Not much of it, but you can drink it.

      Confirmed, from personal experience. A friend would bring a 250ml bottle of absolute ethanol down to the mountaineering club's new year meets to see the old year out with a kick. Biological grade reagent - several hundred pounds per bottle at the time. The exact concentration is a bit dubious, because it's hygroscopic (absorbs water from the atmosphere), but it's close enough to "100%" to satisfy the chemist in my background.
      It's more like "inhaling" than "drinking" ; you can barely taste it and it's main progress is a wave of cold fire into the back of your throat.

      Give me a still and a fire to fuel her by ... (to mis-quote Earendil, or the Ancient Mariner, or someone).

      35% - witout RTFA, I know it'll be a "fortified drink", which is perfectly respectable as long as that's how it's described. Is that those nutters from Peterhead again? I'm still trying to get some of their "Speedball".
      Pere Trappistier for the Belgians ; "Shotgun" for me ; nothing wrong with a Penguin joining the illustrious company though.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    10. Re:What about the yeast? by Xargle · · Score: 1

      It's ice distilled from a good regular beer.

      Process is outlined in this quite entertaining video : http://vimeo.com/7812379

    11. Re:What about the yeast? by Matt_Bennett · · Score: 1

      I was under the impression that 100% ethanol was dangerous to drink straight because of its hygroscopic properties- as it would essentially draw the moisture out of the lining of your throat, creating what the body would treat as a burn- inflammation, swelling, generally something you don't want associated with your airway. Did you actually drink it, or was it more of a 'slurping' type of aerosolization?

    12. Re:What about the yeast? by techess · · Score: 1

      My favorite high alcohol beer is 307 ale. It is 153.5% alcohol, and a great drinking song.

      http://www.tomsmithonline.com/lyrics/307_ale.htm

      --
      Don't anthropomorphize computers. They *hate* that.
    13. Re:What about the yeast? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Drink it straight down. No noticeable problems with drying out the throat. You're not drinking the stuff by the litre, after all. (What would the lethal dose of pure ethanol be? In the order of a half-litre?)

      Hmmm, my braincell tells me that injection of significant quantities of high-grade ethanol into the stomach has been used as a method of inducing stomach cancers in rodents. Don't know where I know that from.
      But so what? It's not as if anyone was unaware that the "toxic" in "intoxication" is the same "toxic" that you see in "toxic", and means "toxic".

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    14. Re:What about the yeast? by Gilmoure · · Score: 1

      ...it's like drinking kerosene.

      Don't you oppress my people, bu##7*@$er!

      (just sayin)

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    15. Re:What about the yeast? by Gilmoure · · Score: 1

      You can make a crude brandy this way with freezing wine.

      (thank you, H. Beam Piper for this info)

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
  2. Well, I think that you are wrong in this case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, I think that you are wrong in this case. They use freeze distillation. Basically, they reduce the temperature, water freezes, alcohol is left. They repeat the process several times at progressively lower temperatures. From what they say, it must be pretty awesome beer. I will try it out as soon as it hits the stores.

    1. Re:Well, I think that you are wrong in this case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get ready for the grandfather of all hangovers.

      There are several alcohol compounds produced during fermentation, Ethanol being only the most common. Freeze distillation also concentrates these other alcohols, which are much more toxic than Ethanol, and they can be concentrated to dangerous levels. Historically in the US, Apple Jack was made by leaving barrels of hard cider out in the winter. With a particularly hard winter up to 70 or 80 proof liquor could be drained from the center of the frozen barrels. Apple Jack was notorious for leaving you with a crushing headache the next day. Because they evaporate at different rates, a heated distilling process can separate these alcohols out and produce a relatively safe distilled liquor.

      Freeze distillation of Ethanol, like any other Ethanol distillation process, is illegal in the US without the correct licensing.

    2. Re:Well, I think that you are wrong in this case by nullchar · · Score: 1

      Oh, so it's plain ol ice beer. Gross.

      If they find some antarctic strain of yeast that could withstand 32% alcohol, let me know!

  3. So how do they taste? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So how do these high-alcohol beers taste? I mean, are they tastey too or do they just compete for highest alcohol content? One I read about was using cask aging like whiskey so I guess it could be pretty good.

  4. Awesome. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is now the official beer of the Linux community. No questions.