Scottish brewery launches 'World's strongest' beer at 32%

A small Scottish brewery with a taste for controversy has produced what it claims to be the world's strongest beer, one so alcoholic it is designed to be drunk in whisky-sized nips and comes with its own resealable stopper.

The beer, which goes by the name Tactical Nuclear Penguin, has been made by a company called BrewDog in Fraserburgh, north-east Scotland. It has an alcohol content of 32%, roughly eight times the strength of normal beers and lagers, and will be sold at £30 a bottle, or £250 for an additional share in the company. BrewDog says its beer, an "imperial stout", is intended for connoisseurs. Only 500 330ml bottles have been produced, and it will only be sold online and at two off-licences in Edinburgh and London. "This is completely pushing the boundaries," said James Watt, the firm's co-founder.

But the beer's release immediately heightened the debate about responsible drinking, on the day that the Scottish government confirmed that it wants a legally binding minimum price for alcohol in Scotland to combat rising alcohol abuse and the surge in cut-price drink promotions by supermarkets. To the anger of public health charities, Labour and the Tories said they would oppose the SNP's proposals, which have been supported by Scotland's chief medical officer, Dr Harry Burns, and the British Medical Association. Both parties said the proposals were unworkable, penalised the responsible majority and were potentially illegal.

Jack Law, chief executive of the campaign group Alcohol Focus Scotland, said BrewDog was guilty of "childlike attention-seeking" by releasing the beer on the day the alcohol bill was published.