Brew Dog’s Sink The Bismark: A STRONG Rivalry

I love me some rivalries.

In the beer world, the rivalry has been far too familiar for far too long. It’s been the behemoth conglomerate breweries like AB InBev, SAB Miller and Molson Coors vs. well, everyone else. The craft brewery world has joined together in a fantastic state of harmony, each pushing their fellow craft brewers for the greater good of the movement. You’re more likely to hear a brewer tell you they let their dog play in their mash ton than hear them say something even slightly pejorative about another craft brewer.

For the greater good.

This all came to a head in the ultimate back-patting I Am A Craft Brewer video.

For the greater good.

Thankfully, craft brewers overseas don’t strive for such harmony.

To bring everyone up to speed, here’s an abbreviated and inaccurate recap:

Brew Dog, the Scottish brewery with a penchant for punk behavior, created the world’s strongest beer at 32%. How did they do it? They froze the water off their imperial stout and drained off the water – I bet somewhere Jim Koch from Sam Adams is looking up the word  ’cheating’ in the dictionary. The called the beer Tactical Nuclear Penguin and created a pretty enjoyable video to explain the process.

Then, the brewery Schorschbräu in Germany raised the proverbial middle finger to Brew Dog and pushed out a beer that was 40% alcohol. In the words of this writer, “That be some strong beer!”. Said one reviewer (who actually tried the beer and is immeasurably more articulate than I), “Starts extremely hot and alcoholic, very, very strong, brings you almost to tears… burning and intense finish, warming aftertaste, I feel it going down through my body.”

Yum?

End of story, right? Fortunately for people who like silly videos where German people are referred to as “Sausage Munchers”, there’s more. Brew Dog came back with a 41% beer named Sink The Bismark and a video that could possibly start a third World War.

Your move, Germany!