A tiny brewery based in a 200-year-old farm building has created the world’s strongest beer – more potent than absinthe.
Armageddon, produced by the tiny Brewmeister Brewery in Aberdeenshire, is an eye-watering 65% Abv, twelve times more potent than standard beers.
The potent brew, made by a special freeze fermentation method to remove as much water from the mix as possible, will be launched at the Inverness Beer Festival on November 3, in single-serving 35ml bottles.
A pint of Armageddon would contain a potentially lethal 37 units of alcohol – twice the recommended weekly intake for a man – and would cost £81.
Co-owners Lewis Shand and pal John McKenzie, both 26, said their brew is so strong it should be sipped like a brandy.
Lewis said: “We just wanted to do something different and we decided to make a beer that you wouldn’t drink in normal pint-size amounts.
“We advise that people drink it like a brandy as it’s quite thick and slightly sweet – it’s almost like liquor.
“We had some beer experts actually try the beer and they all gave us positive feedback.
“They said it would be nice drink for a change, because lots of people drink half pints and have a spirit with it, but now they can just have our strong beer with their normal pint.
“We’ve had lots of enquiries into buying the beer, some from Glasgow, Inverness and even America – but the problem is that it takes so long to make we’re in short supply already.”
Armageddon is Brewmeister’s first foray into the on-going battle between rival breweries to make the strongest beer in the world.
Brewdog triggered the fight with their 32% ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguin’, but that was soon topped by German-based Schorsbrau, which released ‘Schorschbock’ at 40% – only for Brewdog to take the crown back off them with ‘Sink the Bismarck’ at 41%.
A Dutch brewery came out tops with their 60% ‘Refridgerated Ship.’
Lewis, who is a law graduate from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, admitted making such a high strength of beer was a hard process.
He said: “It takes about five weeks to make as it has to go through special freezing processes, where the water has to be removed.
“Because water freezes at higher temperatures than beer, we can remove the frozen water from the beer each time it’s filtered.”
Brewmeister, who use 100% Scottish spring water in their beers, have already had success with their 4% Deeside Pale Ale beer which they claim is a favourite with Prince Charles.
Lewis said: “We started off by making normal beers around the 4% mark and we even had an order from a member of the Royal Family for our Deeside Pale Ale beer.
“We think it might have been Prince Charles as we delivered it to Balmoral while he was staying there and we know he likes to buy local produce.”
