The ABV Atlas

And now we’ve reached the top. The World Eaters – the devourers, the final powers, the things that follow after the death of the gods and consume the remnants of the world. There’s nothing above them, and there's nothing above this band, because this is the only category in the entire Atlas without an upper limit. From the lowest thirty percent up to the most insane world record attempts recorded anywhere in the Atlas can be found right here, in the unlimited darkness at the summit of the mountain. Thirty bands of climbing brought you here. Here the Atlas reaches its limit of world.

The crowded summit

This is the twist. After all the empty and nearly empty shelves in the twenties – the empty World Serpents, the Void Walkers, the lone beers in the single meads – the summit is full. In fact, it's one of the fullest bands in the upper Atlas, because all of the beers above thirty percent pour into this one band without limit. Spanning the range from 30% up to an unbelievable 75%. The climb didn't end in isolation but in a festival of impossibility.

The strength wars, in one place

A lot of what you see here is a testament to the huge "world's strongest beer" rivalry that dominated the late 2000s and early 2010s, with just a few breweries – BrewDog and the German Schorschbräu, in particular – constantly pushing each other towards increasingly silly numbers. The entire history is recorded right here, condensed. BrewDog's Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32%), their Watt Dickie (35%) and the wonderfully-named Sink the Bismarck! (41%). Schorschbräu's SchorschBock 57, at 57.7%, is not only near the top of this list but the well scored – proving that excellence is not incompatible with the extreme. These are beers created out of sheer bravado, statement and flag planting on an uncharted peak. And they're all gathered here, in the end.

The Lithuanian story

Lining up beside the spectacle of strength war is something ancient and, in its own way, extraordinary – a whole chain of Lithuanian meads from Lietuviškas Midus and others, rising all the way up to a true 75% ABV with Žalgiris. These aren't freeze-concentrated tricks. They are a part of a long-standing Baltic tradition of superstrong ancient honey ales, and for them to stand side by side with the record-breaking eisbocks at the very pinnacle of the world is one of the most beautiful things about the Atlas. The oldest strong beverage made by man, holding its own against the most insane experiments of modern times, all the way up there at the top of the world.

Where "beer" finally gives out

It just has to be said directly, up on the roof, that this is where the word "beer" almost loses its meaning completely. These are extreme examples of frozen beers, pushed as far as possible. There are some that would even be classified as disputable – Scottish Beithir Fire, 75% ABV, is an alcoholic barley ale mixed with spirit, and the infamous Snake Venom had an interesting history when it was put through chemical tests. The purists would cut down more than half of this group. However, this is probably exactly the place where such arguments belong. On top of the mountain, where "beer", "spirit" and "stunt" lose their distinctions and the only proper action is to lay everything out, including the disputes and admire. This is the borderland. Borderlands are untidy. That's the point of them.

The end of the climb

And from the Wisps that started at nought-point-nothing, to the World Eaters, that reign on the top of the possible, that's the entire Atlas – thirty-one bands, thirty-one guardians, the entire scale of what can be done with fermented grain and honey. The Wisps did not exist at all. The World Eaters are close to being unbelievable. Everything that is human about beer is right in between – the ordinary session beer and the record-breaking 75% one. Thank you for making it all the way up. Mind the fall.

Below is everything Hop Horizons has logged at 30% and beyond – the strongest beers in the whole collection, broken down strength by strength, all the way to the top.