Table Of ContentT
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FROm THE AUTHOR OF THE BREWTAl TRUTH cOlUmn In H
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Decibel mAGAzInE cOmES THE FIRST GUIDE TO THE BEERS B
THAT mERIT BEInG cAllED EXTREmEly EXTREmE R
E
“My own tastes have always run toward the extreme—be it music or craft beer—and I W
have found a lot of like-minded people in both those worlds. I don’t constantly want T
A
everything turned to 11, but bland, boring, and predictable aren’t ever going to cut
it. All of the things that fostered my initial attraction to craft beers—the array of eye- l T GUIDE TO
opening flavors, higher alcohol, variety of styles, and thoughtful creativity—are what
R
led me further to the fringes of craft brewing. Those are extreme beers.” U
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—ADEm TEpEDElEn
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This is the first guide of its type, featuring descriptions and ratings of more than I
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one hundred of the most insane beers in the world—broken down into a handful
E
of specific categories. These are outrageous brews with unusual ingredients,
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ridiculously high alcohol by volume (ABV), bizarre names, and bold and
O
brave flavors. E
Appealing to casual and serious beer drinkers alike, The Brewtal Truth Guide to X
Extreme Beers is designed for the adventurous guy or gal who’s looking for new
T
experiences and a break from the dull, the ho-hum, the accepted norm. The book
is a reference guide, an eye-opener, and a challenge all rolled into one. In addition R
to focusing on some of the most interesting and hardcore beers in the world, it
also features profiles of craft-beer–loving metal musicians and extreme craft beer E
brewers. Each beer profiled receives an “extreme” rating, tasting notes, information AN
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about the beer, its origin story, what makes it extreme, and a musical pairing selected ALL-EXCESS
by the author. Enter with caution. These beers are not at all for the timid. E PASS TO
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Alternative Press, and Guitar World and about beer for All About Beer, Imbibe, EAT, E
Northwest Palate, Seattle Weekly and other publications and websites. He lives in
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British Columbia.
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Cover design by Bret Kerr
Fdrroifntwt ocoovdebre beer.ceor mlab; jeelsst ecorkuinrtgebsyre owfe: r(yto.cpo mle;f ts tcoloncekbwreiswe.)c o m; S ADEm TEpEDElEn
twistedpinebrewing.com
Lyons Press is an imprint of
Globe Pequot Press
Guilford, Connecticut lyOnS
pRESS
LyonsPress.com
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Presents
the
Guide to
extreme
Beers
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The BrewTal TruTh Guide To exTreme Beers
ii
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Presents
the
Guide to
extreme
Beers
An
AOBlPlu-raEeteswxrsc i Lnetogism s’s i ts Adem tepedelen
In partnership with Decibel magazine
LYONS PRESS
Guilford, Connecticut
An imprint of Globe Pequot Press
iii
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Copyright © 2013 by Adem Tepedelen
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or
by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted
in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe
Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 480, Guilford, CT
06437.
Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.
Project editor: Meredith Dias
Text design: Sheryl P. Kober
Layout artist: Sue Murray
Tepedelen, Adem.
The brewtal truth guide to extreme beers : an all-excess pass to brewing’s outer limits /
Adem Tepedelen.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-7627-9152-1 (pbk.)
1. Beer. 2. Microbreweries. I. Title.
TP577.T43 2013
663’.42—dc23
2013024380
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For Susan and Samuel, my sunshine
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Contents
Introduction viii
Extreme Styles x
Introduction to Profiles xiii
Chapter 1: Ingredients from Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Q&A: Brewtal Brewery—Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head 27
Q&A: Brewtal Musician—Jean-Paul Gaster, Clutch 30
Sidebar: Eat Your Beer 33
Over-the-Top ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 2:
Q&A: Brewtal Brewery—Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, Mikkeller 46
Q&A: Brewtal Musician—Kevin Sharp, Brutal Truth, Primate,
Venomous Concept 50
Sidebar: An Exercise in Excess 52
Sidebar: Trapped under Ice 53
Chapter 3: Tolerance-Testing IBUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Q&A: Brewtal Brewery—Greg Koch, Stone 88
Q&A: Brewtal Musician—Brann Dailor, Mastodon 92
Sidebar: Alpha Ales 95
Sidebar: Hop Madness—with Stuart Bowman of BrewDog 96
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Blasphemous Brews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
ChAPtEr 4:
Q&A: Brewtal Brewery—Adam Avery, Avery 118
Q&A: Brewtal Musician—Richard Christy, Charred Walls of the
Damned 122
Sidebar: The Devil Made Me Brew It 125
Drinking the Decrepit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
ChAPtEr 5:
Q&A: Brewtal Brewery—Todd Haug, Surly 148
Q&A: Brewtal Musician—Dave Witte, Municipal Waste 152
Sidebar: In My Darkest Sour 155
Sidebar: Roll Out the (Wine) Barrels 156
Sidebar: Holy Oak 157
Under the Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
ChAPtEr 6:
Q&A: Brewtal Brewery—Barnaby Struve, Three Floyds 187
Q&A: Brewtal Musician—Scott Hull, Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic
Nosebleed 190
Sidebar: Maiden a Brewery 192
Sidebar: Bands with Beers 193
Sidebar: Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set 194
Epilogue: The Bitter End 197
Glossary 199
Resources 202
Acknowledgments 204
References 206
Index of Beers 207
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introduCtion
Welcome, thrillseekers! Your quest for new flavors and experiences in the craft
beer world has just taken a turn for the extreme Not surprising, since you have
either made the jump from the ubiquitous bland macrobrewed pale American
lagers or you have consciously eschewed them from the get-go of your beer-
drinking experience in favor of something different That puts you in less than the
tenth percentile of beer drinkers in the United States So, you see, you’re special
I’d also like to think that you’re discerning and have impeccable taste However
you found your way here, you are like all craft beer drinkers in that you appreciate
well-made brews with complexity
And, honestly, why wouldn’t you? As someone who came of drinking age in
the Pacific Northwest in the nascence of the US craft beer movement, I’ve never
been able to understand how the 90-plus percent of the beer-drinking population
wants the same exact experience every time they crack open a cold one But these
drinkers are the ones who keep the multinational brewing giants in business You
may know people like this—maybe you’re related or married to one—but this is
clearly not you
Now, I don’t want to make any huge leaps or assumptions about your own per-
sonal taste in music, but I’ve always equated craft beer drinkers with the segment
of the population that isn’t necessarily listening to Top-40 radio and consum-
ing mainstream music Just as creativity in brewing is predominantly the prov-
enance of craft brewers, a lot of really amazing music—indie rock, avant-garde
jazz, metal, old-timey Americana, etc —lies outside of the Billboard charts and
is generally consumed by people who seek out exciting new artists and sounds
Maybe that’s you, too
My own tastes have always run toward the extreme—be it music or craft
beer—and I have found a lot of like-minded people in both those worlds I don’t
constantly want everything turned to eleven, but bland, boring, and predictable
aren’t ever going to cut it All of the things that fostered my initial attraction to
craft beers—the array of eye-opening flavors, higher alcohol, variety of styles, and
thoughtful creativity—are what led me further to the fringes of craft brewing
Those are extreme beers
It could definitely be argued, however, that the finer points of what consti-
tutes “extreme” are actually in the eye of the beholder To a light-beer drinker,
a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale would fit the description To a staunch hophead who
doesn’t know the meaning of “too bitter,” it may take a double-digit ABV monster
to raise an eyebrow
Even further complicating matters is the fact that when it comes to craft beer,
truly nailing down some kind of definition is akin to trying to hit a moving target
viii
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IntroductIon
It wasn’t that long ago that an 8% ABV double IPA was considered out-there
Going back to the late twentieth century, a basic West Coast India Pale Ale was
too hoppy for a lot of craft beer converts Ah, such quaint times I can only imagine
what the Deschutes Mirror Pond pale ale–drinking me would have thought of the
prospect of sipping an oily black, bourbon barrel–aged 14% ABV Russian imperial
stout back in 1997
But because creativity is so built into the heart of craft brewing—one could
argue that it’s a founding tenet—there has been a constant push forward since a
handful of iconic breweries like Anchor, New Albion, Sierra Nevada, and Redhook
launched things in the early 1980s As the founding generation, they introduced
us to beers way more interesting and flavorful than the mass-produced American
lagers that were basically your only option Though their beers were compara-
tively bold for the time, those early pioneers cautiously dipped a toe in the water
with American versions of classic European ales and lagers It was only after
more than a decade of perfecting these styles and recruiting craft beer drinkers
that a second generation decided to take things a step further and really let their
creativity run wild
This was the mid to late ’90s, when breweries like Dogfish Head, Goose Island,
and Stone (among others) started to substantially push things forward and step
well beyond the pale (ales) That generation is largely responsible for the current
extreme era of craft brewing—not just in North America, but around the world—
because they opened up seemingly limitless possibilities for what beer could be
with the ingredients they used, the styles they dabbled in, and the innovative
techniques they introduced
And it’s that anything-goes approach that ultimately begat the proliferation
of extreme beers whose defining factor and connecting thread is the creativity
used in conceiving, brewing, and sometimes aging them Hell, even the names and
label images have become more out-there as younger brewers—weaned on the
punk rock and metal explosion of the ’80s—brought their edgy aesthetic to the
mix In fact, the DIY approaches of both early US craft brewers and early hardcore
bands were strikingly similar Bands and brewers alike realized that they didn’t
have to abide by the “standards” or “norm” of their profession; they essentially
rewrote the rules of what was possible
The paradigm shift that occurred in just a few decades was revolutionary It’s
what opened the doors for the beers in this book The majority of beer- drinking
Americans will never appreciate them, but like the thousands of independent
metal bands around the world who write, record, and perform knowing that they’ll
never sell a million copies or be played on mainstream radio, extreme beers are
made for the diehards (a small but growing segment) who are open-minded and
want something well beyond the status quo
iixx
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