BREWERS' GUARDIAN: Exclusive: German brews 45% beer

Exclusive: German brews 45% beer
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Rob Brown on 09 March, 2010 03:04:00
 
A German brewer has produced a trial batch of beer with a whopping abv weighing
in at 45%, BG can exclusively reveal.
Georg Tscheuschner, of Bavarian brewery Schorschbräu, is now hoping to
recreate the so-called ice-bock on a commercial scale with a view to launching
the brew in May or June. The beer would become the world’s strongest.
The development marks the next chapter in the rivalry between Tscheuschner and
Scotland’s BrewDog, which last month launched Sink the Bismarck, a 41% beer
that dethroned the German’s 40% Schorschbock as the world’s strongest.
“The lab results showed 45% and I think this will maybe be the finish
line,” said Tscheuschner. “But then if anyone had said that we’d be doing
a 40% beer a few years ago they would have said 'change your pills'.”
While remaining cautious about the factors that could affect the accurate
re-creation of the pilot brew on a larger scale, Tscheuschner said he was
“excited” about pushing the boundaries of what constitutes beer.
The brewer has patented his technique for producing super-strength beer and
claims to be close to being able to produce a 20% abv beer purely through
fermentation.
Schorschbräu’s ice-bocks are made by storing a 16% abv beer in sub minus
20˚C temperatures. Ice crystals are then removed, concentrating the alcohol and
flavours. As much as six times the final volume is thrown away during
production, said Tscheuschner, who is keeping many of the exact details of his
technique close to his chest.
The release of the 40% Schorschbock in December silenced the claims of BrewDog,
which a month earlier had said their 32% beer Tactical Nuclear Penguin was the
world’s strongest.
In January the Scots retaliated with the tongue-in-cheek launch of Sink the
Bismarck, which they said had caused “the sausage-munchers to throw all their
toys out of the pram” in a video drawing heavily from the Second World War.
“It’s a little bit of kraut-bashing but it’s alright, it’s my kind of
humour,” said Tscheuschner. “I can’t play this card. If a German tried
this, the rest of the world wouldn’t find this funny.”
Tscheuschner added that the rivalry between the two brewers was friendly and
estimated that the media scrum that followed the launch of Sink the Bismarck had
driven his sales up by around 20%.