FAQ: Beer Records
Alan Marshall
revised, December 13, 1994
There is one major change to this edition of the FAQ: Uncle Igor's
Famous Falling Down Water is back as the World's Strongest Beer.
I have continued the practice started in the previous revisions of
proposing records based on the information I have, but being
prepared to be proven "wrong" by someone with a more extreme
example. Previous editions added The Most Expensive Beer and two
Largest Beer Selection categories. I have not yet received any
"challenges" to the records claimed. I am also looking for up-to-
date statistics (after Czech Republic and Slovakia split) on per
capita beer consumption.
Disclaimer:
The following records are based on limited research and
are subject to challenge:
Weakest Beer
Most Expensive Beer
Largest Beer Selection - Stores
Largest Beer Selection - Pubs, Taverns and Bars
Most Bitter Beer
Darkest Beer
Largest Per Capita Consumption
Treat these "records" as red herrings: I expect them to
get challenged as I had limited library resources.
Submissions are welcome.
As usual, comments and corrections most welcome. Flames to
dev/nul/. Generous offers of a beer from readers to show your
gratitude gratefully accepted. Mail for an address.
A Note on Sources
I try to give proper attribution to all contributors to the FAQs
that I maintain. If I have overlooked giving you credit, just drop
me a line and I'll fix it up.
This FAQ has relied on a number of published sources and I have
used the following abbreviations:
GBR Guinness Book of Records
MJPG Michael Jackson's Pocket Guide
MJBC Michael Jackson's Beer Companion
Eckhardt Fred Eckhardt's Essentials of Beer Styles
BEER RECORDS FAQ
Strongest Beer:
(Note: These categories will be split into
Conventionally Brewed and Ice Distilled only when an ice
distilled beer is stronger than the strongest
conventionally brewed beer.)
Strongest Ale or Barley Wine:
Uncle Igor's Famous Falling Down Water, brewed by the Ross Brewing
Company, a brewpub in Stokes Croft, Bristol, England is 21% abv
(17.4% abw) and has an original gravity of 1200. Previously, this
beer had been 17.3% abv (14.2% abw). The brewer is Mike Ross. (At
the time of righting, we had yet to receive confirmation that this
was naturally brewed to this strength.) (Sources: Steve
Plumridge, Steve.P...@bristol.ac.uk and Keith Myers)
Notables from the recent past:
The Boston Beer Company (marketers of the Samuel Adams line of
beers) is marketing a 17.5% abv (14.4% abw) "Triple Bock" beer.
Despite its name, it is a barley wine, brewed with Champagne yeast
and not lager yeast. There is some speculation that this is the
beer that was test marketed in the U.K. as "Small Brewer's Revenge"
Roger & Out, brewed at the Frog & Parrot in Sheffield, Great
Britain, from a recipe devised by W. R. Nowill and G. B. Spencer,
is 16.9% abv (13.9% abw), was the previous record-holder (GBR,
1992). (I received a communication that contended that 16.9% abv
was a theoretical limit and that it only reached this strength
once.)
Lagers:
Samichlaus Dark 1987 (Brauerei Huerlimann, Zurich, Switzerland) is
the strongest conventionally brewed lager at 14.93% abv (12.23%
abw). (GBR, 1992) Michael Jackson's Pocket Guide (1994) indicates
this has been as high as 16% (13.1% abw).
Michael Jackson refers to EKU Kulminator 28 as having the highest
gravity (28 degrees guaranteed, but some have been as high as 30.54
degrees). The alcohol content is 13.5% abv (11.0% abw). This beer
is ice distilled, but not for the purpose of increasing its
alcoholic strength. (MJPG94)
Weakest Beer:
According to the 1977 Edition of the Guinness Book of Records, a
"beer" was marketed in 1918 in Germany by Sunner, Colne-Kalk with
an original gravity of 1000.96. This has a potential alcoholic
stength of 0.1% abv, about one-fifth the strength of typical "non-
alcoholic" beers found today.
Darkest Beer:
The darkest beer I have been able to find is Farson's Lacto Milk
Stout (Malta) at 450 EBC (57+ SRM). (MJBC p 188) By comparison,
Guinness Draught is 130 EBC, and Mackeson's ranges from 225 EBC,
for the U.K. version, to 300 EBC for the export version.
Most Bitter Beer:
Current:
The highest IBU reference I have found published (in my library) is
Thomas Hardy's Ale and Buffalo Bill's Alimony Ale which is billed
as "The bitterest beer in America". Both have 100 IBUs.
Historical:
Eckhardt lists Russian Imperial Stout near the start of the 20th
century at 140 IBU. When Whitbread revived their porter in 1992 to
celebrate their 250th anniversary, they toned down the use of hops,
using only one-quarter to one-sixth of the hops called for in the
1859 recipe. The final product had a bitterness of 40 IBU. This
does not necessarily imply that the 1859 Whitbread Porter would
have had bitterness between 160 and 240 IBU, as modern hops have
more bitterness. (MJBC) However, porters and stouts used to have
a lot more bitterness than they have today.
Most Expensive Beer:
Local differences in taxation can cause a wide variation in prices.
We shall endevour to abstract from the impact of taxation in
recognizing the superlatives in this category.
The most expensive beer as sold on first offer from the brewery (as
opposed to aged, rare, collector and vintage specimens) is Samuel
Adams Triple Bock. A case of 24, six ounce (U.S. fl. oz.) bottles
(4.259 litres) sells for $100 (U.S.) or $23.48 per litre. The
lowest price I have had reported to be for this beer is $65/case,
or $15.26 per litre at Total Beverage, Arlington, Virginia.
Largest Bottle:
A bottle 6 feet, 11 inches tall and 5 feet 4.5 inches in
circumference was filled with 92 gallons of Laidley Gold, a wheat
beer available only in Laidley, Queensland, Australia on 2
September 1989. (GBR, 1992)
Oldest Brewer:
Weihenstephan Brewery, Freising, Bavaria, Germany was founded in
1040 A.D. (GBR, 1992)
Largest Brewing Organization:
Anhauser-Busch Inc. (St. Louis, MO) brewed 87.3 million barrels in
1993, the largest annual volume ever by any brewing organization.
<Original figure from 1990 from GBR, 1992, updated by Paul McCain
(paulm...@aol.com)>
Largest Single Site Volume:
In 1990, the Coors Brewing Co. (Golden CO) produced 597.99 million
gallons. (GBR, 1992)
Highest Per Capita Consumption:
Prior to the reunification of Germany and the split of
Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, West Germany
and Czechoslovakia were nearly tied in the vicinity of 140 to 150
litres per capita. However, it is conceded that the per capita
consumption is higher in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia.
Therefore, based solely on logic, and without the benefit of data
or statistics, I'm proposing that the Czech Republic has the
highest per capita consumption of beer, estimated to be over 150
litres per capita.
Largest Beer Selection - Pubs, Taverns and Bars
Don Scheidt suggests "Chez Moeder Lambic"-St Gilles, in southern
Brussels, claims 1100 beers. The two "Le Vaudree" pubs in and near
Liege claim between 880 and 990.
Largest Beer Selection - Store:
Don Scheidt suggests: "Bruno Maruhn's "Groesste Biermarkt der
Welt" outpaces 'em all, with something like 2225 different beers,
including nearly every bottled or packaged beer made in Germany, as
well as a generous selection of Belgian, Dutch, French, Czech, and
other beers. The shop is as big as many supermarkets, and the bulk
of its volume is dedicated to one thing: beer. There are also
soft drinks and mineral waters available, as well as volume
discounts. Bring a very large vehicle if you ever visit this
place; it's at the southern edge of Darmstadt, in the
Pfungstadterstrasse."
Speed Drinking Records:
(The Guinness Book of Records ceased publishing most of
these records in 1990. Only the Yard of Ale record
continues to be published.)
One Liter: Steve Petrosino 1.3 seconds, 22 June 1977 at "The
Gingerbreadman" (Carlisle, PA) (GBR, 1990)
Two Liters: Peter Dowdeswell (Earls Barton, Great Britain), 6
seconds, 7 February 1975. (GBR, 1990)
Two Imperial Pints: Peter Dowdeswell (Earls Barton, Great Britain),
2.3 seconds, 11 June 1975. (GBR, 1990)
Three Imperial Pints: Peter Dowdeswell (Earls Barton, Great
Britain), 5.0 seconds, 6 July 1985. (GBR, 1990)
Yard of Ale: Peter Dowdeswell (Earls Barton, Great Britain) drank
a yard of ale (2.5 pints) in 5.0 seconds at RAF Upper Heyford,
Great Britain on 4 May 1975. (GBR, 1992)
Note: Peter Dowdeswell owns numerous records that the
Guinness Book of World Records people have "retired".
Other eating speed records listed in the 1990 edition
(the last time they published these records): cheddar
cheese, eels, soft-boiled eggs, raw eggs, gherkin
pickles, hamburgers, ice cream, jelly, milk, pancakes,
potatoes, prunes (so that's how he does it!), ravioli,
shrimps, spaghetti, strawberries and sushi.
Earliest Beer Can:
Krueger Beer (Newark, NJ) test marketed beer in cans in Richmond VA
in 1935. (GBR, 1992)
Beer Can Collection:
John F. Ahrens (Mount Laurel, NJ) has nearly 15,000 different cans.
(GBR, 1992)
Most Expensive Can:
A Rosalie Pilsner can sold for $6,000 in April 1981. (GBR, 1992)
Beer Collection:
A collection of 2,502 unopened bottles and cans of beer from 103
countries was purchased at a charity event on 23 March 1990 for
A$25,000 by the Downer Club ACT of Australia. (GBR, 1992)
Beer Labels (Labology):
348,000 different labels by Jan Solberg of Oslo, Norway. (GBR,
1992)
Largest Beer Tankard:
6.5 feet high with a capacity of 615 gallons made by Selangor
Pewter Co. (Kuala Lampur, Malaysia) first shown on 30 November,
1985. (GBR, 1992)
Coasters (Tegestology):
Leo Pisker (Vienna, Austria) has collected 135,480 different
coasters from 154 countries. As nothing is cited to the contrary,
we cannot assume that these are all beer coasters. The collection
was still growing as of 1992. (GBR, 1992)
Beer Coaster Flipping:
Dean Gould of Felixstowe, Great Britain flipped and caught a pile
of 102 coasters (490 gsm wood pulp board) through 180 degrees in
Hamburg, Germany on 18 March 1988. (GBR, 1992)
Beer Keg Lifting:
Tommy Gaskin raised a keg of beer weighing 137.79 pounds above his
head 656 times in the space of 6 hrs. at Newry, Northern Ireland on
29 October 1989. (GBR, 1992)
Beer Stein Carrying:
Barmaid Rosie Schedelbauer covered a distance of 49 feet 2.5 inches
in 4 seconds with five full steins in each hand in a televised
contest at Koenigssee, Germany in 29 June 1981. (GBR, 1992)
-- Alan Marshall "It's a lot of work to get up in front of
AK20...@SOL.YORKU.CA a class and make it look like you know
York University everything there is to know about something
Toronto, Canada you know nothing about." Prof. Anonymous