The world's strongest beer

Reuters

FULL BODY: A Dutch brewer with a penchant for competition has laid claim to creating the world's strongest brew: a beer that is some 60 percent alcohol by volume.

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A Dutch brewer with a penchant for competition has laid claim to creating the world's strongest brew: a beer that is some 60 percent alcohol by volume.

''You don't drink it like beer, but like a cocktail - in a nice whisky or cognac glass,'' brewer Jan Nijboer told Dutch news agency ANP.

Nijboer's Almere-based brewery, 't Koelschip (The Refrigerated Ship), sells the new beer, which is 120 proof and dubbed ''Start the Future'', in a one-third litre bottle for 35 euros ($NZ62.66) each.

Nijboer told ANP he developed the new brew to keep up with Scottish outfits that were also pushing the boundaries of beer's alcohol content.

His previous record-holder, a beer called Oblix that was 90 proof (45 percent alcohol by volume), was eclipsed by a Scottish beer that reached 55 percent.

That beer, dubbed ''The End of History,'' was announced last week by a small brewery called BrewDog.

Only 12 bottles were made, each housed inside a stuffed dead animal and sold starting at 500 pounds ($NZ1086) each.

''It has become a little competition,'' Nijboer said. ''You should see it as a joke.''

- Reuters