Battle of the Brews.....the Devils Brew

Apologies once again for the delay. This week we take a trip to the dark side. A side that Hobos, Winos and Shouty are familiar with. The devils brews are high octane that demand the highest respect, lest you find your self slumped in gutter, splashed with piss and covered in puke. So brace yourself, turn on the lights and prepare for sleepless nights as we run the rule over the Spawn of Satan.

Carlsberg Special Brew
There are many cheaper spin offs from this brand, Kestrel Super Strength and Tenants Super spring immediately to mind, but I have decided to feature the OBA (Original Bad Ass) brew that was first to hit the shelves. "The original strong lager" is how Carlsberg describe it, and they are not kidding. At 9% ABV this bad boy will kick you arse up and down the high street if you due drink it with due diligence. It is for this exact reason that it is so popular with thrill seeking teenagers and Wino's. The only draw back is the taste. Something this strong, tastes strong. As in rocket fuel. If you can get past the first can your tongue starts to acclimatise. If you can get to the fourth can it tastes quite nice. If you get past the eight can you are the reincarnation of Oliver Reed. One interesting fact before moving on. It was first brewed in 1950 to commemorate the visit of Winston Churchill to Copenhagen

Leffe Blonde
The light heavy weight of the bunch, weighing in with an ABV of 6.6%. I have included it in this category because I am not really sure where else to put it. I was going to do a Belgian beers thread, but they are all so diffrent, they are better suited to categories non national. Back to the beer. Leffe come in two forms, blond and brune. For the purposes of this survey, we shall be going with the blond, as there only appears to be that enjoys the brune. For a long period it was only available in bottles, but it is springing up in quite a few pubs on draught, although it is only served in 25l glasses. It has some pep, but still tastes like beer, unlike the prince of darkness mentioned above. it has a nice crisp taste with a hint of citrus. Enough of the ponciness. It kicks ass, but in a fairly gentle way. Not a session beer, it will get you pissed pretty sharp. Nice. yet another brewer swallowed up by InBev behemoth.

Duvel
It's name says it all. Duvel is the Flemish word for Devil, and with an ABV of 8.5% it is a very apt one. Not as readily available as the other two, it can usually be found in any self respecting real ale pub. Whetherspoons carried it for quite a while, but it was bumped, like so many others, in favour of the Polish beers brought in too satisfy the influx of immigrants from said country. It used to feature on it's lagers of the world menu. The challenge was always to see if the globe could be circumnavigated, beer wise, but every attempt was always sunk by the ice berg awaiting in the middle of the menu, ninth beer along, called Duvel. The killer was the first time we tried to do it, as none of us bothered reading what the content was, and just chugged along merrily. I still have no idea how I made it home that particular evening. It does have a taste stronger than a cooking lager, but it didn't taste much different, strenghth wise to any wife beater. Unlike the other two, it is still an independent brewery, as far as I am aware.

So there you have it, the Gangsta rappers of the lager world. I could add a few more, but they are just the fodder drunk by the flotsam and jetsam of today's modern society. If you have not tried these fellas out before, and are planning to do so to poll an honest vote, be careful.