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."

Re:More Alcohol and Less Drinking?

[HopefulIntern]

Agreed. I was saddened when I came back to my home country of Norway a few years ago to discover no shops sells so-called "light beers" anymore. (For you Americans, a light beer in Europe means lower alcohol, about 1-2%, not fewer calories). I always enjoyed these beers because I could pound one when I came home from work and it would be delicious without giving me any impairment. (Before anyone mentions alcohol free beer, I have tried many and never liked them.)

This seems strange to me, making beer so strong. What are they trying to achieve with this? A 50% beer means you can only have a few measures of it before you will get sick. Where is the enjoyment? A pint of cold, crisp draught surely beats a shot of this stuff?

The article is a bit off

[Anon-Admin]

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

Re:More Alcohol and Less Drinking?

[gsslay]

Exactly. The quality and enjoyability of the beer is not determined by the percentage of alcohol. If this kind of mindless "mines bigger than yours" appeals to you then why not buy a bottle of 100% distilled medical alcohol and pour it straight down your throat?

Woohoo! It's a hundred percent! You can't get bigger! You win! Now bring over the stomach pumps.

The same macho BS that goes on about curry strengths. People competitively eat the strongest curry they can get hold off, to the point of it knocking your taste buds into a coma. Well done. Now you can't taste anything and you're oozing curry paste from every duct and pore you possess. You win.

Re:But what about taste?

[justin12345]

Dogfish Head 120 is pretty decent as far as "high test" beers go, and you're right about how its best enjoyed. Honestly everything Dogfish Head makes is pretty decent. I'd even go so far as to say my favorite beer of all beers is their 60 Minute IPA.

It's not pointless at all!

[Sloppy]

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.

Alcohol isn't the only thing concentrated

[gregor-e]

Freeze-distillation consists of partially freezing beer then removing the ice, which has more water than alcohol. Each time a bit of ice is tossed, fractionally more alcohol is left behind. They repeat this process until the liquid fraction is as strong as they care for. Of course, alcohol isn't the only thing that gets left out of the ice when it forms. You get to keep all of the other crap the yeast poop out in addition to alcohol. Stuff like methanol, acetone, isopropyl and iso-amyl alcohol. These are called congeners, and they're responsible for a good percentage of your hangover. A proper still will let you selectively include or leave out these congeners. But freeze distillation keeps them all. Concentrates them. Makes their flavor and after-effects more intense for each fluid ounce you drink. Kind of pointless, in my opinion.

Now, genetic engineering of a yeast that can tolerate higher alcohol concentration without producing a lot of congeners - that would be something worth doing.

Suuure

[yukk]

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 :)