Of all the most amazing things ever invented, beer is most definitely in our Top 3 (along with women and the iPad). While we’ve dabbled in beers that have hovered around 10% alcohol by volume, those brews are like sipping O’Doul’s compared the world’s strongest beers:
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
Brewery: Dogfish Head
Location: USA
ABV: 20%
Price: $7/Bottle (12oz)
Maybe you’ve handled Dogfish Head’s 60 minute IPA or their 90 minute version but the 120 is like stepping into the ring with Mike Tyson, and not the 80’s boxing champ Mike Tyson, the 2011 bat-shit crazy Iron Mike. A couple of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA’s and you may wake up with a facial tattoo as well. Unlike the other beers on this list, this double IPA is a little more readily available and something you could actually get your hands on. It pours slowly due to its thickness much like a creamy stout and is surprisingly smooth for something so strong.
Turns out Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA is actually closer to 18% ABV and the brewery does offer other beers at similar levels. We apologize for the mistake! Thanks Barry
Sam Adams Utopias
Brewery: Sam Adams
Location: USA
ABV: 27%
Price: $150/Bottle
Many aficionados may debate whether many of the other beers on this list are in fact “beers” since they gain their insane alcohol levels through freeze distillation (a process where the liquid is frozen and then ice crystals are removed), well for the sticklers Sam Adams offers Utopias. Like the name suggests, this beer will leave you in paradise (if paradise is in bed with a throbbing headache). It’s much easier to over do it with the surprisingly drinkable Utopias. After aging in casks for almost a decade the taste is both sweet and oaky and, unlike a lot of the 40%+ options, not thick like old engine oil.
Sink The Bismarck
Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Scotland
ABV: 41%
Price: $100/Bottle
This quadruple IPA resembles some kind of sweet soup and was crafted as part of another brewski battle BrewDog got into. The name of the beer, an obvious reference to the sinking of the German battleship, was chosen because at the time it was produced it knocked off a German beer as the world’s strongest. A Berlin lab claims the brew only clocks in at 29% alcohol by volume however, using our basic knowledge of remedial geography, we take these reports with a grain of salt since Berlin is in fact in Germany.
Schorschbock
Brewery: Schorschbrau
Location: Germany
ABV: 43%
Price: $155/Bottle
The second Schorschbock created in the battle with BrewDog (the first being the 40% version that Sink The Bismarck, well, sank), this Eisbock boasts intense fruit notes and enough alcohol to knock Shaquille O’Neal on his ass.
End of History
Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Scotland
ABV: 55%
Price: $760/Bottle
Sure, you could start describing BrewDog’s End of History by mentioning its strong whiskey taste and subtle hints of juniper berry but that would be like starting your description of Denise Milani with her beautiful smile. The first thing you’d notice about End of History is that it’s served in a bottle tucked inside a dead animal. Yup, a roadkill koozie. Named after the work of philosopher Francis Fukuyama, End of History held the title of world’s strongest beer for one week.
Start the Future
Brewery: ‘t Koelschip
Location: Holland
ABV: 60%
Price: $45/Bottle
Currently the world’s strongest beer after taking the title from the aforementioned End of History, Start the Future not surprisingly has to be sipped cautiously – at 120 proof it may burn off your larynx. You’re talking absinthe levels here. While never confirmed, rumors have swirled that ‘t Koelschip added whiskey to this jet engine fuel to take the title away from BrewDog.
