There are wine snobs who look down on beer drinkers; it almost makes me wonder what they have to say about “extreme beer” now. There have been some camera stabilizers buzz and my other, or rather, better half, would like to air his pet wheelchairs piece on his 2nd guest post here on the new “Jimmy Talks…” section. So, microdermabrasion machines extreme beers, should you give it a go? We have here two frozen yogurt machines companies introducing brews with approximately 30 percent alcohol content. The big question is, are they any good? What good is higher alcohol content if they taste like piss? Pardon the bluntness but that’s how we’d say it if we we’re shooting the breeze down at our favorite bars right? It’s been a huge week for followers of novelty, high-alcohol-content brews. A few days ago, Boston Beer Co. (the brewers behind Sam Adams) started offering its latest Utopias beer, with an eye-watering 27 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), and over the extended weekend, a Scottish brewery named BrewDog broadcasted that it had made the “world’s strongest” brew. Named the Tactical Nuclear Penguin, it supposedly has an even more outrageous 32 percent ABV. (The label directs drinkers to partake of it in “small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance.”) Far from being the original such frozenyogurtfranchise.org creations, these are just the most recent of a number of “extreme beers” that have hit the steadicam markets in recent years–for an inventory of others, check this rundown on Asylum. But if you’re anything like me—and you enjoy your snore mouthpiece beer in a pint glass and, well, easily drinkable—you might also be sylvan microdermabrasion machines speculating why anyone would trouble. So we got in touch with Brooks Hamaker, former vice-president of Abita Brewing Co., brew-master, food writer, beer authority and member of our Kitchen Cabinet, to inquire about the unexpected charm of hyper-alcoholic beers, how they’re prepared, and the reason alcohol-content rules keep small brewers down. First of all: Why are brewers producing these exceedingly extreme beers? When you acquire the price point they’re striking—Utopias retail for $150 a bottle–it’s really more for beer aficionados. The brewers are only going to make so many of these. In Boston Beer Co.’s instance, it comes in a very peculiar bottle and the whole presentation is very limited. At a certain point, with a certain alcohol content, you’ve got a lot more essence and a lot more complexity, and people are willing to pay more cash for that kind of glidegear entity. They’re not the kind of snoring mouthguard brews where you’re going to knock back five or six at a time. It’s the kind of thing where, if somebody buys a frozen yogurt machines bottle, they’re buying that to share, and you’re likely to drink it out of a frozen yogurt machine sherry snifter. At that point—with that much alcohol content—are they even beers? In principle, yes. Anything that’s made from barley, malt, hops, water and yeast is beer. Does it act and behave similar to beer? No, because no one can’t carbonate something that’s 32 percent  alcohol, or at least not properly or not well. It’s got too much sugar content, so it won’t hold on to the carbonation very well. Do they actually taste good? Many of them are really quite good. The super high-alcohol varieties have a tendency to be very sweet because there’s still a ton of remaining sugar in them. They can have a moderately hoppy temperament. They’re very heavy on the tongue, and substantial in terms in body. There are also many of beers that have come into view in the last four to five years that have to some extent elevated 8-12 percent camcorder stabilizer alcohol content that are delicious. The one that dog wheelchair stands out to me is Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. It’s a really well balanced frozen yogurt beer. How are these extreme beers made? It’s a pretty uncomplicated sylvan microdermabrasion process. It’s the same as making standard beer, apart from the fact that you use a lot more barley at an elevated concentration, so you’re raising the original gravity (or mass) of the  beer. Then you locate some yeast that’s highly alcohol-tolerant (most beer yeast can only stand 7 percent alcohol), and pitch the beer numerous times. It also takes a lot longer to make. Excuse me for being skeptical, but aren’t they also for the most part promotional stunts? Boston Beer Co. can use it as a media hype, because they can afford to, but a lot of minor breweries are doing it for their own personal  reasons—because they can’t effortlessly market a $150 bottle. The newest Utopias beer is prohibited in 13 states because of its high alcohol content. What is your opinion on some states’ bans on high-alcohol beers? I think it’s utterly ridiculous. Removing a ban opens up an locale to lots of non-mainstream dogwheelchaircenter beers and breweries, which can spell trouble for larger brands, so it’s chiefly tied to camerastabilizer.org wholesalers and market share. Even the states that don’t have dermabrasion machine bans have different label laws, which is a problem for minor brewers—because putting out multiple microderm machine labels is expensive. So these alcohol content laws keep small brewers out of these states? That, joined with transport issues. Shipping beer costs so much because you can only put so much beer on an 18-wheeler. But, then again, many of these craft brewers still sell most of their beer near their brewery—plus a large amount of these products aren’t pasteurized so they don’t keep very well. One of the advantages of a high-alcohol-content beer is that it keeps very well—and in numerous cases, gets better and better with  time. Extreme beers aren’t just a thing here in the United States. It has made its way across the  pond with names like Punk IPA, Speed Ball, and O8, a new generation of fuller-flavored ales–part of what has been called the “extreme beer” movement, pushing back the boundaries of Britain’s national drink. The thing to remember with extreme beer as the term’s coiner Jim Koch explains, is that we shouldn’t confuse “extreme” with “strong.” “Extreme is bringing something new to the brewing process. It’s like creating a whole new genre of music, as opposed to just playing the same music louder.”




