Well, here it is.  The most recent claim to the strongest beer in the world.  It’s a tiny little bottle filled with 57.8% ABV.  That is not a typo, I did not put the decimal point in the wrong place, I did not miss a zero, I did not mistake proof for ABV (for the record, this is 115 proof).

The little bottle was easy to open, which considering I’ve had some waxed bottles that required a knife and surgical tools to open, I appreciate.  I could smell the beer from the second it was opened, strong and potent, with a lot of dark fruit notes.  It pours with no carbonation (as expected) with dark cherry highlights when held up to light, and a reddish brown when sitting in the glass.  It coats the inside of the glass and has legs that put Warty to shame.

Taking the first sip, and it is fire.  Strong alcohol flavor, and a lot of alcohol burn.  There’s a touch of sweetness in the beginning, but the fire kills it quickly.  There’s a long lingering finish as the burn fades that dries out the mouth, and has a touch of hop bitterness.  Taking a bigger sip after the first couple of nips, and I’m able to pull more of the sweetness in, and feel the warming down my throat.  The dark fruit notes come back in the larger sip, but this is a mighty beer and the alcohol heat is the predominant note.

Since it’s a small amount, it warms up quickly, but this may do better chilled a bit to take some of the edge off.  I considered adding a couple of drops of water, like one would to a cask strength whiskey, but that seemed counter to the entire concept of the beer.

As I’m working my way through the pour, I’m very glad that the bottle was small, I don’t think I would want to go through even a 4 ounce mini can of this.

I’ll say I’m glad I finally got the chance to try one of these monster ABV beers (I believe the strongest I’ve had before was only in the 18-19% ABV range.  This was not an inexpensive little nip, and I’m glad I have a second one to share with someone, but I would not go out of my way to get it again.

Overall, if you’re looking to tick off rare and strong beers, this is a must try.  I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone who’s not really into craft beer to the point that they can at least name some of the other attempts to break the records.  For enjoyment, I would say this is around a three out of five.  For rarity and for hitting the mark for what they wanted to do (which partially was to put an end to the wars for the strongest beer), this is hitting the nail on the head, and gets it a five out of five.

So what does that mean for an overall rating?  Why do you care?  I’m writing this up to give you an idea of the entire experience and thoughts behind it, do you really want and need it boiled down to a single number?  Fine, I give this a 32i as a final rating.