The ABV Atlas

The Thunderbird is the great storm-bird of Native American mythology — a gigantic eagle-spirit, whose beating wings are thunder and eyes are lightning, king of the skies, above which all other creatures dare not fly. This bird fits well with the 16.0-16.9% band, since this is the zone in which beer flies to the thin air of true extremity – and where, surprisingly, the styles spread out into the breeze like a storm bursting. No other band in the Atlas comes close in terms of variety.

The styles spread out

In lower bands, it is usually the case that one or two styles take the lead. But this is not so with the 16% band. Here the Atlas finds huge imperial stouts, sweet pastry stouts, New World barley wines, frozen doppelbocks and eisbocks of Germany, and even an eccentric imperial IPA. But the apex of the band is simply incredible, since some of the highest-scoring beers anywhere in the whole Atlas are found right here, and where the total mastery of a powerful brewer turns the product transcendent rather than just strong.

Where beer definitions expand

At this height, something interesting occurs... beer increasingly becomes mingled with related ales. When you take a beverage to 16%, it will naturally fall into the home of mead, one of the oldest drinks created through fermentation – and saké – traditional for Japan. Here they coexist with the bocks and the stouts.

The strength war shoulder

At the same time, 16% stands at the beginning of one of beer's most unusual events – the "strength wars" of the 2000s and 2010s when several brewers tried to create the strongest beer. The brands of the most intense strength, Schorschbräu and BrewDog beers among them, appear right here and go up to higher levels of the Atlas. And here is when the ascent becomes felt – all the beverages are the sipping ones, served in tiny amounts, more like fortified wines or liqueurs than pints.

Below is whatever Hop Horizons has logged in the 16.0–16.9% range, ranked and broken down strength by strength. It's a small but remarkably varied field — read the styles as much as the scores.