The 28% ABV Ghost Deer beer has been available in limited quantities on draught in BrewDog bars for some time but it is now on general release at £5.99 a bottle.
Co-founder James Watt said the brewery had been criticised for its high strength beers in the past but that the binge drinking problem in the UK had more to do with mass lager brands than its own high ABV offerings.
“We have been criticised before fore being reckless in brewing high ABV beers, but the opposite is closer to the truth,” he said. “Britain’s binge drink culture is fuelled by stack-them-high, sell-them-cheap beers peddled by giant mass production breweries, not artisanal, craft beers like this one that teach drinkers that beer could be so much more.”
Ghost Deer is a blond beer that has been made using traditional fermentation methods rather than the freeze distillation techniques used to make higher ABV beers such as Brewdog’s own Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32% ABV, or what is currently the world’s strongest beer, the 65%ABV Armageddon from the Brewmeister brewery in Aberdeenshire.