HOW DO YOU MARKET A BEER CALLED SNAKE VENOM?

SCOTTISH BREWER Brewmeister has come out with what it claims is the world’s strongest beer. Made from smoked peat malt with both beer and Champagne yeasts, Snake Venom contains a whopping 67.5% ABV. But alas, sadly the brewer is currently unable to actually market this mega beer to the masses. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said details on Brewmeister’s website were misleading about its alcohol content, and focused too much on the beer’s strength as a selling point. The ASA said: “The claims ‘the world’s strongest beer’ and ‘say goodbye to boring beer’ placed an undue emphasis on the product’s high alcoholic strength and implied the product was preferable because of its alcohol content. The claims ‘contains special ingredients to achieve such a high volume of alcohol’, ‘the alcohol is very strong but the beer still tastes like a beer rather than a spirit’ and ‘Snake Venom is so strong that we have put a warning label on the neck of the bottle warning drinkers to beware’ all contributed to the overall impression that the product might be preferred because of its claimed alcohol content or intoxicating effect.” It also said the information did not make it clear that the beer had gone through processes other than those used in standard beer brewing to bring its alcohol content up.

Brewmeister noted that the bottle carried a warning label saying: “This beer is strong, do not consume more than 35ml in one sitting,” and said it was promoting a high-quality drink that should be drunk in smaller quantities than standard beer. Snake Venom costs about $8O per 27.5cl bottle. Of course, all the publicity the brand is getting because it can’t market its beer is essentially taking care of the problem.