I wrote a blog recently on what I described as the champagne of beers which was Chimay the trappist brew.  It seems that Carlsberg rather than brewing a beer worthy of the Chimay has decided to produce a exclusive beer to trap over paid posers.  Always a market segment but sometimes you think that the brewing is driven by marketing rather than the craft.  That said I haven't tasted this pretentiously named Vintage Number 1 so maybe I shouldn't be so critical. Anyway here is the full story courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune.

Carlsberg has launched an up-market beer so expensive, at US$398, euro269 a bottle, that it is reserved for those with a champagne budget. The Danish brewer claims to make what is "probably the best beer in the world."

The company on Tuesday said its new Vintage No. 1 beer is also probably the most expensive beer in the world. Brewmaster Jens Eiken, of Carlsberg, told The Associated Press that only 600 of the 37.5 centiliter (0.8 pint) bottles will be made, and most will be sold through three of Copenhagen's most exclusive restaurants. The first 52 bottles were sold last week, he said. "We believe that there are people out there who are willing to part with this amount of money just so that they can taste an amazing beer or to keep it on their mantelpiece," said Eiken. Eiken said part of the secret of the 10.5 percent alcohol beer is the way it is stored in special Swedish and French oak casks in a dimly lighted crypt 15 meters (50 feet) under the company's old brewery.

The expert said the taste of the brew hints of prunes, caramel, vanilla, oak and cherry port bitterness, and was best consumed with gourmet blue cheese or on its own with "a very special friend." Some Copenhagen residents, despite the Danish capital's high standard of living, expressed doubts that any beer would Advertisement Click to learn more... be worth that much. "Only showoffs will buy this beer," said TV journalist Marie Grundtvig Buss. "There can't be any justification for such a price for a single bottle of beer." Eiken insisted that even though Vintage No.1 costs about 400 times as much as a normal beer, its special ingredients make it "400 times tastier." There is another incentive for those finding the beer's price a bit hard to swallow. Each bottle is labeled with a hand stenciled original lithographic print by Danish artist Frans Kannike, making the empties worth 500 kroner (US$100, euro67) apiece, said Eiken.
Apparently the price of the beer is based upon the year of launch.  Only 600 bottles were produced, but then will be releasing special editions next year and in 2010, and, you guessed it, they will cost 2,009 and 2,010 kroner.

It seems that a new method for brewing beer that allows energy consumption in the process to be cut by 40% as well as reducing waste produced. The method, was developed by Cambridge-based company Pursuit Dynamics. According to New Scientist Magazine the PDX method blasts steam at supersonic speeds into brewing vats to speed up the brewing process, according to New Scientist magazine. It is used at the energy-intensive "wort boil" stage of beer-making, when hops are added to liquid containing malted cereal grains. "The steam rips the liquid apart completely to form tiny, atomised droplets". "The droplets create a massive surface area that speeds up brewing reactions.Carlsberg are among others may soon begin using the process". says Jens Thorup, the technical director behind the process. Also adopting the technique are Sheapards Neame, and Burton.