Kitsock says that people often wrongly think that extreme beer also means strong beer. Not so. Extreme beers can also be beers made with unorthodox ingredients.* Kitsock writes about several such beers**, but the one that really caught by eye was by the Scottish brewery BrewDog, a brewery that happens to be a new arrival in the Sarasota area.
They brewed an extreme beer called Nanny State, which weighs in at the ultra-low alcohol level of 1.1 percent. I could say that's extreme on its own, but Nanny State is also supposedly so full of hops that it's the most bitter beer out there. You can measure how bitter a beer is by testing it for IBUs.
IBU stands for International Bitterness Unit. The higher the number, the bitterer the beer. Hops make beer bitter. Nanny State's IBU level is 225. For reference, Kitsock writes, "Budweiser measures about 12 IBUs; Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 37; a typical imperial IPA, 75 to 100." I've read that the human palate can't detect anything beyond 90 IBUs, so Nanny State's professed level of 225 IBUs is just a gimmick.
But that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to try it. Too bad it's not sold in the United States.
*See my post about a Dogfish Head beer made with corn moistened in the brewer's mouth.
**He includes Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, a dark beer that's very hoppy and good: I've had it at the Cock & Bull; Brooklyn's Manhattan Project, "a draft-only offering using the same botanicals that go into vermouth and bitters, adding a dash of tart cherry juice and aging the beer in Rittenhouse rye whiskey barrels;" and Otter Creek's Quercus Vitis Humulus, which is "fermented with sauvignon blanc grape juice, fermented with a champagne yeast and aged in French oak."
IBU stands for International Bitterness Unit. The higher the number, the bitterer the beer. Hops make beer bitter. Nanny State's IBU level is 225. For reference, Kitsock writes, "Budweiser measures about 12 IBUs; Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 37; a typical imperial IPA, 75 to 100." I've read that the human palate can't detect anything beyond 90 IBUs, so Nanny State's professed level of 225 IBUs is just a gimmick.
But that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to try it. Too bad it's not sold in the United States.
*See my post about a Dogfish Head beer made with corn moistened in the brewer's mouth.
**He includes Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, a dark beer that's very hoppy and good: I've had it at the Cock & Bull; Brooklyn's Manhattan Project, "a draft-only offering using the same botanicals that go into vermouth and bitters, adding a dash of tart cherry juice and aging the beer in Rittenhouse rye whiskey barrels;" and Otter Creek's Quercus Vitis Humulus, which is "fermented with sauvignon blanc grape juice, fermented with a champagne yeast and aged in French oak."
If I'd realized Nanny State was supposed to be that hoppy, I'd've tried to hunt some down while over there! Have you heard about their Tactical Nuclear Penguin? (32% abv, supposedly strongest on record. Wish I could have picked that one up!)
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