"QUANTUM SHOT" #569
Link
- article by Simon Rose
Cheers to Beers – The weird, the fascinating, the potent and the
expensive, from around the world
A selection of beers from around the world that simply boggle the
mind
(images
via)
Beer is the most popular beverage in the world after water and tea and had
been produced for thousands of years. The Alulu Tablet, from the ancient
Kingdom of Ur, in what is now Southern Iraq, refers to a “best” beer and
dates from 2050 BC.
Babylonian clay tablets from 4300 BC show detailed beer recipes and beer
was also brewed by the ancient Chinese, Assyrians, Incas and in ancient
Egypt. In 1996, Scottish and Newcastle breweries in the UK used a
3,200-year old recipe found in the sun temple of Queen Nefertiti to brew a
thousand bottles of Tutankhamun Ale:
Tutankhamun Ale, The Alulu Tablet (images via
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The dawn of commercial beer production was in Germany around 1200 and in
1516, the famous Purity Law came into effect, which determined the only
ingredients permissible in beer were water, barley, wheat and hops. The
bottling of beer began in the early seventeenth century and today, some
20,000 different brands of beer are brewed in an almost bewildering
180 styles all around the world, including ales, lagers, pilsners, stouts,
bitters, cream ales and more.
Owing to the sheer number of different beers produced around the world,
for this article, I have focused on just a few of the planet’s more
noteworthy beers, whether in terms of the brewing process, alcoholic
strength, unusual flavours, distinctive names or other reasons that made
them really stand out.
Strong beers
Despite its name, barley wine is a type of ale, with strength of
between 8 and 12%, which was first brewed in England in the nineteenth
century, but is now produced in many other countries as well. Barley wines
can be amber to deep reddish-browns in colour. It may seem a little
confusing, but these ales are called ‘barley wine’ because they are often
comparable in strength to a wine. However, because their main ingredient
is grain rather than fruit, they are really beers. Unlike more traditional
beers, barley wine is designed for slow sipping, like a white, red or
blush wine, rather than as an instant thirst quencher.
Thomas Hooker Barley Wine, Gold Label Tennant Brothers (images via
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2)
Back in the eighties and nineties, the alcohol content of beers climbed
steadily. Vetter 33, for example, has a 10.5% abv, while Samichlaus,
produced in Switzerland, was at one time considered the world’s strongest
beer at 14% abv. The strongest beer brand in current production is Eisbock
from Germany, which has 14% ethanol by volume.
Samichlaus, Aventinus Eisbock (images via
1,
Patrick Hirlehey)
Baz’s Super Brew, made by Parish Brewery in the UK, is a 23% abv beer and
Delaware’s Dogfish Head’s World Wide Stout, with a 21% abv, was sold at UK
Safeway locations in 2003. Hair of the Dog’s Dave, at a mind numbing 29%
abv, is a barley wine first produced in 1994 and considered to be the
strongest beer ever made at the time:
Hair-of-the-Dog, Millennium and Utopia, (images via
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1)
In recent years, some brewers have made use of champagne yeast to
significantly increase the alcohol content of their beers. Millennium,
produced by Samuel Adams, had a 20% abv, but they increased this still
further with the 25.6% abv Utopia. However, this beer has a malt,
maple-syrup type of flavor that more closely resembles port, so it’s
really more like a liqueur than a beer.
Beers that burn a hole in your pocket
If you consider yourself a beer connoisseur and feel like splashing out a
little, take a trip to a bar called the Bierdrome in London, the only
place in the world where you can buy a custom super-magnum bottle of
Vielle Bon Secours for around £500 or $1000. The world’s most
expensive beer, this bottle costs an astounding $78 a pint - more
info:
(images credit:
Edu Passarelli, 2)
Not too far behind in terms of price is Jacobsen Vintage No. 1,
produced by Carlsberg of Denmark, a limited edition 10.5% abv barley wine.
Only 600 bottles were brewed, priced at around $350 each and primarily
marketed to up-scale restaurants in Copenhagen and of course the very
wealthy beer drinker.
(image via)
Beers that might burn a hole in your stomach
Produced in Arizona, Cave Creek Chili Beer, with a real chili pepper in
each bottle, could possibly burn a hole in your stomach if you decided to
consume more than a couple of bottles:
(images credit:
Doctor Rose, 2)
Dogfish Head Chicory Stout
is a rich and spicy beer, whose ingredients
include Mexican coffee, roasted chicory and licorice root. It apparently
has a distinct coffee aftertaste, with a hint of cloves.
Dogfish Head Chicory Stout
, Rogue Chipotle Ale (images via
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2)
Rogue Chipotle Ale
is an Oregon ale with a smoky, slightly bitter
flavour. It’s actually brewed with chipotle chilies, which you don’t
really taste at first, but then feel a real kick just after you swallow.
Unusual flavours
Lindemans Kriek Cherry Lambic is a dark red, Belgian beer, which as the
name implies, has a distinct cherry taste. It’s almost like a cherry soda,
but has just enough of a beer taste to leave you in no doubt as to it’s
true identity:
(images via
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In recent years some brewers have added fruit flavours to beer to appeal
to traditional non-beer drinkers, particularly women, who represent a
largely untapped market for beer. Manufacturers have worked on developing
products with sweeter, fruitier and lighter flavours, such as apple,
lemon, grapefruit, raspberry, pomegranate or peach, making these beer
brands more akin to flavoured alcoholic beverages.
Sea Dog Brewing Company of Maine produces Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale, which
has been compared to the taste of a piece of blueberry pie by one
reviewer. For the Polish market, Carlsberg has a fruity beer sold under
the Karmi brand called Malinowa Pasja Raspberry Flavoured Beer. Basically,
it’s a dark beer with raspberry syrup, with hints of caramel as well as
raspberries.
(images via 1,
2)
Gösser Brauerei in Austria produces a beer containing 100% natural lemon
juice called Gösser Natur Radler, aimed at consumers interested in a light
beer with a sweet taste. In the United States, New Belgium Brewing
produces a seasonal beer known as New Belgium Springboard Ale, which is
brewed with wormwood, goji berries and schisandra.
(images via 1,
2)
Krait Prestige Champagne Lager, claims to be the world’s first champagne
lager. It re-ferments in the bottle, which is manufactured to resemble a
regular champagne bottle. Targeted to bridge the gap between beer drinkers
and those who prefer wine, it combines the taste of both in a very
different kind of beer.
(images via 1,
2)
Simply weird beers
Here’s a selection of beers from around the world that simply boggle the
mind.
Tom Seefurth’s Mamma Mia Pizza Beer is produced with tomato,
garlic, basil and oregano, but unlike the chilli beers, for example, it
doesn’t actually come with a slice of pizza stuffed into the bottle. Quite
drinkable, according to its reviews, although it has been said to have a
slightly artificial taste vaguely reminiscent of chips that are supposedly
pizza flavoured.
(images via)
Kwispelbier from the Netherlands is a steak-flavoured beer designed
especially for dogs. Yes, dogs. Hard to imagine why someone would
come up, with this idea, but it’s non-alcoholic, and really does taste
like beef, apparently, although you’d really have to ask the dog.
Banana Beer is, not surprisingly, made from bananas, but also
includes the fermented juices of sorghum and is brewed in Kenya.
(images via)
What do you get if you combine beer with milk? Bilk of course. In
Hokkaido, Japan, when a man in the dairy industry wondered what to do with
discarded milk, he suggested that the local brewery could use it to
produce a low-malt beer. One third of the product is milk, so it does seem
like a good way to use the surplus milk which would otherwise only go to
waste. According to reports the beer isn’t that bad, with a somewhat
fruity flavour and the brewers hope it might prove popular with women.
(images via)
Chocolate Donut Beer comes from the Shenandoah Brewery in
Alexandria, Virginia. Almost as bizarre a combination as pizza beer, this
odd brew has nonetheless received good reviews. One stated that it smelled
“like you just opened a pack of those cheap waxy corner store chocolate
gem donuts”.
Creme Brulee Stout has been compared to dessert in a bottle. Although it
isn’t as syrupy as it sounds, it is very sweet, with a subtle stout
flavour, but also contains elements of cream, vanilla and maple.
(images via 1,
2)
Tomato flavored beer is produced by Japan’s Echigo brewery. This
beer is supposed to have healthy ingredients such as organic tomatoes, and
although it’s combined with alcohol, it has 1000 times more vitamin E than
normal beer and can act as an antioxidant. This beer may actually be good
for you, although no reports on what it tastes like.
(image via)
How about this for a corporate advertising slogan? “Even kids cannot stand
life unless they have a drink.” Yes, in Japan there really is
beer for children, or rather at least an alcohol free soft drink
called Kidsbeer. This beverage began its existence as a regular soda drink
called Guarana, based on a Latin American plant. The sweetness was reduced
and it became a more frothy drink, in fact, more like beer. The company
then decided to produce the drink in brown bottles with old-fashioned
style labels modeled on classic Japanese beers for a hint of nostalgia -
in the minds of the parents old enough to remember them at least, rather
than to the young drinkers the product is aimed at. According to the
people responsible for the phenomenally popular Kidsbeer, children will
always copy and mimic adults, and now they can all raise a glass together
at parties, weddings and other celebrations. Strange stuff, for sure.
Weird beer names
Despite the unusual and at times downright odd flavours mentioned earlier
in this article, the simple recipe for beer, based on the Bavarian Purity
Law of 1516, has remained largely unchanged over the centuries. However,
if all beers are generally similar, how does a brewer make its product
stand out in the marketplace? With a strange name on the label, of course.
There are so many attention grabbing names for beer brands around the
world, but here are just a few that caught my eye.
- La Fin du Monde ("End of the World") is from Quebec, a beer for
drinking at the end of the world perhaps?
- Fiddler’s Elbow is a wheat beer from the UK and although this is
a very catchy name for a beer, Fiddler’s Elbow is also the real name of a
tiny village in Wales. - Old Speckled Hen is the highest-selling
premium bottled beer in the UK. An odd name, legend has it that the men
who once built MG cars used one particular vehicle to drive around the
factory and called this particular model the ‘owld speckled ‘un’. On the
famous car’s fiftieth anniversary, the brewery decided to commemorate the
occasion with a beer called Old Speckled Hen.
- Seriously Bad Elf is a British version of a Belgian style Tripel
beer and with an alcohol content of 9%, this one might even tempt one of
Santa’s elves to misbehave.
- The Stone Brewing Company in California is responsible for the curiously
named Arrogant Bastard. Is it that good?
- Moose Drool from Montana’s Big Sky Brewing Company tastes nothing
like the drool of a moose. However, the name was inspired by a picture of
a moose drinking from a lake, which was on the wall of the room when the
brewery owners were brainstorming, trying to come up with a name for their
latest brew.
- Santa’s Butt Porter is not as offensive as it actually sounds.
The name is a reference to a large barrel, known as a butt, and according
to reviews, this porter with the odd name is actually very good indeed.
(images via 1,
2,
3,
4)
So there you are. A short, but by no means exhaustive, tour of just some
of the weird, the fascinating, the potent and the expensive products
available in the wonderful world of beer. If you’re a beer connoisseur and
have the good fortune to encounter any of these brews, even the weirder
ones, on your travels, enjoy.
Awesome streamlined vintage beer trucks
CHECK OUT "FANTASTIC FOOD" CATEGORY! ->
Simon Rose is the
author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including
The Alchemist's Portrait,
The Sorcerer's Letterbox,
The Clone Conspiracy,
The Emerald Curse,
The Heretic's Tomb
and
The Doomsday Mask. Check out his previous article for DRB
here
|
40 Comments:
Does anyone have any more info on those fantastic delivery vehicles? Are they a certain make of car?
...I MUST HAVE ONE!
"If you consider yourself a beer connoisseur and feel like splashing out a little, take a trip to a bar called the Bierdrome in London, the only place in the world where you can buy Vielle Bon Secours. The world’s most expensive beer, a bottle of this will cost you around £500 or $1000."
Ahahahahahahah hahaha hahahaha ... gasp hahahah hahahaha...
We had two identical bottles of that exact stuff for my dad's birthday. Yes, we were being ridiculously lavish - they cost about €10 each from a Belgian supermarket. Beer was surprisingly drinkable for the price, too...
The "Gösser-Radler" is actually not a beer brewed with lemon juice.
A "Radler" is a mix of beer and soda,
mostly lemon or orange soda. There is also a "sour Radler" with soda water.
Very refreshing in summer!
In Bavaria and Austria it's called "Radler!"
The french call it "Panaché"
In the UK it's called "shandy" as i learned from google.
You failed to mention DeuS (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/202/7661), a very nice champagne like beer.
And, my personal favourite because of the very special glass and exquisite taste (the shape of the glass has a very nice and true story behind it): kwak
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauwel_Kwak)
Nice post however :)
"Despite the unusual and at times downright odd flavours mentioned earlier in this article, the simple recipe for beer, based on the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516, has remained largely unchanged over the centuries. However, if all beers are generally similar"
You are definitely wrong about that. There are many many many many beer styles and they taste very different.
You need no "odd" ingredients to brew "special" beers.
besides this, beer styles like "kriek lambic", "cream", "Champagne" and "radler" are not even strange. they are tranditional and very old beer styles.
also only german beers (not even all of them) are brewed following the the Bavarian Purity Law.
[...] which determined the only ingredients permissible in beer were water, barley, wheat and hops.
Wheat is not metioned in the purity law. Only water, barley and hops are allowed ingredients.
cf.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot
http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/4.html
Love this site! Being Canadian and a lover of beer this feature was especially interesting.
A little Candian beer trivia for you. Canada produced 4 major world class breweries. Molson's and Labatts of course but 2 others that started in the same home town as Labatts. Can you name them? You'll be surprised!
[QUOTE]- Moose Drool from Montana’s Big Sky Brewing Company tastes nothing like the drool of a moose. [/QUOTE]
How do you know that?
I am sorry to tell you that your mention of Bon Vieille Secours is utterly wrong. It's a belgian beer that can be bought in every supermarket with an extended range of beers, for only a few euros, same as the other special beers, just a bit more expensive than the "normal" beers.
I tried Moose Drool at the Oregon Brew festival and it's the only beer I have ever spit back out.
re: Vielle Bon Secours
Even though you can get normal versions of this beer, the price in the article must be for the super-magnum bottle, around $75 a pint.
You left out Canada's Greatest Beer! UNIBROUE!
They have the best Belgian style beers, huge Alcohol content and are in the Top Ten Breweries on the Planet! They also have the best names, too; 'La Fin du Monde', 'Maudite', etc.
For shame!
Stone, indeed UNIBROUE is exceptional... And it was in the original draft of this article - got it back now!
Hey,
I think you totally missed the Czech beers, maybe because they are not that strange but rather they taste conservatively. Think of where 'pilsen' beer got its name - in Pilsen, the Czech Republic. Now the original is called Pilsner Urquel, and you could find a lot of vintage posters about it. Btw, Czechs drink the most per person- check official statistics, but it is around 160 liters per person per year.
For a fun beer song, go here:
http://www.tomsmithonline.com/music/dsr0a9d1i0o/index.html
and play song #148
I have had the Pizza Beer (very tasty, spicy and oregano-accented ale) and that Sea Dog Blueberry (best fruit-inspired beer in my recent memory excepting Dogfish Head's Aprihop). I think maybe you want to add Three Floyd's "Dark Lord" to this list. Incredibly tasty, and incredibly hard to come by (only sold one day a year at their brewery in Munster, IN)
http://www.darklordday.com/
Can I disagree with your choices of weird names? I don't think that La Fin du Monde should be in there cause it's called like that because it's one of the strongest beer that Unibroue makes. I really think that there are weirder names.
And in the weirds flavours, you should've add Folie Douce [Sweet Madness] (Les Brasseurs de l'Anse, Canada) wich is a blueberry beer that tastes like muffin or La Carotte du Lièvre [The Hare's Carrot] (from Microbrasserie du Lièvre, Québec, Canada) that really taste like carrot... really weird taste trust me!
perhaps you should add Bionade here cause it is "brewed" like normal beer but is a totally different drink (tasts like icetea but with less sugar)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionade
Wells Banana Bread beer is really really good. You wouldn't think that would work, but it totally does.
They should have added l'alsacienne sans culotte (the girl from alsace with no panties)
http://randoloup.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/als2.jpg
There seems to be some confusion here about the German Beer Purity Law. The 4 allowed ingredients are water, barley malt, hops, and yeast.
Might need to add "Westvleteren" to it, it's not really a beer, but costs a lot, it's brewed by monks and only sold limited once a year.
"Mort Subite" is also a nice name for a beer, it translates to "soon be dead".
Also the "Lindemans kriek", you put 3 pictures up of different brands, none of them is "Lindemans".
The one you posted, "Bellevue" is a bit more bitter than the very sweet "Lindemans".
PS: Yes, I'm Belgian lol
Arrogant Bastard Ale is horrible...i should have listened to the disclaimer on the bottle stating that I "probably would not like it."
delirium tremens
(pink elephants included)
and yes, belgian too :)
Ohh I could go for a couple of Krieks right now ... delicious!
(of course Belgian too..) DOe maar een Duveltje erbij ;)
Polish Karmi has also beer with coffee flavour, it's very tasty, but I'd rather name it cold drink which tastes a little like a beer :)
The Japanese are not the only ones to have (or have had)a beer made for children. When I was a kid my family lived in Germany (Koblens and just outside Munchen) and I remember drinking a product called "Kinderbier" ("Kid's Beer"). This was in the early to mid 1970s and I was just a youngster.
I presume it was non-alcoholic.
Do milk stouts count as bilk?
Moloko Stout (another 3 Floyd's beer) = DELICIOUS
For me, Taster´s Choice is comprised of the eight most popular brews from World´s Best Beers Tasting Sessions conducted over the past 10 years. It is the perfect mixed case for entertaining and makes the world´s best gift.
Luis
On the odd names front, Robinson's brewery in Stockport, England produce a beer called Old Tom, which has a picture of a tomcat on it, taken from a doodle in the original brewer's recipe book. It's an 8.5% dark winter ale (like alcoholic treacle, basically) and has won many an award.
http://www.frederic-robinson.co.uk/beers/oldtombottled.html
(and yes, I'm from Stockport and yes, I drink it...hic)
@Pieter-Jan: Westvleteren is not really a beer? And you're Belgian? Don't they put you in prison for saying something like that?
It is brewed all year round, but can only be bought at the gate of the monastery. Although I did pay 10 euros for a glass once in Amsterdam. Worth it.
I Think you need to include the wyre piddle brewery (Worcestershire, UK)in the strange names section. Some of the ales include- Piddle in the Wind, Piddle in the Hole and the lastest offering- Rip Van Piddle.
I should probably add that Piddle means to urinate in England!
Stone Brewery's "Arrogant Bastard" is reasonably good, with a strong start. In San Diego, its also easy to get, being available at most grocery stores. I personally prefer the "Double Bastard", as it has a smoother start and isnt as aggressive a flavor as its solitary cousin.
No comment for Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the World's strongest Beer at 55%
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-07/22/world's-strongest-beer-brewed-in-scotland
Apparently "Fin du Monde" (end of the world) got its name when the Unibroue marketers were wondering what to call their newest concoction. They thought and thought and were getting a bit frustrated, when one of them said, "Come on, this isn't the end of the world or anything"...
and the rest is history. I love Unibroue, and living in Quebec it's very easy to get. Too bad it was bought out by Sapporo and is no longer a local brand!
You want a serious beer - Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32%
You can buy it for 35 quid for a 330 ml bottle!
http://www.brewdog.com/tactical_nuclear_penguin.php
and what about Czech beers? one of tha best in the world, specially this from small not corporate brewery...
Awesome work! enjoy the feeling when reading. thanks for sharing.
One for the 'odd names' section - or at least odd concepts - was Hickory Switch Porter. A somewhat NSFP (not safe for prudes) beer with a dash of SM culture . . .
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13391/37517
I recently tried out a Belgian beer called Chimay (blue), it was marvelous! It’s a dark Trappist beer with a firm brown foam. It tastes quite dry with a hint of caramel. I ordered it from The House of Belgium for only €13,40.
Highly recommended, cheers!
http://www.thehouseofbelgium.com/chimay-trappist-blauw-8-x-33cl.html
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