Most beer sits between 4 and 8 percent ABV. The beers on this list do not play by that rulebook at all, some pushing past 60 percent alcohol by volume through techniques that stretch the definition of “beer” to its absolute limit. Here is how the strongest beers in the world actually get there, and who has held the title.
Snake Venom: The Beer That Set the Modern Record
In 2013, the small Scottish brewery Brewmeister, based in Keith, Banffshire, released Snake Venom at a claimed 67.5% ABV, retailing for around 50 pounds for a 275ml bottle. The label carried a warning to drink no more than a 35ml measure at a sitting, which tells you most of what you need to know about how it is meant to be consumed. Brewmeister built the beer specifically to try to beat rivals like BrewDog and the German brewery Schorschbrau in an informal race for the title of world’s strongest beer, and for a period Snake Venom was recognized as holding it.
We tested a bottle ourselves and broke down exactly what 67.5% ABV tastes and feels like in our full Snake Venom review, along with a more drinkable high-ABV alternative if you want the extreme-strength experience without quite going that far.
Schorschbrau: The Serial Record-Chaser
Schorschbrau, a small brewery in Gunzenhausen, Germany, has released a string of extreme-strength beers under the Schorschbock name over the years, repeatedly trading the “world’s strongest” title back and forth with Brewmeister and others. Their approach relies on freeze distillation, known as eisbock or ice-bock brewing, where the beer is chilled far below freezing and the ice crystals that form (mostly water) are removed, concentrating the remaining alcohol. It is a legitimate old brewing technique used at much more modest strengths for traditional eisbock styles, just pushed to an extreme.
The Strongest-Beer Arms Race: A Timeline
The record has bounced between the same handful of breweries for over a decade, each one leapfrogging the last within months:
- 2010, BrewDog releases Sink the Bismarck!, a 41% ABV IPA named as a jab at the German brewery Schorschbrau, which had just claimed the record with a 40% eisbock.
- 2010, BrewDog follows up within the same year with The End of History at 55% ABV, packaged in taxidermied stoats and squirrels, which generated more headlines for the bottling than the beer itself.
- 2011, Schorschbrau answers with Schorschbock 57, pushing to 57.5% ABV using deeper freeze distillation.
- 2012, BrewDog and Schorschbrau jointly release Strength in Numbers, officially credited to both breweries, at 57.8% ABV, a symbolic truce-that-wasn’t in the record chase.
- 2013, Brewmeister, a small brewery in Keith, Scotland, releases Snake Venom at 67.5% ABV, which still stands as one of the highest ABV figures ever claimed for a commercially sold beer.
Every one of these releases came in tiny batches, usually a few hundred bottles at most, and most breweries involved openly admitted the point was publicity and bragging rights as much as anything meant to be widely enjoyed.
How These Beers Actually Get So Strong
Regular fermentation has a ceiling. Standard brewer’s yeast dies off once alcohol content gets too high, typically somewhere around 12 to 15 percent, which is why wine and most strong ales rarely exceed that range through fermentation alone. To get past that ceiling, brewers use one of two tricks: freeze distillation, which concentrates the alcohol already produced by removing water as ice, or specially bred high-tolerance yeast strains combined with repeated feeding of extra sugar over a long fermentation. Both approaches stretch the definition of “beer” considerably, since the final product is closer in character to a spirit than a traditional ale or lager.
Extreme-Strength Beers at a Glance
| Beer | Brewery | Claimed ABV | Year | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snake Venom | Brewmeister, Scotland | 67.5% | 2013 | High-tolerance yeast plus freeze concentration |
| Strength in Numbers | BrewDog / Schorschbrau | 57.8% | 2012 | Freeze distillation |
| Schorschbock 57 | Schorschbrau, Germany | 57.5% | 2011 | Freeze distillation (eisbock method) |
| The End of History | BrewDog, Scotland | 55% | 2010 | Freeze distillation, bottled in taxidermy |
| Sink the Bismarck! | BrewDog, Scotland | 41% | 2010 | High-tolerance yeast, extended fermentation |
Is It Actually Legal to Sell, and How Should You Drink It
Most countries do not ban a beer for being high ABV outright, but plenty draw a hard line for how it gets taxed, labeled and sold. In the UK and EU, a drink over roughly 22% ABV frequently gets reclassified for excise duty and retail licensing purposes closer to how spirits are treated, which is part of why these releases are typically sold in tiny 100-275ml bottles rather than standard 330-500ml ones, and often only through the brewery’s own shop or specialist bottle shops rather than supermarkets. Brewmeister’s own label for Snake Venom recommended a maximum single measure of 35ml, smaller than a standard shot of spirits, and for good reason: a 35ml pour of a 67.5% ABV liquid carries roughly the same total alcohol as a full pint of a 5% lager.
If you do track one down, treat it exactly like a spirit rather than a beer: a small measure, sipped slowly, ideally with food and plenty of water on the side, and never as a round of shots.
These are novelty extremes rather than beers most people will ever actually drink a full bottle of. If you want something genuinely strong but still meant to be enjoyed as a normal beer, Belgian dark strong ales like Chimay Blue at 9% ABV sit at the upper end of what most people actually want to drink, and our roundup of Belgian beer brands covers several more in that range.
FAQs
What is the strongest beer ever made?
Brewmeister’s Snake Venom, released in 2013 at a claimed 67.5% ABV, is one of the strongest beers ever commercially released, though the title has moved between a handful of extreme-brewing specialists over the years.
How do brewers make beer that strong?
Mainly through freeze distillation, which removes water as ice to concentrate the alcohol already present, combined with high-alcohol-tolerant yeast strains and repeated extra sugar additions during a long fermentation.
Is a 67% ABV beer legally still beer?
Definitions vary by country. Some jurisdictions classify extreme-strength “beers” differently for tax and labeling purposes once they cross a certain ABV threshold, since the final product behaves more like a distilled spirit than a fermented beverage.
Why do extreme-strength beers come in such small bottles?
Partly the cost of producing them and partly regulation. Many countries tax and license drinks above roughly 22% ABV closer to how they treat spirits, so breweries package these releases in 100 to 275ml bottles rather than a standard pint-sized bottle, and often sell them only direct or through specialist shops.
How much alcohol is actually in a small pour of a 67% ABV beer?
A 35ml measure, the serving size Brewmeister itself recommended for Snake Venom, contains roughly the same total alcohol as a full pint of a standard 5% ABV lager, even though it looks like a fraction of the volume.
