In the world of modern craft beer, some of the most delicious brews come with serious ABVs!
In fact, many of the country’s best breweries specialize in disguising massive amounts of alcohol behind equally massive flavors. And, thanks to the app-based service Tavour, you can sample the booziest and most delicious Stouts, Ales, and Barleywines from the comfort of your own home!
That way, if you find yourself getting a bit carried away, you’re just steps from your own bed.
Plus, the experts suggest snagging multiple bottles so you can cellar some. As Matt Hess of Colorado’s River North Brewery puts it, “the intensity and complexity of the flavors and seeing how the character of a beer can develop in the bottle over time are the things I most enjoy about these beers.”
He would know — River North has shared almost 20 double digit ABV brews through Tavour in the past year alone!
There are plenty of other great breweries making boozebombs all over the country — here’s just a small sampling of some of the most potent brews that have come through the Tavour app recently:
Untitled Art Brewing, Wisconsin – Double Barrel Iced Barleywine: 20% ABV
Barleywines are the undisputed heavyweight champions of boozy beer, and this one hits like a young Mike Tyson.
This bourbon barrel-aged beast spent a whopping 2.5 YEARS in Woodford Reserve barrels, including a winter outdoors in frigid Wisconsin to seriously concentrate the flavors. Drinking one is kind of like sharing a fruit and toffee candy bar with Iron Mike himself — just watch out for that big, left hook of booze, because it’s liable to put you down for the count!
Five Threads Brewing Co., California – 5X Red Ale: 17% ABV
Every sip of this Red Ale splashes across the taste buds like a babbling brook from Candyland. You’ll taste waterfalls of candied citrus and fig, cascades of caramel and crème brûlée, and swirling eddies of black cherry and strawberry flavor.
But, there’s one thing you won’t taste so easily in this brew — all that booze!
The sippably soft mouthfeel is velvet-smooth, so it’s all too easy to completely forget that giant ABV and slurp down a whole can in just minutes. You might want to invite a friend around to help you out with this one!
Horus Aged Ales & Mikkeller Brewing San Diego, California – Friends of Prey Wheatwine: 17.2% ABV
As the name suggests, this brew is sneaky — like a wolf wearing your grandmother’s nightgown.You’ll never even see that big ABV coming!
The brewers loaded this Wheatwine with cacao nibs, vanilla, coffee, and peanut butter, then aged it in brandy, bourbon, AND mead barrels! It tastes like a peanut butter chocolate lava cake, but it’s nearly as strong as actual lava.
Be careful, or your buddies will have to read you a bedtime story way before your bedtime.
River North Brewery, Colorado – Barrel Aged Double Avarice Imperial Stout: 19.5% ABV
Avarice means ‘extreme greed.’ Scrooge McDuck levels of greed. Which is exactly the emotion a sip of this brew will inspire — try it, and you’ll just want more and more!
The brewers aged it in whiskey barrels for 6 months, so it tastes like some kind of caramelly bourbon cocktail with a fudge rim. And, that should serve as a warning — anything that tastes like this much like a top-shelf whiskey drink should be handled with care. You wouldn’t chug a chocolate manhattan, right?
But honestly, it’s difficult to sip slow when a beer is this good, especially if it’s spent a few years in the cellar, where it will grow richer, even more chocolatey, and smoother by the day.
Anchorage Brewing Company, Alaska – A Deal With the Devil American Barleywine: 17% ABV
ADWTD was one of the most eagerly anticipated releases on the Tavour app last year, and when it dropped, it nearly crashed their whole system! Beer geeks were mashing the order button like a toddler trying to play Xbox. Rightfully so — this blend of bourbon barrel aged-Barleywines is rarer than rare. The brewery only made 178 cases!
It tastes like caramel drizzled dates and candied figs with notes of oaky vanilla and toffee crumbles. It’s so fancy, we’re not even going to make drunk jokes about it. This one is for sipping fireside while reading fine, leather bound books.
That’s just a small window into the assortment of boozy beers you can find on Tavour, and they release new options on the app every single day! Whether you choose to open them the moment they arrive, or stash them away in the cellar, these brews bring some of the biggest, boldest flavors in craft. Just make sure you approach them with caution!
Terry Bunch
