'Delirium tremens' is the technical name for a stage of alcohol withdrawal during which a patient experiences violent shakes and hallucinatory visions. The writer Jack London referred to it as 'seeing pink elephants' (which, accordingly, are depicted on the bottle of the beer). The beer itself was launched on Boxing Day 1989 and quickly gained recognition as one of the world's finest beers. In 1997 beer writer Stuart Kallen declared it the best beer in the world, and a year later it won a gold medal at the Chicago World Beer Championships.