The 10 Most Expensive Beers in the World Ever Released

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Of the 10 most expensive beers in the world, some reached astronomical prices at the time of their release, while others are still brewed in exclusive batches every so often.

Most of them carry prices that would surprise anyone, but their appeal lies less in the quality of the beer than in the intrigue surrounding them.

The list runs from the most expensive to the cheapest, with the price in its original currency and the year each beer went on sale.

What Is the Most Expensive Beer in the World?

There is no official Guinness record for the most expensive beer in the world, so the answer depends on how you measure it. Among the beers sold by their own brewery, the priciest was BrewDog’s The End of History, at 500 and 700 pounds a bottle in 2010.

At auction, a bottle of Antarctic Nail Ale fetched 1,850 Australian dollars in 2010. A Löwenbräu recovered from the wreckage of the Hindenburg airship went up for auction in 2009 with an estimate of 4,000 to 8,000 dollars, according to ABC News.

The most quoted figure is the 503,300 dollar bid that an 1852 Allsopp’s Arctic Ale received on eBay in 2007, according to New Atlas. There is no public record that the sale was ever paid, and another bottle of the same beer was later used to recreate the Arctic Ale recipe.

Scarcity also drives up beers with a modest original price, such as the Westvleteren 12 brewed by Trappist monks, which resells far above what it costs at the abbey. The table summarizes the ten beers on this list with their original price.

1. Antarctic Nail Ale

Antarctic Nail Ale is a limited edition Australian Pale Ale brewed with water from a block of Antarctic ice. It was slightly stronger and more bitter than the brewery’s regular Nail Ale.

It was released in 2010 by Nail Brewing, an Australian microbrewery.

The ice was collected by a helicopter crew from Sea Shepherd, the international conservation organization.

Only 30 bottles were produced and every cent raised went to Sea Shepherd. The first one was auctioned on November 3, 2010 for 800 Australian dollars, according to British Glass, and at a second auction on the 19th of the same month another bottle reached 1,850.

More than 90% of beer is water, which is why Nail Brewing promotes it as the oldest and purest beer in the world.

2. Vieille Bon Secours Ale

This is a 12 liter bottle of Belgian beer from Brasserie Caulier, in Péruwelz, and its price depends heavily on where you buy it. In 2010 the Belgo restaurant chain charged about 856 euros for it in London, while in Belgium it cost 186, according to the newspaper DH.

The gap was mostly due to British alcohol duties, which were three times higher than Belgian ones. In other words, you pay for the giant format and the venue, not for a rare beer.

It has a complex flavor that blends citrus and caramel, with hints of licorice and anise.

3. The End of History

This beer was produced by BrewDog in 2010 and has an alcohol content of 55%.

Only 12 bottles were filled, each one placed inside a stuffed animal. The stoat versions sold for 500 pounds and the grey squirrel versions for 700 pounds, according to The Morning Advertiser.

The heads of the Scottish company wanted not only to put an end to their rivalry with Schorschbräu, but also to design one of a kind bottles by wrapping them in taxidermy.

There were seven stoats, four grey squirrels and a hare. BrewDog said at the time that all of them were animals found dead on the roads.

4. Jacobsen Vintage

Born in 2008, Jacobsen Vintage is a Barley Wine, a strong ale brewed by the Danish company Carlsberg with aromas of vanilla, oak, caramel and sherry.

It has 10.5% ABV and was aged in French and Swedish oak barrels in a crypt beneath the old brewery. Carlsberg bottled just 600 units of 375 ml, according to CBS News.

The 375 ml bottle cost around 400 dollars and was decorated with an original lithograph by Danish artist Frans Kannik.

The first batches were auctioned online. The proceeds went to children in Africa.

5. Samuel Adams Utopias

Samuel Adams Utopias is not a lager but a strong barrel aged beer made by the Boston Beer Company in Massachusetts. It is one of the most expensive beers in the United States, and its strength keeps it off the shelves in 15 states.

The company was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch with the goal of offering Americans a better beer than the one they were used to.

Jim Koch is the sixth generation of firstborn sons in his family to work in brewing. The 19th century recipe from his great great grandfather Louis Koch is the one behind Samuel Adams Boston Lager, not Utopias.

The first Utopias came out in 2002. The 2025 edition, the fourteenth, has 30% ABV and sells for 240 dollars per numbered ceramic bottle, according to Beverage Information Group.

Each edition blends beers aged for years, some for as long as 30. The 2025 release was finished in Irish whiskey, Amarone wine and white port barrels.

6. Schorschbock 57

The German brewery Schorschbräu, from Franconia, created this beer in 2011 with 57.5% ABV, although the brewery itself mentions 57.7%. It made only 36 bottles of 330 ml, at almost 200 euros each, according to inFranken.

Schorschbock 57 was born in 2011 and was made using the Eisbock method, which consists of freezing the water in the beer and then removing the ice crystals from the fermented liquid.

This produces a drink with more body and flavor, as well as a higher alcohol content. It is the same principle as the Bavarian Eisbock, taken to the extreme.

This beer ended the so called strongest beer war. Schorschbräu held the record with 31% in 2009, BrewDog answered with 32%, the Germans went up to 40% and the Scots to 41% and then 55%, until Schorschbock 57 set the mark at 57.5%.

7. Sink the Bismarck

At 41% ABV, this is a beer the Scottish brewery BrewDog launched in 2010 to dethrone the German Schorschbräu, which until then held the honor of brewing the strongest beer in the world.

BrewDog managed to top the list, both with this beer and with The End of History (55%), but not for long.

In 2011 Schorschbock 57 arrived and Schorschbräu took the record back. BrewDog described Sink the Bismarck as a quadruple IPA and sold it for 40 pounds a bottle, only through its website, according to The Drinks Business.

Its name comes from the British film Sink the Bismarck! (1960), released in Spain as ¡Hundid el Bismarck!, about the hunt for the most famous German battleship.

It was quite the metaphor for BrewDog’s ambition to leave Schorschbräu behind in the race for the strongest beer in the world.

8. Tactical Nuclear Penguin

Tactical Nuclear Penguin was launched in 2009 by the Scottish brewery BrewDog.

At the time, it was also the strongest beer ever produced, with 32% ABV.

Before reaching that strength, it spent 8 months in a whisky cask from the Isle of Arran and another 8 months in one from Islay.

It then spent several weeks at minus 20 degrees in an ice cream factory. As part of the water froze and the ice was removed, the alcohol concentrated up to 32%.

A total of 500 bottles were filled. Half went on sale for 30 pounds, while the rest cost 250 pounds because they included shares in the company, according to Insider. Because of the cold it went through, its name was quickly linked to penguins.

It is a beer meant to be sipped slowly, since it is far too potent to drink in a single gulp.

On the back of the bottle, BrewDog states:

This is a very strong beer, it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance, in the same way you would enjoy a fine whisky.

9. Space Barley

This beer from the Japanese brewer Sapporo was made with fourth generation barley descended from seeds that spent 5 months aboard the International Space Station. In other words, the barley in the beer never went to space, but its ancestors did.

The seeds were in space in 2006, as part of research carried out by Sapporo, the Russian Academy of Sciences and Okayama University.

The goal of this trip into orbit was to study in depth how barley adapts to zero gravity and learn how to grow food beyond Earth.

In December 2009 Sapporo held a lottery for 250 packs of six bottles at 10,000 yen each, about 110 dollars at the time, according to Universe Today.

Sapporo donated all the proceeds to Okayama University, which used them to promote science among children and to fund space research in Japan and Russia.

10. Tutankhamun Ale

This beer grew out of the excavations led by archaeologist Barry Kemp at Amarna, the capital of the pharaoh Akhenaten, where researchers studied the remains of Egyptian breweries more than 3,300 years old.

No written recipe was found. The beer was recreated from the remains of one of those breweries, as explained in the record of the Science Museum in London.

It was brewed in 1996 by the Scottish brewery Scottish & Newcastle, in an edition of 1,000 numbered bottles presented in a wooden case.

The prices that circulate for this beer, including the 7,686 dollars supposedly paid for the first bottle, have no reliable source. That is why it closes the list.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the most expensive beer in the world?

There is no official record. Among the beers sold by their own brewery, the priciest was BrewDog’s The End of History, at 500 and 700 pounds a bottle in 2010, while at auction an Antarctic Nail Ale reached 1,850 Australian dollars that same year.

2. What is the strongest beer on this list?

Schorschbräu’s Schorschbock 57, at 57.5% ABV, which in 2011 ended the race with BrewDog for the strongest beer. Later the Scottish brewery Brewmeister released Snake Venom, which is usually cited today as the strongest in the world.

3. Why are some beers so expensive?

Almost always because of their scarcity and the story behind them, rather than what they cost to brew. Many were made in runs of a few dozen bottles, with long processes such as freezing or barrel aging, and several were sold to benefit a cause.

4. How much does a Samuel Adams Utopias cost?

The 2025 edition, the fourteenth, has 30% ABV and a suggested retail price of 240 dollars per bottle. Because of its strength it cannot be sold in 15 US states.

5. Which beer was brewed with barley that traveled to space?

Sapporo’s Space Barley, made with barley descended from seeds that spent five months on the International Space Station in 2006. In 2009, 250 packs of six bottles were sold by lottery at 10,000 yen each, and the proceeds went to Okayama University.

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