irish beer

I was talking to an Irishman the other day, (I knew he was Irish because he walked into the restaurant I work in his first words were "how bout a shot 'o jameson lad?') anyway we were talkin about alcohol and I told him i brewed and so did he. lol he says "made a beer tis about 50 proof, filtered it through a sock, we call it 'squishy' " I didn't ask about the name, the man clearly knows what he's doing. anyway i'm sure some of you will pick this apart, i just had a great time talking with this man, good fun. I can't get that accent out of my head now.

Getting a beer above 20% ABV just by fermentation is pretty tough. He probably used fractional freezing to remove water and thereby concentrate the alcohol in the beer - not sure of the legality of that in the U.S. states (it probably varies).

My understanding is any form of distilling is illegal without a license and proper permits. I'm not a lawyer but I try to follow the law and have not even really looked into it. From other threads here freezing is kind of a pain and not worth the bother without a centrifuge to help the separation.
I am kind of surprised that you could even understand him, you get some Irish and Scott's with couple of beers in them I can't understand a word they are saying until I have had a few myself.
Then somehow I can track them.

Freezing is considered concentration and not distillation by the TTB and is legal (James Spencer at BBR contacted them to confirm).

Liquor is distilled from a 'beer'. A mash that is first fermented than distilled.

I don't think he was talking about that being a 'beer' as we use the term.

Filtering through a sock sounds a lot like charcoal filtering with a cheap and easy charcoal container, and he WAS drinking jameson.

Yeah, I don't think he was brewing Beer

jschaf said:

he says "made a beer tis about 50 proof, filtered it through a sock, we call it 'squishy' " I didn't ask about the name, the man clearly knows what he's doing.

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Dude, he was just pulling your leg ;D

We Irish like to spin yarns.

yeah obviously, like i said i thought it was hilarious. but who am I to question a professional alcoholic?

Henry Hill said:

Liquor is distilled from a 'beer'. A mash that is first fermented than distilled.

I don't think he was talking about that being a 'beer' as we use the term.

Filtering through a sock sounds a lot like charcoal filtering with a cheap and easy charcoal container, and he WAS drinking jameson.

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Aye, tis true...once we Irishmen get a few brews in us the devil starts coming out...I doubt it was beer he brewed...