Slashdot Mirror
The Race To Beer With 50% Alcohol By Volume
ElectricSteve writes "Most of the world's beer has between 4% and 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). The strength of beer achieved by traditional fermentation brewing methods has limits, but a well-crafted beer that is repeatedly 'freeze distilled' can achieve exquisite qualities and much higher alcohol concentrations. An escalation in the use of this relatively new methodology over the last 12 months has seen man's favorite beverage suddenly move into the 40+% ABV realm of spirits such as gin, rum, brandy, whiskey, and vodka, creating a new category of extreme beer. The world's strongest beer was 27% ABV, but amidst an informal contest to claim the title of the world's strongest beer, the top beer has jumped in strength dramatically. This week Gizmag spoke to the brewers at the center of the escalating competition. New contestants are gathering, and the race is now on to break 50% alcohol by volume."
If this tastes like crap, then no one will buy it... well, except for frat boys and the local street people.
We have had distilled beer in Scotland for years now. We call it, erm let me think ... oh yes, whisky!
America, Home of the Brave.
Beer at 50% ABV is called whisky.
Is this really beer?
I find it hard to believe that this could be brewed naturally, i.e. using yeast to ferment the liquor. I find it hard to believe that a yeast can live in 50% alcohol, 27% was really pushing the limits.
I like beer. I like drinking beer. I like drinking a variety of beers. I don't like being falling down drunk. This race for higher alcohol content seems pointless and just limits the amount you can enjoy in one sitting.
As a brewer, distillation offends my sensibilities if you keep calling it beer.
+0 Meh
Everybody funny. Now you funny too.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Fairly sure it'd be pretty hard to smoke beer. What are you smoking?
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Putting "Not for human consumption" on the bottles?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Yeast limits the fermentation of sugars to alcohol. Once you get up around 17% to 20% ABV the yeast begin to die off. This is the natural limit of alcohol in beer. To distill the beer and increase the alcohol is to turn it into a distilled liquor and remove it from the realm of beer which is a fermented liquor.
Through selective breading or genetic manipulation of the yeast we may some day get a yeast that can produce more than the 17% to 20% but that is not the case today.
I found the article a bit misleading. If you distill it, it is a distilled liquor not a beer. This is like saying you made a beer from grapes, lol, it is not beer it is wine. lol
You mean the same methanol that was in the normal beer to begin with?
But in far lower concentrations. i.e. 1 pint of normal beer would contain far less methanol than 1 pint of distilled beer.
Methanol in Prohibition-era hootch was present as an adulterant - in other words, it was deliberately added to bathtub gin because it was cheap, and the producers didn't particularly care about their customers' health. Much like melamine was added to various Chinese products to make them appear more protein-rich.
Hey, maybe you weren't into it. I can understand. It's hot outside and I want my beer relatively light.. right now.
But the thing about beer is that higher alcohol tends to result in more flavor. Not counting freeze distillation (the topic here), or tasteless adjuncts (e.g. rice syrup), the way to pump up a beer's alcohol is to add more malt. That means more malt flavor, and sometimes malt flavor can be damn damn good. Try some doppelbocks or English barleywines.
Then it gets more complex, because if you wanna offset the malt sweetness, you have to hop it more, so again: more flavors. Try some American barleywines.
I know; it's June, so if you're in the northern hemisphere, maybe this isn't appealing right now. But if you're a beer geek you're gonna be beggin' for it in 5 months.
Sometimes the brewer wants more flavor, and increased alcohol is just the side-effect. And sometimes increased alcohol is good too. But this is a totally different thing than hard booze, and hard booze just can't compete with it. You're gonna have all kinds of people wanting to try this stuff who wouldn't touch vodka. That said, I think a 50% ABV beer is ridiculous. But c'mon, these are geek brewers. There are all kinds of limits they're probably pushing, and ABV is just one of them. If you think extreme brewing is just for fratboys, then blame the media for only presenting the fratboy dimension of it.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I recently shared a Rauchbier (literally smoke beer in German) with friends just to try it - in fact, I had the Bamberg pictured in that link. The consensus was it was a strange tasting beer with lingering flavors of smoked bacon, which is a bit too odd of a combo for me. I've had an Eisbock (literally Ice Bock and Bock is a place - it is derived from Einbeck, where the style was first brewed) before, but it was more in the 18% ABV range and a bit bitter for my tastes, but the India Pale Ale fan of my friends loved it (IPAs are pale ales with extra hops [a preservative] originally used to survive long trips - like England to India, and this beer tasted IPA-ish, so may have been extra-hopped, as well). I've also recently had a Gruit, which is an unhopped beer - it was very good and different, and not malty like I expected - the flavors of anise, nutmeg and cinnamon stood out.
My personal tastes tend to be about 20-50IBU (International Bitterness Units), which excludes most Pilsners (after Pilsen, originally in Bohemia, now Czech) and IPAs, which hopheads love. I still like to mix it up and try lots of oddities. My wife prefers schwartzbier (black beer) - preferably Köstritzer (and I drive 25 miles to a specialty store to get it, which is why I often end up with a bunch of oddities to try, as well), but New Belgium's 1554 will do in a pinch.
Now, genetic engineering of a yeast that can tolerate higher alcohol concentration without producing a lot of congeners - that would be something worth doing.
There does appear to be a "Weapons grade lager"...
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Have they figured out how to make it taste good?
One article in idle about beer and suddenly Idle is the coolest place in town.
:)
Not a single Idle is pants post in sight !
You're all drunken hypocrites
The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Lily Tomlin