All I can say is…Holy specific gravity!
Scotland’s Brewmeister Brewery has produced what it claims is the strongest beer in the world. Weighing in at an astounding 65 percent alcohol by volume, it tops the charts as the most alcoholic brew on the planet.
Brewed using wheat malt, crystal malt, flaked oats, and Scottish spring water, Brewmeister Armageddon, as it is known, undergoes a special brewing process to achieve its high potency. Using freeze fermenting, the temperature of the beer is lowered quickly, below the freezing point, causing some of the water to freeze. The ice is then removed, and the process is repeated again and again. Each time frozen water is removed, the liquid left behind increases in alcohol content. Repeat the process often enough, and the alcohol content goes through the roof, like it has with Brewmeister Armageddon.
To contemplate the strength of this beer, consider that the alcohol content of most popular brands of American beer is below 7 percent alcohol by volume. Budweiser, for example, contains 5 percent alcohol by volume. Samuel Adams Boston Lager contains 4.8 percent alcohol by volume and Miller Lite contains just 4.2 percent alcohol by volume. Brewmeister Armageddon is even stronger than that bottle of Barcardi rum or Bombay gin sitting in your liquor cabinet. Most distilled spirits sold in the United States contain a mere 40 percent alcohol by volume. This Scottish brew tops them all by 25 percentage points.
At the 65 percent level, Brewmeister Armageddon is more than 15 times as strong as Miller Lite. In other words, consuming a 12 oz. serving of Brewmeister Armageddon would be, in terms of alcohol, like drinking more than fifteen 12 oz. servings of Miller’s popular Lite beer. That comparison, alone, should convince consumers that this is a product to approach with great caution. The brewer realizes the extremes of this product and thus recommends drinking it in very small, brandy size portions.
Why, exactly, would any brewer want to brew a beer that doesn’t really seem or taste like a typical malt beverage? Well, it seems to be the novelty and competition of the matter, more than anything else. Scotland’s Brewdog Brewery has already produced beers with alcoholic contents of greater than 40 percent, only to be outdone by other brewers. As soon as one brewer creates the strongest beer in the world, another is ready to up the ante. Now that a brewer has achieved the 65 percent level, there is no reason to doubt that another brewer will attempt something even stronger and regain the “world’s strongest beer” title.
If you’re looking to try Brewmeister Armageddon, don’t expect to see it in American stores. It is not sold in any liquor or beverage store in the nation, but curious individuals can make a purchase through the Brewmeister Armageddon web site.
Note: Article originally posted at Examiner.com
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