I guess they can get away with the mislabelling a bit more in Europe. If I distilled a 120 proof whisky from a beer mash here in the States, I can guess my friends at the BATFE would not be too swayed by my insistence that “its a beer! no really it is!” ;D
I think at 196 proof or 98% alcohol, when exposed to air it will naturally take on water from the atmosphere until it hits a more stable, what was it, 190-195 proof? I can’t quite remember. But Everclear already has their 95% ABV beer, anyway.
It’s not the same. Distilling with heat removes the alcohol out of the solution, leaving the waste product behind. Ice distilling removes the water from the solution, which leaves what you’re looking for behind. It’s still beer, I say. Huzzah! 8)
It’s not identical, but freeze distillation is still considered a form of distillation by the authorities here; obviously the process is different, and the product is different from a heat distilled product. I for one wouldn’t be interested in anything too high-proof from freeze-distillation because there’s no opportunity to discard the “heads” and “tails” which contain lots of nasties like methanol, that would then be concentrated in the product. Bet the 120proof one gives a killer headache!!!
FTR there is some speculation that BrewDog’s beer is only around 30% abv according to some testing. Not sure exactly how true that is but take it for what it is worth.