Question about beer with higher alcohol volume
 

Beer get stronger in GA

now....I've never in my life had any beer stronger than Icehouse which is 5.7X (cant remember exactly what the percent is)

Can anyone tell me what kinds of beers we might expect to be seeing now....and how something as strong as 14% would taste?

You'll see alot of european (mainly central and eastern) beers, which taste pretty much like normal beers, but get you drunk much quicker.

Thats if anyone imports them.

A lot of Belgian beers are very strong and are sold as single bottles that look like small champagne bottles, even down to the cork. Believe me, one is all you will want, so the heavier alcohol content is not that important. There are some ales from Scotland that make Guiness look like Coors Lite. These beers are strong in flavor and are very costly and are certainly an aquired taste.

They are not a good way to get drunk faster or cheaper. Cheap beer and cheap whiskey are better ways to get there. That is why I have never understood the ban. After all, distilled spirits and some wines are a whole lot stronger.

Hopefully you'll get the chance to try a lot of great stuff from Germany and Belgium.

There are some pretty "normal" tasting strong lagers. Something like Carlsberg Elephant Beer has a pretty conventional taste.

On the other end of the scale, there are things like Belgian trappist ales (www.chimay.com) that are nearly as strong as wine and taste VERY different to what you might be used to - rich and heavy. Often really good, but not the kind of thing you'd be able to drink in the backyard on a hot summer afternoon.

I always assumed it had to do with the relative accessibility of beer versus other things. Wine and spirits are generally not available in convenience stores. You (in many places, including Georgia) have to go to a special store for those, where it can be more easily controlled and managed. This new law doesn't change that, as the new category of beer will only be available in bars, not at retail establishments.

There are a few good ones out there. In the Netherlands there is teh Canon roughly 11% (wonder where it got it's name from). In Belgian there are several going up from 8/9% (Bush Beer 12%, Delirium Tremens 9%?, Grimbergen 8%) and many many more.

I am lucky I have a Belgian beer bar round the corner. 150 beers in total (there are bars with more), and yes I tried them all over the past decade.

Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Well as long as you're not in a dry county here, you can buy Wine in any grocery store or convenience store....its liquor you have to go to the liquor store for

There's a beer from Quebec called 'Le Fin de Monde' which translates to 'The End of the World'.

This beer is 9%, its a little strong tasting for my tastes, but is drinkable.

Duvel comes to mind...


there's a couple peach ones and a strawberry one, a raspberry one... mmmm.

those are yummy memories.

oh and very pricey can be up to $15/bottle YMMV, thre are a couple places here in NYC that serve some wonderful beers.

this is a list of the strongest beers in the world. Most of them will exceed 14% ABV.
http://beeradvocate.com/top_beers.php?id=abv

As people have pointed out there are a lot of belgian beers that have high alcohol. Another style of beer that typically has high alcohol content is the Imperial Stout. These are generally very rich in flavor and the high alcohol content isn't really noticable. However, because they are so rich in flavor they are very heavy and you really can't, or shouldn't, drink more than a few.

A lot of the big, high alcohol beers are too much for people. They have to have a lot of flavor to overcome the alcohol taste. If you're looking to try one of these higher ABV beers start with a belgian like Chimay or Duvel. Neither one is out of control in regards to ABV and both of them taste wonderful.

Wow, and the strongest I've had was Canadian Triple Black at 7%. I suppose I'll have to try some of those once I hit 21 and can buy them for myself.

yes, to echo some of what has already been said--the wonderful world of belgian beers in particular now becomes open--many of my absolute favorite beers are trappist--i have a particular fondness for achel--but it is quite strong---the deceptive thing about it--and this is unlike many of the strong beers like delerium tremens--is that the flavors are complex and interesting (and lovely in my opinion) but the beer does not taste particularly strong (i think achel is around 9%)---eating before/during is a good idea--you wont realize how trashed you are getting in some cases until you try to navigate the path to the bathroom. the really strong beers often taste to me like a depth charge or something---since i feel a little old to do the "dressed up to get messed up" thing directly, i stick to my pals from the trappist monastaries, who let me pretend that i am doing something quite other. with that fig leaf (too often) firmly in place, i can sail into a situation that comes to the same thing more or less exactly.

btw most belgian beers do not leave you with anything like the hangovers you get from crappier beers. given how the first encounters with beglian beers went for me--until i figured out how to interact with them---this fact came as no small solace.

Thanks for all your comments!!! I cant wait to see what the resturants decide to make available to us. Hopefully I will be able to try some of your recommendations. :)

sierra nevada bigfoot ale (9.6%) - acquired taste but I dare ya to get through a 6 pack! hehe


Sam Adams Triple Bock (17.5%) - technically a beer, but when you drink it, it seems more like a cognac. Interesting either way.

Those are 2 of my fav high powered brews. Otherwise I stick with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Bass or Magic Hats. :cool:

Sam Adams Utopias
http://www.liquorama.net/ProductImages/utopia.jpg
24% alcohol, 24oz. for $250.00, if you can find it.

right now, in upstate new york (binghamton) we can purchase molson XXX. it is 7.4% and it packs a wallop without tasting winey like the belgium beers do.

personally, i don't think it is a good idea to allow these beers, especially when they don't taste like they pack a punch. it allows people to drink more because they don't feel full while bascially doubling the amount of alcohol that can get processed by ones body.

until the united states starts really hammering drunk drivers with pulling a license for the first violation and refusing for the second violation involving alcohol, these types of beers are dangerous.

Look around for Celebrator (Green bottle with a little white plastic goat on a string on the neck). It a very good double boch.

You'll find that many of the higher alcohol brews are dark. When I used to drink... man.... I still love the smell of a good scotch ale like McEwans.

My favorite is Duvel !!!!
http://www.duvel.be/

Second best is Trappist de Rochefort 10

Hmm...higher alcohol content...now we just have to ditch our damn blue laws...It really sucks when you run out of beer on a Sunday in Georgia...

I'm moving to Georgia.

i'd much rather be able to buy alcohol on sundays than be able to buy stronger beers at restaurants and gas stations.

good thing it's tuesday... this thread is making me thirsty. :)

Le Fin de Monde is one of the best beers I have ever had and I hope we will be able to get it here. I have seen it in bars in Dallas but it is best enjoyed on a cold winter day by the fire in the bar at the Frontenac in Quebec. The company that makes it makes several others and they also recomend what glass shape is best for each of their brews. The should get together with the Reidel people.

By the way, ShaniFaye, we do have to go liquor stores for distilled drinks, but not for wine which is widely available. At least our liquor stores are not state owned like in some Southeastern states. The nearest grocery store to my house has both sides of an entire aisle dedicated to wine (it really is a good grocery store selection). I love to travel back West where you can get a bottle of Johnny Walker at Ralphs.

I know that most of the Kroger grocery stores here (in Gwinnett County at least) have just as big a wine section as the liquor stores do.

are you saying steel reserve (2-11) was not served in Georgia because it was higher than 6%? that sucks if its true
i love having $1 deucers with 8.1%

You would be correct....until Thursday that is!!! :)

For those mentioning Canadian beers, don't forget to do the ABV/ABW conversions. But yeah, I'm a huge fan of Imperial Stout's myself. AFAIK for the most part the lowest ABV % you'll see in a good Imperial Stout is around 8%. My favorite, which is brewed here in San Diego by Stone Brewery, comes in at 9.47%.

???, There was a limit on the content of beer? I dont think we have that here in California, I know that Sierra Nevada sells the 9.6% BigFoot Ale, and I think quite a few more are around 8 percent or so.

Here's some Belgium Beers -

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/viedit/beer.jpg

The Pirrat is a very...bubbly...brew. Light it color. Light in texture. Sort of tastes like cough syrup though. It's 10.5%.

The St. Bernardus is a Quadruple Malt Abbey ale. The brew of Royalty. It's a darker brown ale that is light in texture but heavy in flavor. Quite strong and hits hard. It's about 10% in content.

These aren't your typical bud light/miller lite that you sit and hammer one after another. You nurse a bottle of this stuff over the course of a night and you are half tanked before you know it. Very easy to drink and sneaks up on you.

I never understood the Georgia ban, but then again, I don't understand most of the BS laws Georgia has in effect. These brews have more flavor and cost more money than most underage drinkers are wanting. Even if they were legal before - you'd still see busch light and bud light at the high school drinking parties as beers of choice.

If you are looking for something different - give a monk tripple or quad malt a chance.