lil'kim wrote:for tough guys:
Any beer that ends in
-ator is bound to be an asskicker.
That's a tradition that dates back to Paulaner
Salvator, generally considered to be the first
dopplebock-style beer. Dopplebock is a strong lager of about 9% abv or greater.
Salvator is an exceptionally strong and malty lager that was originally formulated in mid-17th Century Munich by the German monks of St Francis of Paula for use during their Lenten fasting season. Though they were forbidden from eating solid food, there was nothing on the books that prohibited drinking alcohol during Lent. The monks must have figured that a nice, sweet, full-bodied brew would quell their hunger pangs, and the high alcohol content must have made it much easier to get to sleep on a (nearly) empty stomach. The rich, high-gravity beer also provided needed calories, protein and vitamins.
This style of beer was later brewed for general consumption (about 100 years later) and in the 1900s came to be referred to as
doppelbock, or "double-bock" because of its similarity to strong "bock" beers. Out of reverence for the original, brewers in Germany and worldwide have adopted the tradition of naming their dopplebocks one-word names ending in "
-ator".
Spaten
Optimator
Tucher
Bajuvator
Ayinger
Celebrator
Abita
Andygator
Bell's
Consecrator
Today their are some 200 "-ator" Doppelbock names registered with the German patent office.
I'm sure there have been at least a few thousand homebrew doppelbocks named "Masturbator"...
The strongest commercially available dopplebock is
Samichlaus, made by the Swiss Hürlimann brewery, weighing in at 14-15% abv.