New strongest beer in the world

Brewdog of the United States of Scotland have claimed the world’s strongest beer with Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32% ABV.

This is very cool and great.

They have brewed a beer to 10% and then frozen and removed the water in it to concentrate the alcohol.

This is novel and radical.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_distillation

I am planning my assault on the title of worlds strongest beer with an ingenious system for increasing the ABV. I’m going to heat the beer to 77.8oC until the alcohol evaporates. Then I’m going to catch the extra strong beer by cooling the vapour down. Just like freeze distillation it’s a new and totally legitimate way of brewing the world's strongest beer. I am considering maturing my extra strong beer in an oak cask for around 8 years. Haven't thought of a name for it yet. Any suggestions?

Of the 329 days so far this year there have only been 10 days where I haven’t been in the brewery. While I love my brewery, being there for most of the day every day does lose its lustre after a while. In a week’s time not only am I going to have 3 whole days not at the brewery but these days are going to be in Belgium. I shall be enjoying good company, good food and most importantly great beer. So that I don't suffer complete brewery cold turkey I intend to spend some of my time in Belgium in breweries. On my tentative itinerary are Cantillon, Regenboog and Struise. Firmly on my itinerary are ‘t Brugs Beertje, Bier Circus and Den Dijver.

With impeccable timing my 2nd Brewer has come to work with a stinking cold. Despite eating almost all the Echinacea available in the UK and getting through a whole bottle of First Defence© per day I am now waiting for a cold to develop and rip my heart out.

Christmas Excitement

I’m getting excited about the flavour panel Christmas tasting. Every year I do a tutored tasting for the panel of a few of my favourite beers. I explain the technical aspects of how the beer is made and how this shapes how the beer tastes. This year I have added an extra twist to the tasting by choosing pairs of beers with similar characteristics/ABV from Belgium and USA.

The idea is not really to decide which brewing nation is the greatest but to illustrate the differences in attitude between the two. I’m sure however that panelists' preferences will come out on the night! The primary reason for the tasting of course is to educate the palate of the tasters. I have only ordered enough beer for tasting on day. Most of the bottles have already arrived at the brewery so I am trying desperately to resist the temptation to sample a few before event.

The beers are as follows, some are a fairer comparison than others:

Abbye de Rocs Blanche de Honelles Vs Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Orval Vs Goose Island Pere Jaques
Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux Vs Odell St Lupulin
Morgaat Maredsous Tripel Vs Flying Dog Kerberos Triple
Struise Pannepot Vs Stone Double Bastard
Bush 12 Vs Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

I’ll update the blog with the findings of the tasting after the event. If I can remember that is.

A good reason to enjoy a beer tonight

9000 and Counting

This morning’s brew was the 9000th since the brewery was set up and the 5946th since I was installed as Head Brewer. I have just calculated that we’ve made 122 million pints since the brewery was set up. 108 million of those made while I have been Head Brewer. By the end of today they’ll be 86,400 more in the bag. But always in brewing it’s the next brew that counts!