These Are 11 Of The Strangest Beers Around The World

@bswelch2

If you’re a dedicated beer fan, you likely have an appreciation for breweries that go the extra mile. Some beers are all about strength and ABV while others are made just to showcase an obscure ingredient. Some breweries go too far, like Iceland’s Borg Brugghús brewery that makes a sheep sh*t-smoked IPA, but most of the time strange brews get the attention they deserve. Here are 11 of the strangest beers in the world.

1. Mamma Mia Pizza Beer

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Tom and Athena Seefurth invented “Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer” in their home brewery in 2006. They had a surplus of tomatoes, a bag of garlic and inspiration from their herb garden. A margarita pizza is put into the mash and steeped like a bag of tea. The essence of the pizza spices gets washed off with hot water and it’s filtered into a brew pot where it’s boiled for a while. During the boiling process they add hops and pizza spices and after a week or two, the beer is ready to drink with a 4.7 percent ABV.

2. End Of History

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The innovative Scottish craft brewery BrewDog has a 55 percent ABV beer called End of History. The intense ABV isn’t even the coolest part about End of History. The beer bottles are nested inside taxidermy squirrels. WEIRD. According to Vice Munchies, BrewDog wanted to do something that was “at the same time beautiful and disturbing, something that made a statement and tried to make people stop and think about all of the possibilities that beer actually has.” It takes seven months to make this beer with a process called ice distillation. The beer is frozen down to negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit for months during the process. 

3. Thai Peanut 

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Right Brain Brewery, a microbrewery in Traverse City, Michigan, makes a Thai Peanut brown ale with an ABV of 7.9 percent. This beer was actually inspired by Pad-Thai. Peanut butter, flaked coconut, coconut oil, Thai chili peppers and dry-hopped cilantro are blended together. Thai Peanut is a spicy beer and the final product is meant to actually taste like the popular Thai dish. SIGN US UP.

4. Mr. Twit’s Odious Ale 

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The drink makers at 40FT Brewery celebrate the life of the beloved kid’s author Roald Dahl with Mr. Twit’s Odious Ale. The brewers incorporate wild yeast from inside of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory writer’s chair, into the beer. 40FT Brewery swabbed the writer’s blanket and old pencils to collect the obscure ingredient. Mr. Twit’s Odious Ale has a smoky vibe, an ABV of 4.4 percent and most of all, lots of character.

5. Mangalitsa Pig Porter 

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Another bold concoction from Traverse City’s Right Brain Brewery is the Mangalitsa Pig Porter. The brewers at Right Brain have somehow concocted an original creation that’s hearty, chocolatey and smoky and brewed with smoked pig heads, pig snouts and eyeballs. The pig heads are put into cheesecloth bags and dropped into each batch. The salty swine is balanced by the chocolate malts.

This porter won the gold medal for experimental beer back at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival. The Mangalitsa pig is a high-end Hungarian pig with 60 percent fat so the beer is made with highly flavorful meat. Leif Kolt — the brand, events and marketing coordinator for Right Brain — describes the taste of the porter as a soft pretzel covered with a slice of ham and Hershey’s chocolate on top. The Mangalitsa Pig Porter has an ABV of 6 percent.

6. Oyster Stout 

The Porterhouse Brewing Company is a chain of six bars throughout Ireland, London and New York. The brewery launched a bunch of beers in 2009 and continued to release bottles, one of them being the Oyster Stout. This beer is brewed with fresh oysters that are shucked into the conditioning tank. It’s become one of The Porterhouse’s best selling stouts with a balanced, smooth and rounded taste. Vegetarians need not apply.

7. Bone Dusters 

Lost Rhino Brewing Company, based in Ashburn, Virginia, makes a beer called Bone Dusters that’s kind of crazy. Bone Dusters is a collaboration between Lost Rhino and Paleo Quest. The brewing company decided to dust some protocetid whale fossils from the Great Dismal Swamp and use a wild yeast that was found to brew an amber ale. The yeast was found to have fruity characteristics and the beer itself has a good maltiness. Bone Dusters has an ABV of 5.5 percent.

8. Snake Venom 

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The Scotland-based brewing company Brewmeister created a beer that’s been dubbed the world’s strongest and it’s designed for boozy thrill-seekers. Snake Venom has an ABV of 67.5 percent, higher than most whiskeys. The beer comes with a warning label and it’s recommended that you drink it in small shot-like doses. Snake Venom has no carbonation because of its high ABV. This intensely strong beer ranges from amber to brown in color with a thick body and its flavors are anywhere from fruity to bittersweet.

9. Pisner 

Denmark brewery Nørrebro Bryghus is making beer using human urine. This specialty pilsner is called Pisner, a word-play combing pilsner and the local slang for pee. The brew is made with malting barley that is fertilized by the contents of urinals at the largest music festival in Northern Europe, Roskilde FestivalThe urine was used as an alternative to traditional animal manure or factory-made fertilizer. The whole concept of “beercycling” could make the ultimate sustainable beer according to Denmark’s Agriculture and Food Council. There is no actual urine directly in the beer. Farmers have been using urine as a fertilizer for hundreds of years, the only difference is that this is from humans.

10. Beard Beer

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Rogue Ales, a brewery in Ashland, Oregon, gets intensely personal with its beard beer. This concoction is brewed with wild yeast from Brewmaster John Maier’s beard. Maybe we’d be slightly more temped if it was actual John Mayer, but we’re still intrigued. Brewers have been using wild yeast in beer making for centuries.

John has had the same beard since 1978 and after 15,000 brews it makes sense he’d have yeast in there. You might be slightly or heavily disturbed, but after boiling the beer for a while, beard beer is approved for drinking. It’s described as fruity and bready with light hops, a golden amber color and it’s a little on the funky side, with good reason.

11. Full Circle IPA

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The San Diego-based Stone Brewing is the first to make beer using reclaimed water. Full Circle IPA comes from recycled water, thankfully not water directly from the toilet. Using wastewater has provided stability for the brewery that’s committed to a certain sustainability model. This IPA is hoppy with some caramel and citrus fruit notes and has an ABV of 7.9 percent.