The ABV Atlas
The Titans · 20.0–20.9% ABV
The Titans
Beers from 20.0–20.9% ABV
The elder gods of strength. Beer at twenty percent, the old order before the world.
The 20.0% to 20.9% band... across the twenty-percent frontier. The rarest air yet, home to ice-concentrated eisbocks, the mightiest barrel-aged stouts and the occasional strong mead. Beers standing among the elder powers of the brewing world.
The Titans were the older deities of Greek mythology, the massive, primal beings who ruled the cosmos before the Olympians, the younger, more familiar gods born of earth and sky. And to attain them, the Atlas has climbed completely out of the realm of regular beers and into a more primitive realm. Twenty percent is a frontier indeed, an alcoholic potency very few beer drinkers will ever encounter, the point where beer enters the company of the older powers of all brewed spirits.
Across the twenty-percent line
Beyond the twenty percent threshold is territory of giants and rarities, and little comes here through normal means. The first path is the eisbock, a strong beer undergoing a process of multiple freezing and de-icing to concentrate its alcohol content, body and flavour. The other to this realm is the extreme barrel-aged imperial stout that has aged for a year or more in spirit barrels. Then there are the strong meads fermented using honey. Regardless of the journey, this is well into sipping territory. These are measured in tiny portions and behave like a fortified wine or a liqueur, not like beer.
German ice-masters
One brewery more strongly connected to this frontier than any other is Schorschbräu of Bavaria, which saw its SchorschBock eisbocks steadily climb the ladder in the "beer strength wars", ice-brewed to figures previously unheard of. And it is only natural that one of them would feature here on Hop Horizons – eisbock is the most ancient and honest way to produce 20% beer, and the Germans are the undisputed kings of this craft. It's an interesting contrast to the American barrel-aged craft.
Rarity
Very few beers beyond the 20% threshold have been logged so far, but there are quite a number out there. There's the familiar giant, the The Bruery's Black Tuesday and all of its variants aged in barrels and flavoured with rum, brandy, chocolate etc., crossed with other Grey Monday and God Complex series from The Bruery and River North. The style of beer at this level is now almost exclusively American barrel-aged imperial stout - German eisbocks and some strong meads are the classics exceptions.
Below is whatever Hop Horizons has actually logged in the 20.0–20.9% range, ranked and broken down strength by strength.
This category at a glance
Score range 48.91%–78.60%, standard deviation 12.83 (population, over 3 scored beers). Most common style: mead (1). Most represented country: Netherlands.
Top beers across 20.0–20.9%
Unique beers by exact strength
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.
Style distribution
Every strength in this range
20.0% ABV
3 unique beers · average score 75.65% · 1 not yet scored
20.1% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.1% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.2% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.2% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.3% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.3% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.4% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.4% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.5% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.5% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.6% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.6% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.7% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.7% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.
20.8% ABV
No beers at exactly 20.8% ABV have yet been added to Hop Horizons.