The Shadowy World of Eisbock
A list of the world’s 50 strongest beers that I googled on the Internet listed several other 20-plus percent ABV superbrews, including a few that claimed to top Utopias. Heading the list were Schorschbräu Schorschbock (31%) and Südstern XXL (27.6%), both German lagers. A Pacific Northwest microbrewery, still active today, insists that it made a 29 percent ABV barley wine 15 years ago. Perhaps the most outrageous claim I’ve ever heard was from the brewer of a long-defunct Ohio brewpub, who asserted that he made a 35 percent ABV double bock for his private reserve.
All the above beers were made through the German eisbock method, which involves freezing the beer until a layer of ice or slush appears at the top, then sloughing off that layer to concentrate the alcohol in the remaining liquid. This process is called fractional freezing or freeze distillation.
Some of the more extreme claims have to be taken with a grain of salt, particularly if the brewer estimated the alcohol with a few seat-of-the-pants calculations and didn’t submit it for independent laboratory verification. Consider: the freezing point for water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The freezing point for alcohol is a frigid 173 degrees below zero. A mixture of the two will freeze at some point between these temperatures. I don’t have the mathematical ability to calculate the freezing point for a 30 percent ABV beer, but I imagine that it would tax the ability of most refrigerator coils and would require liquid nitrogen to freeze it further. Koch says that as an experiment, “We took the Utopias down to fifteen below. it was still flowing freely.”
There is another problem with these eisbocks and eis-barley wines: they’re illegal.
The federal alcohol code allows brewers to chill beer until ice crystals form, and remove up to 0.5 percent of the volume; that’s how the big brewers make ice beers. But anything beyond that is considered a distillate and can’t legally be made on a brewery premises. (Of course, some small brewers do it under the radar.)
Before readers fire off angry letters to the federal Tax and Trade Bureau, arguing that Eisbock is a traditional German style, bear in mind that Uncle Sam is actually very friendly towards super high gravity beers.
The government’s definition of “wine” sets an upper limit of 24 percent ABV. However, “beer” is defined as any malt-based beverage 0.5 percent ABV and higher that’s fermented and not distilled. There is no limitation on the maximum alcohol it may contain.
What’s more, all beer, regardless of alcohol content, is taxed at the same level of $18 per barrel. Small brewers, those who produce fewer than two million barrels a year, get a tax break of $7 per barrel on their first 60,000 barrels.
That might change.
The Senate Finance Committee, seeking ways to fund President Obama’s ambitious health care initiatives, in May proposed raising alcohol taxes as a possibility. The excise tax on beer, under the proposal, would rise dramatically, from the current $18 to around $45 a barrel.
What’s more, the proposal recommends imposing proposal speaks of “a uniform tax based on the alcohol content contained in the product.” Does that mean that beer styles beyond the baseline 5 percent, like doppelbocks, barleywines and imperial IPAs, would be taxed even further? Will you need to take out a mortgage to buy a bottle of Utopias?
Noting that craft brewers depend much more on these higher-alcohol brews, Brewers Association president Charlie Papazian has denounced the proposal as “a tax on small brewers” and warned that “American beer culture, as it exists today, would be severely compromised.” Fortunately, the proposal, as I write this in late July, does not appear to be gaining support and faces opposition from a well-organized and powerful beer lobby. Perhaps we’ll dodge this bullet.
Not so easy is to dodge is the burgeoning demand for these limited-edition, high-alcohol beers. DuClaw’s Jim Wagner recalls that at the 2008 Brewers Association of Maryland Oktoberfest, he tapped a 15.5-gallon keg of his Colossus and began pouring four-ounce samples. “It lasted half an hour.” A quick scan of eBay revealed an unopened bottle of the 2007 Utopias (complete with Reidel taster’s glass) seeking a buyer willing to pay $350. An empty bottle of the 2005 Utopias had attracted a bid of $175. A charity auction conducted by Boston Beer Co. two years ago brought an amazing $2,125 winning bid for a bottle of the 2007 Utopias. He who hesitates when these rarities hit retailers’ shelves might wind up paying a lot more on-line.
