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Notes -
That’s so interesting that the legal limit for beer is 8%. While that’s strong there are a lot of styles of beer that are almost always by default stronger than that.
Tripels, Dubbels, Doppelbock, Double IPAs, Triple IPA, Weizenbock, barleywine, imperial porters, imperial stouts, just to name a few.
Getting into the beer wars, and this is not a brand I know much about except for being vaguely aware of their recent advertising - Island's Edge by Heineken.
Seemingly it's "stout, but less bitter than ordinary stout" and they haven't made much of a dent in the Irish market. And I can see why, by visiting their website.
First, this is the most pathetic, cringy ad I have ever seen in my life. Were I a beer drinker, I'd rather go for Miller's Shite (remember, it's good shit because we take the bad shit and compost it down!) than this excuse for a pity party. This bunch would drive you to sobriety.
Second, look at the ingredients. Black tea and basil? In stout? If you think people won't notice the basil, I think you're wrong. There's nothing wrong with trying new ingredients or even trying for a less bitter beer, but not in stout. Try adjusting the roast of your barley or the variety of your hops instead of chucking in extracts of black tea and basil - those sound more like the recent bout of gins with all kinds of weird and wonderful ingredients:
If I want a tea-flavoured alcoholic drink, this fits the bill.
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