Those cheeky chaps at the Scottish craft brewers BrewDog have done it again. Not content with annoying the health lobby with their 18% ABV Tokyo beer, they have just released a 32% ABV brew under the name Tactical Nuclear Penguin. It beats the previous record of 31% held by German beer brand Schorschbraer. Only 500 bottles of the mighty Penguin will be available with prices starting at £30 for a 330ml bottle.
Tactical Nuclear Penguin, which was named because of the long period of time that it was exposed to arctic-like conditions, began its life as a 10% imperial stout 18 months ago. The beer was aged for 8 months in an Isle of Arran whisky cask and 8 months in an Islay cask. After an intense 16 months the final stages took a ground breaking approach by storing the beer at -20 degrees for three weeks to get it to 32%.
For the big chill, the beer was put into containers and transported to the cold store of a local ice cream factory where it endured 21 days at penguin temperatures. Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water and as the beer got colder BrewDog Chief Engineer, Steven Sutherland decanted the beer periodically. Only ice was left in the container, creating more intensity of flavours and a stronger concentration of alcohol for the next phase of freezing. The process was repeated until it reached 32%.
You can witness the creation of Tactical Nuclear Penguin at www.brewdog.com/blog.php – where BrewDog MD James Watt can be seen testing the theory that 90% of heat is lost from the head as he ventures into a -20 degree cold store, which was used to make the beer, wearing only a hat.