Sink the Bismarck: Unboxing a case from Brewdog

This post is dedicated to Helga, Fritz, Peter, Ade, Anne, Marco S., Rico, Marco P., Bim, Lauren and the rest of The Man Blog. It is also dedicated to all the friends and clients I have drank with in the past several years especially to you, Mark P., Brad and Markku!

It finally arrived. The box of 13 330ml bottles of beer from Brewdog is finally safe inside my room. Of the 13 bottles, one is noteworthy: ‘Sink the Bismarck’ is the strongest commercially available beer at 82 proof (41% alcohol). Their previous record was the Tactical Nuclear Penguin (64 proof) and a limited run ‘The End of History’ (110 proof) which was also sold with the pelt of roadkill squirrels used as decanters.

Gross. Although the limited run sold for nearly USD $800.00 a bottle.

But I digress.

I’ve been a distant fan of Brewdog for months and it was only recently did I decide to take the plunge and invest a little money to produce, ship and pass these bottles through customs. Let’s just say I spent 5 digits to get everything here. If you check the prices on their website, most of the cost is attributed to the shipping and customs. I was lucky that the guys from Brewdog were cunning enough to indicate that the items were “yeast samples” on paper and from what I’ve been reading it can actually pass through the proper authorities without extra fees. It’s probably different in the Philippines. If anyone knows how to get these things in cheaper, tell me!

Again, sorry. I have digressed.

There are 13 bottles. One is odd.

The package that was delivered contains a sample pack of three different kinds of beer, four bottles each. These are the Punk IPA, the Zeitgeist and the Trashy Blonde. Click on the images to view the larger versions.

And now for the icing on the cake.

The ‘Sink the Bismarck’ comes in rather ‘makeshift elegant’ packaging. First thing you’ll notice is the bold 41% written on a piece of wrapping paper that covers the 330ml bottle indicating that this is an 82 proof brew. There is a stopper tied around the packaging.

The stopper is used for resealing the bottle. To borrow text from their site, “This is an extremely strong beer, it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. In exactly the same manner that you would enjoy a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost.”