Nanny State Beer
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am by David FarrarI love this. The Scottish brewer BrewDog, of Fraserburgh was criticised for an 18.2% alcohol content beer. So it has now produced a 1.1% alcohol beer and given it a label of “Nanny State Beer”. Wonderful.
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:58 am
I hope it has the appropriate health warning on the label.
“Government health warning. No matter how many pints you drink the old slapper you are checking out now will never become beautiful”
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 am
I’d like to order a few crates, one for Helen, one for Sue…………
Mind you, then THEY would have to slip something in to MY drink!!
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
Good on the brewer, I hope it doesn’t taste shite though as some of them do.
Interestingly enough lite beer doesn’t have to taste crap.
Vote:the South African shop in Fitzherbert St Petone has Windhoek Light’s there at $11.95 a six pack.
Windhoek Light has a very hoppy full flavour yet is only 1.5%
Good value I buy a case each month for braais and such like.
They also stock Windhoek lager but don’t have Castle or lion anymore.
That you can find in the Hutt Countdown
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
Hooray! Now we’ll be able to drink to the demise of the Nanny State, only… it’s alive and well in NZ. Try texting your denial while driving the car.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 10:39 am
I hear Steven Joyce has ordered a crate for everyone in the country.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 am
A 1.1% Nanny State Beer would be a bit strong for Helen Clark and her supporters but they would no doubt find it alright in a half pint shandy.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 am
Qu for those more in the know than me … just how do you get the alcohol content of a beer up to 18%?
AFAIK the yeasts die off when the alcohol content gets up towards 12%, 13% or so. And I figure they must be adding extra sugar in there somewhere to fuel up to those sort of alcohol levels.
Any insights gratefully appreciated.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 am
I was thinking more why you’d WANT an 18% beer, have tasted a 12 and it was like tar.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
vm – dunno the answer, but they have a web site and a blog at brewdog.com…the Punk IPA really looks like a bit of me. Is it beer o’clock yet?
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 11:23 am
I haven’t checked the site, but the normal way to increase beer alcohol content after the fermentation has finished is to carefully freeze it into a slush. The fine crystalline solids contain water ( and some of the bitterness, eg tannins ), and are removed ( filtration or centrifugation ).
However, many countries then require commercial brewers to back dilute to the original alcohol content, and increased-alcohol beers ( up to 29% vol has been reported ) produced by freezing, or other techniques, are considered as fortified, and treated as spirits for tax.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Very amusing, hilarious swipe…
…alcoholism is a serious problem in Scotland, more serious than you’d realise. BrewDog don’t have a clue – they’re like a tobacco company who don’t care about the problems that smoking causes.
“The company had insisted the £9.99 high strength beer would help tackle the country’s binge-drinking culture, because customers would drink it in smaller quantities.”
That’s the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard. Yeah, why not just roll your own as well, ‘cos you get more of the good stuff out of them so you’ll smoke less.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 am
“After a hard afternoon in the House, of hysterical baritone berating of Dr Brash, the Exclusive Brethren & the Business Roundtable, mines a Nanny State extra bitter”
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I’d suggest that as young scots blokes with a passion for real beer and brewing that you’re flat wrong about that. High-strength, high-flavour craft brews aren’t the problem, cheapo pound-a-can Tennets Extra or whatever is.
Just looking at the abv on the side of the bottle is ridiculous…what do our local bingers drink? Bourbon, or pre-packaged “bourbon” and coke?
Having done plenty football-lads weekenders in English and Belgian cities I can report far more messy drunken behaviour on 5%ers in London than 9-12%ers in Antwerp…
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
18% sounds like a lot of Alcohol for something that quenches your thirst!
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
When I said BrewDog don’t have a clue, I meant about the extended social problems that drinking causes. Alcohol abuse isn’t just confined to Special Brew drinkers in parks or young people, and harmful binge drinking doesn’t start and end with young men in the street after football matches.
It’s stronger, people will drink less, so it’s less harmful? That’s a statement from the deluded.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
“When I said BrewDog don’t have a clue, I meant about the extended social problems that drinking causes. Alcohol abuse isn’t just confined to Special Brew drinkers in parks or young people, and harmful binge drinking doesn’t start and end with young men in the street after football matches.”
Who cares a fuck? The responsibility is on the drinker….not the brewer.Same for smoking.The free consumer has to shoulder any blame……ciggis and alcohol are inert until a human being decides to ingest them.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
This is just about as nanny stateish as John Banks and Aaron Bhatnagar planning to require most pubs and bars to shut at 11 pm.
Perhaps the beer could be exported to NZ and an exemption allowed for its sale after 11 pm?
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Its good marketing, it is a statement that is bound to antagonise wowsers and kick off a slanging match. The value of publicity this company derives from word of mouth, most of it coming from shouting loud ignorant fools, must be worth 1000x their actual advertising budget.
Is alcoholism a problem? Yes.
Is the solution to the problem sales reduction for 18.2% abv beer, which accounts for I dunno 0.0005% or 0.0006% of the market? No.
Will the profits of BrewDog AND the charitable/government funding of Alcohol Focus Scotland increase by way of a highly publicised slanging match? Yes.
Will James Watt of Brewdog and Jack Law of Alcohol Focus Scotland give a shit that acoholism in Scotland remains unaffected by their slanging match? Probably not, because their back pockets are both benefiting from the row.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Ruth will need 666 bottles of this shit before she sings another John Key song.
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Alcohol abuse in Scotland costs the NHS £2.25bn a year. That’s not to mention the multitude of visible and invisible social problems that occur that cost money.
Manufacturers have just as much responsibility to promote a sensible social experience with regard to alcohol as the consumer does.
That’s the way society works…
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I little point to make. If I want to drink th 18% brew who the hell are you to stop me.
When did I agree to “nanny” looking after me and stoping my education?
When was it against the law.
Get a grip for Gods sake.
Feckin nanny state
Vote:October 2nd, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Fine, BC. But pay for your own alcohol-related health care, would you? And also pay for any damage you may cause to anyone or anything else as a result of having consumed too much 18% brew. If you’re willing to accept that responsibility, do what you want – it’s your life, after all and I have absolutely no desire to tell you what to do with it.
But if you’re not, and if you expect any state help for any unfortunate result of consuming a bit too much 18% brew, the state and I (as a funder of the state) have every right to try to stop you.
If you don’t want Nanny state to try to prevent you from harming yourself, don’t call on her care when you do.
Vote:October 3rd, 2009 at 8:44 am
Well said Ashley. Alcohol kills twice as many Kiwis as category 5 pandemics – every single year.
The Ministry of Health reports that since May 2009, 3,163 New Zealanders have contracted the H1N1 virus (swine flu) and 18 have died. The MOH has been keen to keep people informed about the danger associated with this virus and the information about the 18 deaths is contained in their 153rd update to the media on the subject. However, deaths from the swine flu bare little comparison with the worst pandemic in New Zealand history – the influenza epidemic of 1918 which killed an estimated 8,200 Kiwis.
Nor does it compare with the 1,000 New Zealanders who die directly from alcohol related causes each year – because of drink driving accidents, drownings, murders, suicides, liver cirrhosis, heart disease, cancer and approximately 60 other health problems caused by drinking. This statistic does not even begin to reflect the reduced quality of life which thousands of others experience because of excessive drinking.
Economist, Brian Easton says the cost of damage caused by alcohol in New Zealand is $25 billion a year. He even says New Zealand’s population would be 30,000 higher than it is if it weren’t for premature deaths caused by drinking.
International mortality figures are equally disturbing. In the United States, government estimates say alcohol is responsible for 100,000 deaths a year. In the European Union, alcohol is estimated to kill 200,000 people a year – that’s 540 people a day.
Alcohol related death occurs in virtually every country in the world, and so in many respects, it resembles a pandemic. Pandemics are classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States on a scale of severity from 1 to 5 – where a category 1 kills less than 0.1 of total reported cases and a category 5 kills at least 2% of reported cases.
The National Committee on Addiction in NZ says that around 25,000 people attend substance abuse treatment each year. Since 1,000 people die from alcohol related causes each year that’s 4% of the total reported cases each year – which is makes it twice as bad as a category 5 pandemic.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 was nearly 100 years ago. Excessive alcohol consumption kills twice as many New Zealanders as a category 5 pandemic every single year – not once every hundred years.
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