Expect the Scots to launch a nuclear assault on the US this March. Photo curtesy of Duncan Brown.

According to recent news, Scotland has gone nuclear and has been testing out their amphibious avian delivery device with great success. Scottish officials report that there will be an escalation in the pending Cold War between the Scottish and American super powers come this spring.

Currently, Samuel Adams offers the strongest beer in America – Utopias, an American strong ale, at a ripping 27% ABV. By all accounts, the Boston Beer Company’s offering receives overwhelmingly good reviews, but there is invariably a caveat for the beer that spends 13 years aging in barrels – and it’s often that those who have sampled it question whether it is worth its hefty price tag. The suggested retail price is in the vicinity of $130.00, and if you can find it for that little, well, let’s just call that a shocker. It’s more likely to be found most places being sold for anywhere from $175.00 to in excess of $300.00.

In the coming year, Boston Beer will no longer have the high grav mass market cornered in the United States. Hell, they’ll no longer have the highest gravity beer offered in the U.S. when Utopias, offered only every other year, is overtaken by Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the high gravity offering from Scottish craft brewer BrewDog, makes it to U.S. shores in March of 2010.

The Penguin, which started off stylistically as an Imperial Stout, comes in at a raging 32 percent ABV – and holds the record for the highest alcohol content of any beer in the world. To put that in perspective, most whiskeys sold in the United States average about 40 percent ABV.

According to the company’s blog;

The Antarctic name inducing schizophrenia of this uber-imperial stout originates from the amount of time it spent exposed to extreme cold. This beer began life as a 10% imperial stout 18 months ago. The beer was aged for 8 months in an Isle of Arran whisky cask and 8 months in an Islay cask making it our first double cask aged beer. After an intense 16 months, the final stages took a ground breaking approach by storing the beer at -20 degrees for three weeks to get it to 32%.

For the big chill the beer was put into containers and transported to the cold store of a local ice cream factory where it endured 21 days at penguin temperatures. Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water. As the beer got colder BrewDog Chief Engineer, Steven Sutherland decanted the beer periodically, only ice was left in the container, creating more intensity of flavours and a stronger concentration of alcohol for the next phase of freezing. The process was repeated until it reached 32%.

At the beginning of December, BrewDog was taking orders for their second round of TNP, the first batch having sold out rapidly. Sales far exceeded expectations, said James Watt, the brewery’s managing director, or emperor penguin according to recent documents. “we expected a lot of interest but nothing like this,” explained Watt. “The response has been phenomenal. It is great to see so many people get excited about the crazy things we do up in the North of Scotland in our little brewery!”

Established in April of 2007 in Fraserburg, Scotland (just to the north of Aberdeen), the nuclear attack on American shores will come one month prior to the brewery’s third anniversary. Like a good military leader, however, Watt was cagey about where the first strike will occur, or even what the exact size of the attack is expected to be. “We are going to be sending a tiny amount to the USA which will arrive mid March 2010,” stated Watt about entry into the American beer market.

When it hits the American markets in March, 12 oz bottles will be expected to retail for “around $65-$70 in the U.S.,” said Watt. To put it in perspective, the Utopias which has an SRP of $150.00 (but tends to retail for much higher) for it’s standard 25 oz bottle, will proportionately be the more expensive high gravity beer on the market.

The name, in part, explained Watt, came from the special brewing processed used to garner the higher alcohol content. “Penguin because we froze the beer for 3 weeks to get the ABV,” he explained. “We are not really sure about the rest of the name though, we like anything irreverent.”