Beer is one of the oldest drinks known to man—and one of this writer’s favorites. While many people enjoy drinking light and less expensive beer, there are still some beer connoisseurs out there. If you don’t believe it, then check out the proof -the world’s most expensive beers.
Tutankhamun Ale – $52 per bottle
This expensive beer has a peculiar history. It’s brewed in a Cambridge laboratory from a recipe discovered in the Queen Nefertiti’s Temple of the Sun in Egypt. The beer is named after the queen’s stepson, more commonly known as King Tut. The temple, which housed a brewery, is believed to have been built by King Akenhaten, Tut’s predecessor and likely father. This beer is also limited and may be purchased for $52 per bottle.
Samuel Adams Utopias – $100 per bottle
Vintage No. 1 may be four times as expensive as Samuel Adams/Boston Beer Company’s Utopias, the former most expensive beer, but Utopias still holds a Guinness World Record for being the strongest beer at 50 proof.
Utopias was brewed with a blend of high-quality hops and sold in an ornate copper-plated brew kettle and offers a flavor unlike any other expensive beer or beverage in the world. The sweet flavor is richly highlighted with hints of vanilla, oak and caramel. The expensive beer is non-carbonated and should be served at room temperature.
Production of Utopias was limited to 8,000 bottles.
Carlsberg Vintage 3 – $348 per bottle
The Carlsberg Group, a brewing company founded in 1847 and named after founder J. C. Jacobsen’s son Carl, is best known for their light-bodied lager, Carlsberg Pilsner (also known as Carlsberg Beer or Carlsberg Hof). In 2008, however, Carlsberg introduced another beer guaranteed to be linked to the Carlsberg name in the public consciousness, Vintage 1.
Vintage 3 is the third in the trilogy of beers created from 2008 to 2010. At the time of its launch, the “pale barley wine” was the only available beer to have been aged in French Côte d’Or oak barrels in the Carlsberg founder’s original cellar. Only 1,000 bottles of this exclusive beer were hand tapped and labeled with art by Kaspar Bonnén and two artists selected from the Radiant Copenhagen project.
The price of Vintage 1, 2,008 Danish kroner, reflected the year it was introduced. The brewer introduced Vintage 2 in 2009 and Vintage 3 in 2010, priced at 2,009 and 2,010 kroner respectively.
Brewdog’s “The End of History” – $765 per bottle
Well, PETA is going to have a field day with this one. Scottish brewery BrewDog has produced a beer served in bottles as shocking as the beer’s extremely high alcoholic content.
Only eleven bottles of this expensive beer, named after a book by philosopher Francis Fukuyama, were produced. The blond Belgian ale, infused with nettles from the Scottish Highlands and fresh juniper berries, is 55 percent alcohol and will be BrewDog’s final high ABV beer.
The bottles, however, are the beer’s most striking aspect–each one is encased in a squirrel or weasel stuffed by a gifted taxidermist. The four grey squirrels and seven weasels selected were all roadkill, however, so their immortalization as beer bottles may actually be considered more respectful than ignominious roadside decomposition.
Antarctic Nail Ale – $800
If your conscience rails at the thought of drinking beer clothed in roadkill, perhaps you’ll find this entry on our list of the world’s most expensive beers more to your taste. Australia’s Nail Brewing Company has been brewing craft beer for nearly a decade, and their limited edition Antarctic Nail Ale sold at auction for a record-breaking price. Best of all, that money is going straight to charity.
This expensive beer was brewed with actual Antarctic ice. Only thirty bottles were produced, and the number one bottle was sold by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society at an auction in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Sea Shepherd opposes whaling in the Antarctic sanctuary. They are also selling bottles numbered two through ten to support their cause. The number one bottle was purchased by the Elliot Syndicate.
