Beer Brewing and Taxidermy, Together at Last!

[Segoris]

Link to the beer known as "The End of History"

Basically, Brewdog was selling a 55% alcohol beer, served in a piece of roadkill, for $750 USD, or 500 pounds. 12 bottles, all are sold out already. I've drank a lot of beer, but I don't think I could hold up a squirrel to my mouth (pic in spoiler below will show what I mean), granted this specific brew isn't meant to be enjoyed as a normal bottled beer would be.

For the people around here brewing, have you ever seen anything like this for crazy ass packaging, or what are some other really crazy ways of packaging beyond shock graphics? They even went as far as putting the animals in outfits (I want a squirrel in a kilt and top hat )

For the animal rights people, since it was mentioned in the article, do you find this offensive? The animals (roadkill) were already dead of natural causes, I don't get how people would have a complaint about how this mistreats animals (beyond that of regular taxidermy). In my mind, it would be one thing if they killed them for the purpose of bottling, but to use animals that have lived their lives and died naturally, it doesn't seem wrong to me....just really, REALLY, weird. Perhaps my moral compass is off or something, I don't know.



Found a pic with the top hat!

Edit:

Found pic of the one in the top hate as well as one with the kilt

[RhyssaFireheart]

 

That's just... no.  Just no.

[Pennilenko]

Awesome in the most twisted way imaginable.

[Teleku]

Hahaha, yeah, I was just reading that article.  I love Brew Dog, they're one of the few new European breweries trying to emulate the American craft brew movement in Europe.  They make great beer.

This is pretty fucking strange though.  If anything, I'm trying to figure out if they made some miracle break through in getting beer up to 55%.  The previous record was set by Sam Adams Utopias at 27%.  It was legitimately beer (in all the ingredients and the way its made, though I think he had to use Champagne yeast).  I'm betting this isn't technically beer, and they had to cheat somehow.

[NowhereMan]

I know that their atomic penguin was higher than that, quickly overcome by some German brewery and then they released an even higher one called Sink the Bismark. I believe it's technically beer since it isn't traditionally distilled, it's brewed and then frozen to get alcohol out or something. They do have an explanation on their site, sounds like this one might be an even stronger. The roadkill is just a publicity stunt, since the animals weren't killed for the purposes of bottling I guess it's not too awful but I can see why it would make animal rights campaigners uncomfortable. It's only worse than regular taxidermy in the sense that it's far more public and is clearly a stunt being done for some shock/novelty value. People immediately find that questionable I guess because the animals are being treated as ends towards profits and getting attention. They'd see it I guess as encouraging an attitude towards animals as just being there for our amusement and convenience even if there's nothing wrong with what they've done per se.

[Sky]

"Using shock tactics to get attention is terribly out of date, especially when this involves exploiting or degrading animals.

"The modern approach is to celebrate the wonders of animals and respect them as individual sentient creatures. I'm sure this would have much greater appeal with the animal-loving public.

It's a bit odd, but are we really worried about degrading squirrels? I love animals, and I don't have a problem with it, other than it's a silly marketing stunt for an odd product. I've wanted to try the Sam brew that Teleku mentions, but the high % stuff Brew Dog is doing just seems bizarre.

I've known a couple taxidermists, so I might be biased. My fiancee thinks I'm kidding when I say I want to stuff Bart when he dies. I'm only kidding about killing him early to stuff him in his prime  

[Sky]

I believe it's technically beer since it isn't traditionally distilled, it's brewed and then frozen to get alcohol out or something.

This ice beer thing needs to be redefined as distilling. It's just a different way of distilling the alcohol, because it's quite literally a definition of distillation.

[Samwise]

I vote for calling it "beerjack", since it has the same relation to beer as applejack does to apple cider.

[Teleku]

I believe it's technically beer since it isn't traditionally distilled, it's brewed and then frozen to get alcohol out or something.

This ice beer thing needs to be redefined as distilling. It's just a different way of distilling the alcohol, because it's quite literally a definition of distillation.

Yeah, using the ice method is one of those "cheating" methods I mentioned.  Basically, you drop the beer to a temperate range below freezing.  Some of the water in the beer freezes, while the alcohol doesn't (since it has a lower freezing point).  So then you filter out the ice from the non frozen material, and now you suddenly have a much more alcoholic beer.  This is the same method "Natty Ice" and all those other ice beers use.  

Brew dog and several others have set records for beer using this method, but to my knowledge (which could be completely outdated, I haven't been keeping up) Utopias is still has the record for highest percent beer brewed using standard methods.

[Mrbloodworth]

Strangely, this reminds me of that lady that did "art" with cat parts.

[Typhon]

I hate squirrels - arboreal rats.  But this just seems wrong.  I have to say though, once you see the squirrel with the top hat, there is a bit of demented artistry added to the horrible wrongness.

[Dren]

I'm a homebrewer.  I've never heard of any yeasts that can withstand higher than mid-20's % alcohol.  Plus, that yeast is not a great example of beer producing yeasts, just well known for cranking up the alcohol to crazy levels.

To reach that level, they basically distilled it, which is essentially how bourbon (whisky) is made.  Concentrated beer.

The packaging part is not really worth commenting on. 

[Sky]

Plus, that yeast is not a great example of beer producing yeasts, just well known for cranking up the alcohol to crazy levels.

We've got one really cool little shop in town (srsly, one). It sells all kinds of cool things, used to specialize in beer. Now he still has a decent stock, but it's way down from the rows he used to get. Anyway, I remember going in as a kid and asking him what had the highest alcohol content. To his credit, he tried to convince me to buy the best tasting beer.

Now we laugh about it. I can't even stand the taste of Imperial beers, once you get up around 9% it's just too alcoholy for my tastes. I've come around to his way of thinking - drink good beer and if you need (for whatever stupid reason) to get smashed, drink cheap shots of vodka or something. Better yet, just enjoy the beer and also enjoy watching other people getting smashed and provide you free entertainment. Drunk people are entertaining to not-drunk people.

[Teleku]

I love a lot of the Imperial beers for the taste, not the alcohol.  Hell, a lot of the good ones hide the alcohol flavor very well, so that I can't taste anymore alcohol in it than I can in a 5%.

[Minvaren]

I'm a homebrewer.  I've never heard of any yeasts that can withstand higher than mid-20's % alcohol.

Hey, another homebrewer!   

Now we laugh about it. I can't even stand the taste of Imperial beers, once you get up around 9% it's just too alcoholy for my tastes.

Takes a good hops/malt balance to balance the "heat" on those.  The average barleywine (mmmm barleywine) has so many IBUs that it'd mask about anything, many Imperials are the same.

[Teleku]

Oh, and yes, I home brew as well!

Though I'm kind of shitty at it.  Nothing ever seems to come out quite right, though we'll see how my attempt at a Vanilla stout turns out when I bottle it tonight..

[Minvaren]

We have three! .... but what doesn't come out right?

Bottling a Brown Ale tonight myself.  Hooray for swingtops making that part faster.   

[Sky]

Slack is a homebrewer, too. I will be as soon as I can swing a startup kit, we had a place open up here in town. I keep forgetting to head down there and introduce myself. I'd like to bottle a couple badgers of homebrew.

[CmdrSlack]

I am pretty sure that Utopias also uses a faux distillation method, and not 100% standard brewing methods.

[Teleku]

We have three! .... but what doesn't come out right?

Bottling a Brown Ale tonight myself.  Hooray for swingtops making that part faster.   

Eh, there's just something that piss's me off every batch.  I'm always trying for some certain style, and always seem to miss.  I think one the biggest things is mouth feel.  My beers seem to come out a bit to watery sometimes, and I don't know why...  I bottled my vanilla stout tonight, and I seem to have hit the combination of Vanilla and Dry Irish Stout flavor I was aiming for.  However, it seemed a bit watery again, though its not carbonated yet, so maybe it will be fine after aging 2 weeks.

It's been two weeks since I bottled my attempt at a Belgian Dubel, and I tried a bottle tonight.  The Color is Perfect.  The smell is perfect (has a nice fruity smell to it).  Very nice head retention.  But the taste is kind of bland.....  Blah.  Hopefully if it just ages longer (as I've seen recommended for this style) it might turn out better, but the flavor of it seems bit a weak.  I used a ton of grains and malt extract (and a pound of Belgian Candied Sugar), though the recipe said the OG should have been around 1080, while my readings said it was at about 1065.  So I knew to be kind of worried from the start, but I'm not sure why I hit so much lower considering the amount of fermentables I was using.  Mouth feel is OK on this one, but the flavor seems kind of bland from beginning to end.

All the beers I've made have certainly been drinkable, and I've gotten compliments on them.  But I want to make a beer that, when I drink it, taste like it could be coming out of a commercial bottle.  And I just don't think anything I've made taste like that yet.  Always seems to have some flaw that bugs me.

[CmdrSlack]

Use carapils as an adjunct grain. It is mouthfeel ++

[Minvaren]

Seconded on the carapils for mouthfeel.  And accurate water volumes was the biggest thing towards me hitting gravities and desired tastes/feels.  I kept a couple pounds of dry extract around until I got that right.

I've only recently started getting into the darker and heavier beers, as I've focused on wheat and fruit beers to this point.  There's a complexity to them that's not present in the lighter stuff, both in preparation and in final product.  So be patient on them.  My Brown Ale is on v4 right now with probably 1-2 more tweaks to go until I'm satisfied. 

[sickrubik]

On the topic of distilling vs brewing.

It's still a beer since it was originally brewed as a beer, but then is distilled. It's nothing new, as this is exactly how Eisbocks are created.

Also, Brewdog are a bunch of crazy Scots.

[Sky]

So in your book Smirnoff Ice is beer, as are those malted beverages that pretend to be wine?

If it's distilled, it's a distilled spirit. I don't think the base matters as much as the distillation.

[sickrubik]

Countering that, are you saying Eisbock is not a beer?

It's one of those things that tends to cross over, but there's no real reason to exclude Brewdog's craziness because of distillation when we've considering Eisbocks beers for... a long time.

[Samwise]

Countering that, are you saying Eisbock is not a beer?

I've never had one, but Wikipedia tells me that it's a doppelbock which has been freeze-distilled, correct? 

I would say that's not quite a beer; if you start with beer, and then you pull water out of it to make it stronger, I would say you now have something other than beer.  If you distill cider to make schnapps or applejack, you do not call the end product "cider".

[hal]

Another homebrewer chiming in. On the subject of ice beer it was considered illegal prior to 9/11 and pursued by AT&F. But they no longer care about it so on the federal level its leagal for homebrewers. BASIC Brewing Video did a session on it. Of course state and local laws may vary and not all states allow homebrewing any way. You cant use any yeast that I am aware of beyond 20ish percent.

[Sky]

we've considering Eisbocks beers for... a long time.

Pluto was a planet. 

[sickrubik]

Countering that, are you saying Eisbock is not a beer?

I've never had one, but Wikipedia tells me that it's a doppelbock which has been freeze-distilled, correct?  

I would say that's not quite a beer; if you start with beer, and then you pull water out of it to make it stronger, I would say you now have something other than beer.  If you distill cider to make schnapps or applejack, you do not call the end product "cider".

Yes, that is exactly what an Eisbock is. And it's not even remotely new. It was, like IPA, an accidental style. Casks of Doublebocks would partially freeze, and the workers would scrap/pull the ice off the top, thereby concentrating the batch.

Really, my point is simple. Brewdog experiments, including this one with partial freeze fermentation, a standard for hundreds of years for Eisbocks. If we're really going to reclassify beer styles, we could then start arguing how Lambics should REALLY be a wine because of the fermented fruit.

I just see zero reason to say it's not a beer when it's simply utilizing something we've long had as a standard style already.

It's a fine point, as if you want to do stuff like this stateside, you need a distillery license anyway. I'm not arguing it's not a distilled alcohol, just that I think it's a little silly to try to force it into the spirits category.

That being said, you should give the Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock a shot. VERY good beer.

[Dren]

The batches I've done that come out too "watery" are always too light on FG.  If my beers get below 1.008, they feel that way.  I've been using adjunct like Carapils (suggested already,) and others to get a better balance.  Oat malt is another one I like to play with.  Flaked oats even in a pale ale is quite nice too.  Adds a smooth mouthfeel that isn't just for stouts in my book.

I am mashing at a higher temperature these days too.  That forces your fermentation to finish higher too.

I switched to kegging about a year ago now.  I get better results for carbonation levels and I don't have to wait 2-3 more weeks after fermentation.  Never looking back. ;)  4 ales on tap as we speak! (Pale ale, wheat, sweet stout, and double IPA.)