a controversial term describing fun new beers created by craft brewers who want to push the envelope of traditional brewing culture. Although the beers themselves are widely enjoyed, the term “extreme brewing” evokes either an admirable spirit of rebellious creativity or a puerile and cynical attempt to market a manufactured “outsider” image, depending on one’s point of view. Given that the rise of the craft brewing movement has been predicated on the transgression of previously confining borders, it is not surprising that the term has been controversial. Although so-called extreme brewing started off as an American craft brewing phenomenon, these beers have had a strong influence on craft brewers worldwide.

Used more often by beer consumers, writers, and bloggers than actual commercial breweries, the term “extreme beer” has been applied to almost any beer that seems out of the ordinary, whether it is a matter of high alcohol, intense concentration of hop bitterness, unusual ingredients, or an innovative technique or inspiration. Some brewers, seemingly out of a juvenile desire to appear “outrageous,” espouse a wish to create the “hoppiest beer in the world” or the “strongest beer on Earth” and inevitably set about some scheme to achieve the dubious goal. The crowing brewer, having staked a claim for some silly superlative, is inevitably soon usurped by an upstart claiming the prize for himself.

Many beers that are labeled extreme are genuinely inventive and wonderfully flavorful. Many are strong, but have also undergone complex fermentations, barrel-aging regimes, and meticulous blending to achieve something harmonious and delicious. Whereas most beers have traditionally been made from malted grains, some type of bittering agent, and yeast, modern craft brewers are using everything from maple syrup to chilies, sweet potatoes to lemongrass, edible flowers to lychee fruit. The resulting beers range from disgusting to deeply strange to excellent, but the creativity that can be involved is undeniably refreshing.

Of course, people have been making beer for about 10,000 years, so the idea that one will create something absolutely new is almost surely as hubristic as it is irresistible. Only 250 years ago, colonists in the Americas were brewing beer with native corn, native rice, spruce tips, pumpkins, molasses, green peas, maple sap, wild herbs, potatoes, and just about anything else that might create fermentable sugars and a hopefully pleasant flavor. It might be argued that Italian craft brewers who are brewing beers from their native chestnuts are not practicing extreme brewing, but rather are engaged in very traditional brewing practices that seem unusual only from a very modern point of view. Similarly, strong beers of over 10% alcohol by volume have almost certainly been brewed since the dawn of civilization and have been commercially available for centuries. The growing interest in sour beer styles grows out of lambic brewing, one of the oldest beer traditions in the world. In Central and South America, indigenous people chewed corn so that their saliva would convert starches into sugars for the fermentation of their native chicha beer. Given that beer has such a complex history, what can truly be considered extreme?

Although many beer enthusiasts enjoy the term “extreme brewing,” many craft brewers quietly bristle. Having worked and sacrificed for many years to become skilled artisans and craftspeople, they are loathe to see themselves depicted in the public arena as unruly children trying to one-up each other in the playground. After all, they argue, people are not lining up for extreme food, extreme wine, or extreme whiskey—why should brewers allow themselves to be painted with such a pejorative brush? Labels do matter, especially in an environment where wine enjoys a much higher media profile than craft beer does. Craft beer still struggles to be heard by the mainstream media, and many brewers feel that the extreme label is patently unhelpful. Interestingly, many creative artists portrayed as radical or extreme have not enjoyed such titles, from Dizzy Gillespie in jazz in the 1940s and 1950s to the influential modern chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli today. They have argued that they were attempting to make something beautiful rather than being engaged in an attempt to be outrageous at any cost, but such thoughtful sentiments have often fallen on deaf ears.

Other brewers have embraced the term “extreme” wholeheartedly and built the marketing of their breweries around it. When it comes to getting attention from the media, loudness has always been more effective, and that has become particularly true as media evolves away from simple print and television and onto other platforms. If a brewer is willing to do anything for attention, the media will happily follow. What is certain is that brewers will continue to be adventurous souls, creating and recreating flavors that have not been tasted before, at least not in our lifetimes. And there will continue to be those creative brewers who prefer to think of themselves as iconoclasts and others who will continue to wear the words “extreme brewer” as a badge of honor.