The Newest "Strongest Beer"

BrewDog, the Scottish brewery that is doing its god-damnest to outdo all other contenders (Dogfish Head, Hitachino Nest, Stone, Unibroue, Three Floyds, you name it) for the Brewery With The Most Attitude, has sent me a press release/blogpost for its newest beer, Tactical Nuclear Penguin.  Weighing in at an ABV of 32%, it beats the previous record of 31% reputedly held by German beer brand Schorschbraer.

Before you folks get your knickers in a bunch, be advised:  This beer, as described by the brewery below, is technically illegal to manufacture in the United States, because the process of removing ice from frozen beer to increase alcohol content is considered--rightly so--a form of "distillation":

The Antarctic name inducing schizophrenia of this uber-imperial stout originates from the amount of time it spent exposed to extreme cold. This beer began life as a 10% imperial stout 18 months ago. The beer was aged for 8 months in an Isle of Arran whisky cask and 8 months in an Islay cask making it our first double cask aged beer. After an intense 16 month, the final stages took a ground breaking approach by storing the beer at -20 degrees for three weeks to get it to 32%.

For the big chill the beer was put into containers and transported to the cold store of a local ice cream factory where it endured 21 days at penguin temperatures. Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water. As the beer got colder BrewDog Chief Engineer, Steven Sutherland decanted the beer periodically, only ice was left in the container, creating more intensity of flavours and a stronger concentration of alcohol for the next phase of freezing. The process was repeated until it reached 32%.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.

 Will we get any?  I doubt it.  It may be illegal to make the stuff here, but there are several foreign-made eisbocks and other such products on beer shelves here.  The problem is the limited supply and price:

Of the 500 330ml bottles released, 250 will be available for £30 [$48] with a further 250 available for £250 [$400] – the latter will include a  share in the BrewDog company as part of its ‘Equity for Punks’ campaign which is aiming to raise £2.3m [$3.7 million] to build a new eco-friendly, carbon-neutral brewery in Aberdeen.

 I'm not certain about the international investment laws, but I'm reasonably certain the offer of alcohol with an investment share has to break some Federal investment laws here in the States.......

For a review of one of BrewDog's other ludicrous-extreme beers which, at last report, you CAN get here, see Brad's review of their Atlantic IPA here.

Mark Your Calendars: Max's Belgian Fest 2010

Feb. 12-14, 2010.

120 Belgian drafts planned, as well as 120 Belgian bottled beers (as usual, a scant few of both will likely be Belgian-styled American beers such as Ommegang or Brewers Art), plus Belgian-inspired bar eats.

Are You Drinking Thankgiving Eve?

I asked last year about this reported phenomenon: Thanksgiving Eve purportedly being the biggest drinking or bar-traffic day of the year, ahead of even St. Patrick's Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve, etc.

And again, I ask:  Is it true?  If so, why?  Anyone got any studies, facts, etc. to prove this allegation, or is it just another scare-mongering tactic by the police and neo-Prohibitionists?

All statistics aside, if you want real ale that night, Metropolitan is tapping a firkin of Dog Pub's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout tomorrow at 6 pm in lieu of their usual Firkin Thursday..........  and all DuClaw locations, including the one in Fells Point, are having parties for the occasion, with growler discounts and extended Happy Hours............

Are you going out that night?  Good weather or bad?  Where and why?

Kasper on Tap is Back!

Enough said?

Beer News Roundup

I'm just stumbling over beer news in my normal news perusal, so here, look over my shoulder:

BBC News: the seemingly weekly news of booze being healthy:  "Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.  The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men."
 
Los Angeles Times: Beer bars booming in L.A. (And L.A. gets its first brewpub--or so the article claims.)

Extreme Beers in the Washington Post

Mid-Atlantic Brewing News editor and Washington Post columnist Greg Kitsock does a Washington Post column on the topic I asked about a short while back, extreme beers.

I was the source of his sample of BrewDog's Nanny State, shipped over for our sampling pleasure (or lack thereof?) by the Scottish brewery.

As for my own thoughts about extreme beers, I feel the whole extreme beer movement is best summarized by this "The City" cartoon by alt-comic cartoonist John Backderf, or Derf (reprinted with permission--and even he no longer has the original in his files); just substitute the latest hop-bomb or exotic-ingredient beer for the game and the beer geeks for the kid:

  (Click on the above image for an enlarged version.)

Christmas Beer Exchange?

Calling All Homebrewers, and Holiday Beer Fans!

My homebrewing friend John, who sort of twisted my arm into making a Christmas beer this year (and I sought my revenge by making it a public demonstration for Baltimore Beer Week) came up with a brilliant idea:

"Why should the women have all the fun with their Christmas cookie exchanges?  Why don't we have a Christmas beer exchange?  Trade a couple bottles or a six-pack of your Christmas beer with others, and get more variety for the winter!"

So here's what I'm offering:  If you are interested in trading your Christmas-strength homebrew for other folks, comment, and volunteer.  I'm also willing to entertain the possibility of letting non-homebrewers get in on this by buying a commercially-made beer, but I will watch over that and make sure that we don't get ten folks all bringing Snow Goose, Anchor Our Special Ale, or whatnot.

I'll make this one better:  If I get a nice, round 12 or 24 folks commenting, volunteering, and willing to put money where their mouths are, I will arrange with a Baltimore liquor store to assemble mixed 12-packs or cases of Xmas ales.  Your cost will be the actual cost of the beer in question divided by the number of participants, with no mark-up.  This offer will probably exclude homebrew, unless necessary to bring the number to a round 12 or 24.  Just as a guesstimate, expect the cost of a 12-pack to be around $20, and a case to be around $40, unless we go an extra league and rope in something especially spectacular.  In addition, if you are traveling and can acquire 12 or 24 bottles of some holiday beer we can't get through normal channels, drop me an e-mail and we'll see if we can make appropriate arrangements.

Wall Street Journal: A Look at Wine Ratings

Make that one downright cynical look at wine ratings:

They pour, sip and, with passion and snobbery, glorify or doom wines. But studies say the wine-rating system is badly flawed. How the experts fare against a coin toss.

And people occasionally wonder why I don't deal much with BeerAdvocate and RateBeer.............

Hindenburg Beer Auction Shatters Records!

From the Chippenham Gazette & Herald (UK):

The world record price for a bottle of beer was smashed in Devizes today when a bottle of Lowebrau lager sold for over £10,000 [$16,680].
The bottle was recovered from the wreckage of the German airship Hindenburg after it burst into flames as it moored at Lakehurst, New York, on May 6 1937.  It was part of the collection of survivor Richard Kollmer.
The previous highest price for a single bottle of beer is thought to be around £2,500 and auctioneer Alan Aldridge started bidding at £3,000 [$5,006].  There was fierce competition from telephone bidders all over the world, mainly from the US. Mr Aldridge eventually knocked the item down for £9,400 [$15,687].  With buyer's premium, the bottle will cost the purchaser £10,810 [$18,039] .


An electro-plated milk pitcher, also recovered from the wreckage, went for over £9,000.
The prices for the Hindenburg memorabilia dwarfed those for items connected with Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Peter Sellers and Paul McCartney.

Lot 206 and 207 are shown in the online catalogue here.  Earlier Beer in Baltimore post on the topic here.

Upcoming Md. Beer Events

Shamelessly flinched from Mid-Atlantic Brewing News' HopTips e-newsletter; if interested in your own e-subscription, contact mabnhoptips@brewingnews.com .


Friday, November 13th: Hugh Sisson Bottle Signing – Join Clipper City Brewing Co founder, Hugh Sisson, as he makes an appearance at Corridor Fine Wine and Spirits to sign bottles of the new Mutiny Fleet release - Yule Tide. Yule Tide is their new Belgian Tripel with a festive holiday label. 4-7pm. 410-247-7829.
Sunday, November 15th: MALT's 2009 Turkey Shoot Homebrew Competition – This year marks the fifth year for the Turkey Shoot. Winners can receive lots of great prizes that were donated by generous sponsors. Entries will be due on November 7th. www.maltclub.org/MALT/Turkey_Shoot.html.
Monday, November 16th: Heavy Seas Vegan Beer Dinner – Join Heavy Seas and Great Sage for a fantastic multi-course beer dinner paired with vegan cuisine. Advance reservations required, seating is limited. 410-247-7829 or www.great-sage.com.
Friday, November 20th: Hugh Sisson Bottle Signing – Join Clipper City Brewing Co founder, Hugh Sisson, as he makes an appearance at Beltway Fine Wine and Spirits to sign bottles of the new Mutiny Fleet release - Yule Tide. Yule Tide is their new Belgian Tripel with a festive holiday label. 4-7pm. 410-247-7829.
Monday, November 23rd: Beer Club with Stone Brewing – Victoria Gastro Pub will be holding one of its regular beer club nights with Mid Atlantic Stone rep Lee Marren on hand to sample out all of the special release beers that Stone does throughout the year. 4-7pm. 410-750-1880 or www.victoriagastropub.com.