Stoutrageous... Is £22.50 pint UK’s priciest?

WHEN the barman tells you how much this pint costs, it’s more than likely you’ll need a stiff drink.

For a draft pint of Alesmith Speedway Stout Hawaiian Special Edition comes in at a staggering £22.50.

The US beer is brewed in San Diego and is said to command such a price because of its extremely expensive ingredients – which include Blue Mountain Coffee from Hawaii.

Drinkers happy to hand over £22.50 will get a super-strong stout (its alcohol by volume is 12 per cent) which the Alesmith Brewing Company describes as having an ‘ominous’ appearance, with flavours of chocolate and malts, supported by ‘notes’ of dark fruit, toffee, and caramel.

But the pricey pint – more than five times the cost of an average beer – has left drinkers unconvinced, with one saying it ‘tastes like an old blanket’, while another joked it ‘costs more than my mortgage’.

It is imported by the Craft Beer Co, which has pubs across London and the South East, and is being sold by the third of a pint as standard.