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Beer at 41% abv - h...
 

[Closed] Beer at 41% abv - how can this be?

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Brew Dog's Sink The Biskmarck is said to be a pale ale but it is 41% abv which is spirit strength. How is this level of alcohol content achieved without distilling? I always thought drinks passed into a different genre at a certain percentage - beers become barley wines, wines become port etc.. I obviously know nothing.

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£40 a bottle and currently out of stock 😯


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:09 am
 ton
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i would like to sample it........just to see like. 😀


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:11 am
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Perhaps they just missed the decimal point.

Its a typo


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:12 am
 IHN
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It's basically whisky.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:13 am
 Rik
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No typo - watch the video on the brewdog site. Done by super chilling the beer then removing excess water over time.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:14 am
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They have it in the Brew Dog pub in Edinburgh, think it is £5 a shot to be drank like whisky.

They had a couple of specials in which the bottles came inside stuffed animals as well, they were about £500 a bottle i think.

But in answer to the OP no idea how they do it.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:14 am
 Rik
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Brewdog rules!!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:15 am
 Rik
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Those stuffed animal beers are £10,000 a bottle - there's one in a pub near me :0)


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:17 am
 IHN
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[i]super chilling the beer then removing excess water over time.[/i]

So freezing it and removing the ice (which will be water) leaving the liquid (which will be strongly alcoholic)?

I bet it tastes like sh*t. But I'd try it, just to be sure.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:17 am
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sounds like its freeze distilled?

Id hear it used on bad batches of homebrew cider. Stick it in an ice cream tub with a lolly stick in the top and once the water (and much of the impurities) has frozen out, remove it and you're left with a strong liqueur that you add lemonade to.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:17 am
 hora
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Binners take Debs to Brugges. Lots to try over there 🙂


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:17 am
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They also did "The End Of History" at 55%!

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Posted : 21/12/2011 11:17 am
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i had some 10% stout the other day which was potent enough. that stuff sounds lethally pointless!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:18 am
 Rik
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Tastes amazing as it just super concentrates the flavour


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:18 am
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Don't know how they do it but they were competing against a german brewery for who could produce the strongest beer hence the name.

Crazy loons fa Fraserbourgh

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Posted : 21/12/2011 11:18 am
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Apparently it tastes quite nice.

I bet it's like whisky, but with hops in it.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:21 am
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Gimmic beer, gimmic brewery, Everything that CAMRA is not. Whats the point? Tried sink the bismark - tastes horrible - like a bad brandy. If i want something 41% ABV, i would rather drink a good scotch.

The beer they do called Ghost deer says it all really, enough said!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:37 am
 Rik
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Or along with ThornBridge they are the most progressive and innovative brewery in the country.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:41 am
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I seem to remember in my youth I drank a beer called "Roger And Out" that was sold by the "Frog & Parrot" in Sheffield.

It was something like 17% and once held the title for the world's strongest beer. It stuck to the glass like a desert wine.

If you managed two third-pint glasses of it then they gave you a certificate. If you could stomach a full pint then they gave you a t-shirt and called you a taxi!

I've probably still got the t-shirt somewhere...


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:41 am
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Tactical Nuclear Penguin is the most epic name for a beer ever. That's all I've got to say!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:42 am
 Robz
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Its rank!

Mind you, most of their beer tastes like soap if you ask me.

And their bar is full of rude staff and punters wearing brewdog tshirts (shakes head).

Cunning marketing though!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:43 am
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I did it by accident once when I left a can of Europiss in the freezer. I opened it and it exploded because the water had frozen and expanded, the liquid that did dribble out was all the ethanol with the flavour, colour and the little remaining water it could support unfrozen. Naturally I tried it but it tasted disgusting.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:44 am
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I've had the Tactical Nuclear Penguin and the Sink The Bismarck, they're both fairly nice in small amounts but too sweet to drink much of.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:44 am
 Rik
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I seem to remember in my youth I drank a beer called "Roger And Out" that was sold by the "Frog & Parrot" in Sheffield.

That was more like 11 or 12% used to come in third of a pint glasses and you got a proper nice certificate if you drank a pint. That was before strong beers were commonplace though.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:46 am
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Conceptually, I like Brewdog a lot. However, I've yet to find any one their beers that I actually like.

Great marketing, poor product, IMHO.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:48 am
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Rik- but thornbridge produce good tasting beer through knowing how to brew! not having to up the ABV or put the bottles in stuffed animals to get attention. If brewdog didn't call their beers with the names they do, or have stupid ABV's, or have the beer squirting out of a stuffed deers head, no one would care, because their beers are average at best.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:51 am
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That was more like 11 or 12% used to come in third of a pint glasses and you got a proper nice certificate if you drank a pint.

Couldn't remember to be honest, but 16.9% according to Michael Jackson (the other one):

"While the Swiss make the strongest lager, the British produce the most potent ale: Roger and Out, which has been known to reach 16.9 per cent, brewed at the Frog and Parrot pub in Division Street, Sheffield."
-- http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000100.html

Bit of googling reminds me that they actually gave you a certificate for each 1/3rd pint glass you drank, but on the second certificate the writing was all blurry and on the third it was barely legible.

When you had earned your 3 certificates you could trade them in to buy a t-shirt.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:54 am
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Tactical Nuclear Penguin is the most epic name for a beer ever.

After the complaints in the press about that, they did one called Nanny State that was just over 1% 🙂


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:55 am
 Nick
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Everything that CAMRA is not. Whats the point?

What's CAMRA got to do with it?

I like 5am Saint and Punk IPA. You've got to love hops to enjoy their beers.

What is ironic is that they have stolen their entire marketing and brewing approach from AMERICANS!!! Oh the horror, the shame!

http://www.stonebrew.com/


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 11:56 am
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Robinsons of Stockport do a barley wine called Old Tom. It's about 9% and is actually quite nice. Pub near us will only serve it in half pint glasses. They will happily fill a tray will halves of Old Tom though 😉


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:01 pm
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I quite like the Punk IPA they do, it tastes just like Thornbridge Jaipur I reckon.

Some of the other ones are a bit bland, but then so are the other Thornbridge beers.

teenrat - Do you wear woolly jumpers when complaining down the pub? 😉

Edit: derek - Old Tom is magic stuff, the rest of Robbies beer all tastes the same, but Old Tom is great when you can get it. Nowt better on a cold Winter evening.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:01 pm
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I have had a bottle of 33% beer in Germany - on my it was a killer esp at the end of a night on beers by the liter.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:07 pm
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TNP was horrible,cannot imagine this new one would be any nicer....


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:12 pm
 Rik
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Teenrat - don't agree with you one bit. Brewdog IPAs at any strength are the best.

Graham S - I stand corrected - was nice though


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:13 pm
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Big fan of brew dog, a new bar opened in Camden the other week. Punk and hardcore are lovely, I really like the US style like Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Kernel is also worth checking out. Thornbridge are ok, Jaipur is the best they do though.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:13 pm
 Rik
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Jaipur is def not the best they do - you need to have a ThornBridge pub round the corner :0) some of there seasonal beers wipe the floor with Jaipur (which is lovely btw)

Hardcore IPA is a firm firm favourite of mine


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:19 pm
 Rik
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I have some prototype Brewdod in the kitchen at the mo!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:25 pm
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I had some of that at the Brew Dog pub in Edinburgh, I didn't really like it. Much prefer the Punk IPA.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:38 pm
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Jaipur is def not the best they do
I feel some research coming on 😉

I've had there Black IPA, bit odd.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:45 pm
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i had some tactical nuclear penguin. it was rank


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 12:55 pm
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Thornbridge's Raven is absolutely amazing, when I worked at the Deaf Institute I got them to sell Thornbridge beers as I love good craft ales.. One of the great thing about living in Manchester is the amount of places that sell really good craft ales, it's a dream for a beer lover.

Not sure the exact ABV whereby a beer is also a barley wine, think some people have differing opinions. I know that the Trappiste ale Rochfort 10 is both a beer and a barley wine as it weighs in at about 11.3%.

I think next time I do some home brew, I will see about taking a batch out and stick it in the freezer to remove some of the water content. Could be interesting.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 1:09 pm
 Rik
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Thornbridge Sequoia is particularly good


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 1:12 pm
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It all comes down to taste, if everyone liked the same then the choice would be pretty narrow. Its just my opinion that brewdog have great marketing and that is how they sell beers. The beers that they sell aren't great.

With regards to the OP, is the freezing of beer to increase ABV not cheating? shouldn't beer be called beer upto the maximum fermentable limit, and then after becomes a barley based mutation of a whisky? Sorry, got my bobble hat on!


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 1:12 pm
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gimmick and pointlessly undrinkable, I'd imagine.
at uni we used to go to the Swan and Three (Sam Smiths) pub and the challenge was to drink three pints of D Pils (6%) in 30 minutes - marvel at it's seemingly hallucinogenic properties - then off to the union for strawpedos. best nights ever.


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 1:15 pm
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That Sam Smiths Ayinger Pils stuff that brakes mentioned is surely an opiate 😀


 
Posted : 21/12/2011 1:22 pm
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