The world's strongest and strangest beer

leroy · Jul 23, 2010

It's 55% and wrapped in roadkill, is this the world's most 'shocking' beer?

You'd expect a lot from a bottle of beer costing $765. What you get is 55 percent alcohol — and served in a squirrel.

According to Scottish firm BrewDog, "The End of History" is the "strongest, most expensive and most shocking beer in the world."

Just 12 bottles were made and the company has already sold out. They will be shipped out to buyers in the United States, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Scotland and England next week.

The dead animals which were used to create the beers' unusual appearance were four squirrels, seven weasels and a hare. All were roadkill, James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog, told msnbc.com.

The name of the blond Belgian ale is taken from the title of a book by philosopher Francis Fukuyama, "The End of History and the Last Man" which the company said had been chosen to imply "this is to beer what democracy is to history."

Watt said the beer should be treated with care when drinking.

"It tastes more like a whisky and you have got to handle it in that way as opposed to the way you would handle a normal beer," he told msnbc.com.

It contains juniper berries and nettles, and its taste, Watt said, has hints of cinnamon, orange and an "American hops flavor."

He said this was the last in a series of high-strength beers that the company had produced and there were no plans to go higher.

'Degrading' to animals
The decision to wrap the bottle in a dead animal was taken to indicate how special the beer was, blending brewing, taxidermy and "art."

"We were making such a tiny amount that we wanted to do something epic," Watt told msnbc.com. "We wanted to challenge people's perceptions about how beer can be packaged; taxidermy helps open people's eyes to the fact that beer doesn't have to be made by a multi-national organization."

However the decision was described by Ross Minett, campaigns director for the U.K. charity Advocates for Animals, as "terribly out of date" and "degrading" for the animals.

"The modern approach is to celebrate the wonders of animals and respect them as individual sentient creatures," he said, according to the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph newspaper. "I'm sure this would have much greater appeal with the animal-loving public."

Asked about animal rights concerns, Watt said: "It was all roadkill we got from a taxidermist. They are all animals that were dead anyway. We think to use dead animals in this way is much better than for them to be left to rot on the roadside."

One of the buyer, Blake Coleman, of New York, told msnbc.com he had bought a "stoat" — another name for a weasel — beer.

"The reason I purchased the beer was solely because it came in a taxidermic case," he said. "The humor of the packaging is what persuaded me to commit to the purchase, besides the only other taxidermic 'thing' I have is a jackalope."

"However an added bonus — major added bonus — is that it contains the world's strongest 'beer' for now. All in all, I'm a craft beer enthusiast who appreciates BrewDog's cheeky direction," he added.

"I do plan on drinking the beer, yet I have not hammered out the details. I can tell you as of right now, I plan on gathering other craft beer enthusiasts to enjoy the beer, but there is no set time frame for that to happen."
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I have nothing to add. The picture says it all.

moestavern19 · Jul 23, 2010

want.

DonkeyMagic · Jul 23, 2010

at least it pours from the mouth

the futants · Jul 23, 2010

I just want the koozies.

The Drake · Jul 23, 2010

white?

Gooshie · Jul 23, 2010

taxidermy helps open people's eyes to the fact that beer doesn't have to be made by a multi-national organization."
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...wtf?

Lil Pun · Jul 23, 2010

When is something a beer and when is it a liquor?

rocketsjudoka · Jul 23, 2010

Lil Pun said:

When is something a beer and when is it a liquor?
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When its distilled it becomes a liquor. I didn't see anything about the brewing process but my understanding is that you can't get something much stronger than wine through fermentation alone. I'm betting this is a beer that has been fortified with extra alcohol, possibly blended with whiskey which is after all just distilled beer.

RoxSqaud · Jul 23, 2010

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rocketsjudoka · Jul 23, 2010

Gooshie said:

...wtf?
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Now Bud will make a line called Bud Kill. All that great Bud taste in a fuzzy road kill bottle.

weslinder · Jul 23, 2010

rocketsjudoka said:

When its distilled it becomes a liquor. I didn't see anything about the brewing process but my understanding is that you can't get something much stronger than wine through fermentation alone. I'm betting this is a beer that has been fortified with extra alcohol, possibly blended with whiskey which is after all just distilled beer.
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Dogfish Head has yeasts that will get to about 25% alcohol (almost twice as strong as wine), so the old limits aren't necessarily true. That being said, I don't have a clue how they get to 55% alcohol.

rocketsjudoka · Jul 23, 2010

weslinder said:

Dogfish Head has yeasts that will get to about 25% alcohol (almost twice as strong as wine), so the old limits aren't necessarily true. That being said, I don't have a clue how they get to 55% alcohol.
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Don't the yeast just suffocate themselves in alcohol after awhile? I wonder if you can filter out the alcohol and keep on adding sugars to the mix to keep the yeast metabolizing without dying off and then add back the alcohol in a final mix.

weslinder · Jul 23, 2010

rocketsjudoka said:

Don't the yeast just suffocate themselves in alcohol after awhile? I wonder if you can filter out the alcohol and keep on adding sugars to the mix to keep the yeast metabolizing without dying off and then add back the alcohol in a final mix.
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The only way that I know of to get the alcohol out is distillation.

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