The ABV Atlas

The Hydras · 12.0–12.9% ABV

A many-headed hydra rising from a shadowed swamp, representing immense, layered barrel-aged beers from 12.0% to 12.9% ABV.

The Hydras

Beers from 12.0–12.9% ABV

Many-headed and unrelenting. Cut one flavour down and two more rise in its place.

The 12.0% to 12.9% band: deep in very-strong territory. Huge barrel-aged stouts, barley wines, imperial quads and the stronger eisbocks live here. Beers of layered, multiplying complexity, rewarding slow, attentive drinking.

The Lernaean Hydra was an immense snake-like creature with many heads and deadly breath, which made its home in the marshes of Lerna. Its terror lied in its durability, as the more its heads were cut off, the more it sprang up from its body, making the process of killing it one of the most difficult tasks assigned to Heracles.
A many-headed serpentine hydra rearing in dim light. Emblem of Hop Horizons' 12.0–12.9% ABV very strong beer category, The Hydras.

The Hydra was the serpent of the swamp with multiple heads and its terrible power of multiplication – cut off one head and two others would spring up to take its place so that the more you fought it, the more monstrous it would become. It is an excellent protector of the 12.0-12.9% range since all these beers are exactly like the monster, with many layers of complexity that multiply upon themselves and will never be reduced to a single note. With every sip, they grow new heads.

Mighty and relentless

A dozen-point-something is definitely the territory of strong beers, far ahead of ordinary wine and already on their way to fortified wines. The denizens here are the grandees of the extreme beer world: barrel-aged imperial stouts, massive barleywines, imperial Belgian quadrupels rich with dark fruit flavors, strong old ales, and concentrated eisbocks. The alcohol is no longer a mere taste but a powerful warming presence carrying flavors in all directions at once: chocolate, molasses, dried fruits, oak, vanilla, leather, port.

Complexity on steroids

It is the lack of finality that makes the best beers from this category unique. The best 12.5% barrel-aged stout cannot be defined since it is not static but dynamic in nature: it changes its taste and becomes more and more complex. First, it can be sweet, next - roasty, then - boozy, oaky, etc. Its aftertaste is warm, and there are always new sensations while tasting such a beer because it keeps changing its taste with time. Just like Hydra, it is impossible to describe the taste of such a beer, and every attempt fails because there is always another taste to discover.

The level for the true aficionado

Beers of such power are special occasions. They are made in very limited volumes and sold in special bottles that are suitable for aging and sharing the bottles with other connoisseurs. Many beers are aged for many years and become even more interesting with age. These are beers where fermentation and patience reach the limit of what is possible to brew. However, beyond the swamp of the Hydra lies the territory of the Atlas and the giants of extreme beers.

Below is whatever Hop Horizons has logged in the 12.0–12.9% range, ranked and broken down strength by strength.

This category at a glance

223
Unique beers
161
Scored
86.6%
Mean score
89.0%
Median score
29
Styles
128
Breweries
28
Countries

Score range 52.29%–97.08%, standard deviation 8.76 (population, over 161 scored beers). Most common style: imperial stout (97). Most represented country: England.

Top beers across 12.0–12.9%

Unique beers by exact strength

156
12.0
3
12.1
12
12.2
4
12.3
8
12.4
22
12.5
4
12.6
6
12.7
5
12.8
3
12.9

Average score by exact strength

Bars are on a 0–100% scale; a missing bar (—) means no scored beers at that strength, not a score of zero.

86.7
12.0
86.8
12.1
86.7
12.2
96.1
12.3
86.7
12.4
86.1
12.5
58.0
12.6
91.6
12.7
90.5
12.8
89.2
12.9

Style distribution

imperial stout
97 (43.5%)
pastry stout
19 (8.5%)
New World barley wine
15 (6.7%)
traditional barley wine
10 (4.5%)
mead
9 (4.0%)
imperial IPA
8 (3.6%)
quadrupel
7 (3.1%)
Belgian-style strong pale ale
6 (2.7%)
Russian imperial stout
6 (2.7%)
Belgian-style strong dark ale
5 (2.2%)
milk stout
5 (2.2%)
eisbock
4 (1.8%)
Other (17 styles)
32 (14.3%)

Every strength in this range

12.0% ABV

156 unique beers · average score 86.66% · 45 not yet scored

Show all 111 scored beers at 12.0%
12.1% ABV

3 unique beers · average score 86.80%

12.2% ABV

12 unique beers · average score 86.69% · 3 not yet scored

12.3% ABV

4 unique beers · average score 96.09% · 3 not yet scored

12.4% ABV

8 unique beers · average score 86.75% · 1 not yet scored

12.5% ABV

22 unique beers · average score 86.05% · 7 not yet scored

Prime territory for the biggest barrel-aged imperial stouts and barleywines... dense, warming and endlessly layered. Some of the most sought-after special-occasion beers in the whole collection gather right around here.
Show all 15 scored beers at 12.5%
12.6% ABV

4 unique beers · average score 58.04% · 2 not yet scored

12.7% ABV

6 unique beers · average score 91.61% · 1 not yet scored

12.8% ABV

5 unique beers · average score 90.55%

12.9% ABV

3 unique beers · average score 89.22%

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