41% beer

not the way I drink beer. I'd try it though.

Good lord. I've had Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA, which is something like 25%. It's actually very good, but damn is it strong. Interesting to get half-wrecked on one bottle of beer, anyway.

But 41%? That's not even a "sipping" beer. That's more like a shootin' beer.

I love that Dogfish IPA. I'll nurse one of those for an afternoon and still get a buzz.

Yeeeeah I didn't nurse it. Problematic.

I think it's too much. In fact I think anything over 12% is a little too much. Wouldn't mind getting my hands on some though. I'd love to have a change of mind.

When the alcohol content of a beer goes above 15%, is it actually still technically beer?

A beer with that high of an alcohol content, meant to be sipped like whiskey would certainly have to approach taste in a whole other way. It would be really interesting to try.

Sure, the alcohol content doesn't have anything to do with the definition of beer. Even O'Doul's is beer! In the loosest sense of the word.

I have to say it is borderline irresponsible to make a beer this ridiculously strong. They say it's meant to be imbibed in "spirit-sized" measures but it's not like you can keep an open beer in your liquor cabinet. That bottle has to get polished off in a night by someone.

Fixed that for you.

Hey, I've single handedly gone through bottles of whiskey, vodka or tequila and I'm nowhere near Nolte levels of power. He should only be invoked for truly epic deeds.

But, it's beer. Nobody can drink just one beer.

Is it a beer or a malt liquor? To be a true beer it most get all it alcohol from the brewing. I think Samuel Adams has a beer that is brewed with over 41% alcohol, they use a super yeast.

Same here.

Anything over that amount and it's gonna get sipped extra slow.

I must find this. God bless experimental brewers like these guys (and the Dogfish Head masters).

It hasn't been brewed in years, but has anyone ever had a Sam Adams Triple Bock back in the day? Came in 8 oz blue glass bottles, and was meant to be served like a strong brandy. I think that was around 18%, which was the record at the time. A small experimental run (they're big boys now, but Jim Koch is an honest to god beer geek, still playing in the vats). Also highly recommended for the strong-beer lover, the EKU Kulminator 28. Not for the fainthearted or delicate of palate. It's only ~8% ABV but halfway down you'll think you've had 4 of em.

Now to see if these Bewdog guys ship to the U.S....

Yes, that stuff was good. But REALLY rich. I simply couldn't drink much of it at a time. Beautiful bottles it came in.

I tried Triple Bock about ten years ago. In fact my ex-roommate just threw out his unopened bottle as we were cleaning out our apartment. As you can imagine it did not look like it aged well.

I'd probably appreciate it more now, my recollection is of it tasting like chocolate and motor oil.

My friend opened a long-lost Triple Bock last year or the the year before, and yeah, they seem to have a sharp peak at 5-6 years old (when I last had one) and then the balance all goes out of it, leaving an alcohol and malt pie. My friend almost cried over the phone describing his disappointment.

Now, for the barleywine fan, find seek and hold onto for a long long time Thomas Hardy ale. It's good for decades; in fact, each run is labeled with its year of brewing. Some are better than others. I had a 12-year-old '88 in 2000, and I'm sure it was the best beverage I had all year. Found a lone 6er of '98 in '03, tucked away on some superstore's upper shelf, and treated myself to one on my birthday the next 6 years. No regrets.

Anyway, nicely smartass promotional video for Sink The Bismarck here: http://vimeo.com/9491802

On their site, there's a slightly more technical promo vid for Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Looks like their method for jacking up the ABV is the ol' "ice beer" method of freezing it down and removing the water. Penguin's a stout base, and looks like Bismarck started as an Imperial IPA before the icing gimmickry (though that's just my assumption, that they used the same method for both).