The ABV Atlas

Ten percent. The Atlas enters the double-digit world here — not something delineated on a rulesheet but a line that every drinker knows all too well. Appropriately enough, the guardian is the Basilisk — the crown-wearing king of snakes, hatched from an egg of unnatural origin, so lethal was it considered that merely looking upon it was fatal. This is the first creature in the Atlas whose threat is nothing other than lethal. Beer in the ten-point-something range is exactly that sort of thing: potent, wine-strength, and far from casual anymore.

Strong as wine

This is the range where beer quietly passes the mark set down by your average glass of wine. It changes your attitude: measurements become smaller, your drinking slower, and the beer takes on the appearance of contemplation itself. These beers belong among the aristocrats of the high-alcohol beer world — imperial stouts of great body, thick barleywines, fruity Belgian quadrupels, old ales, and eisbocks and doppelbocks, which are concentrated through freezing. The alcohol content is a prominent player now: warming, sweetening, and bringing the spirituous depths of fortified wines rather than of a pint.

Concentration and craftsmanship

Making a beer reach the magic number of 10s is no easy job for a brewer. With the increase in alcohol content, yeast strains deteriorate and therefore achieving 10% requires not only the use of strong, alcohol-tolerant yeasts but also proper feeding. In some cases, long and careful conditioning helps to make the beer less harsh. Sometimes a brewer achieves it through the eisbock technique of freezing the beer and separating ice to concentrate what’s left of it. In any case, a well-balanced 10.5% beer is a small victory over the fermentation process itself.

Beers to drink on special occasions

Almost everything in this list tastes best when you go slow and many beers improve with age because of that young, fierce heat transforming over years into the taste of port, sherry, leather and dried fruits. These are the beers to be cellared and shared in a single bottle by friends. The Basilisks are the gatekeepers of the monsters of the teens. Behind their watch, the Atlas gets wilder and wilder.

Below is whatever Hop Horizons has logged in the 10.0–10.9% range, ranked and broken down strength by strength.