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Is there such thing as 3.2 beer?
hughbetcha
Member Posts: 7,801 ✭✭✭
I know there used to be certain parts of the Midwest where beer was restricted in the amount of alcohol by percentage. We used to call this 3.3 beer. Is this still the case in some areas? 3.2 is precent meaning 6.4 proof, right? My brother and I got into this discussion during Superbowl. I thought that there was a national standard of 5% alcohol for all types of beer, he said it still varies by state. How could brewers maintain different procucts for different states?Any beer experts want to explain this?
Comments
The same brand of beer in a liqour store would be 5% or higher.
Yep, when I was in college, the locality only recently became "wet" and started out offering "near beer." May still be the case; I'm not sure.
Near beer - definition from gcide
Near beer \Near beer Any of various malt liquors (see Citation below).
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Near beer is a term of common currency used to
designate all that class of malt liquors which contain
so little alcohol (usually less than 1/2 per cent) that
they will not produce intoxication, though drunk to
excess, and includes in its meaning all malt liquors
which are not within the purview of the general
prohibition law. --Cambell v.
City of
Thomasville,
Georgia Appeal
Records, 6
212.
Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
-Benjamin Franklin
Oh.. I don't know about the US, but here in Denmark we have a good variety of Gold-type beer (strong beer) at around 7.5%.
Don't do anything that I've allready done - That'd be just plain STOOOOOOPID.
The only way to get stoned??? - Whisky on the rocks offcourse.!!
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So, beer distributors have to ship two kinds of beer into the same market. What a pain is the neck. What kind of beer to they serve in bars?
In Kansas, it depends on the county. Most county's only sell 3.2 in grocery stores, but bars serve regular beer. However, there are a few county's where bars can only serve 3.2 beer, and that is it. Not even hard liquor.
I picked up some "Polygamy Porter" last time I was in Utah- classic, was 4% I think
I think there if it wasn't from a liquor store they also had the 3.2 limit
Somewhere around here I have a beer encyclopedia. It has just about all the beers in the world listed, along with analyses. The highest alcohol content was about 8% if memory serves.
That bears witness with what my Biology professor stated. That brewed and fermented beverages naturally stop producing alcohol at a certain point. With wines that point is about 12%. Wines with more alcohol are known as "fortified wines," that is, their alcohol content is adjusted by adding pure alcohol until the desired proof is reached. e.g. "M-D 20-20."
I suppose there could be a fortified beer, too, but I have never seen one.
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I remember my Dad would be pi$$ed if he didn't have enough 6% beer to coast all weekend!
Yeah Carlsberg makes some great stuff when we reach their strong beer.
Nunn..
Holland and belgium typically makes good beer which is around 7-12%.
A few reaches 14% - but then they add alc along the process to get that vol.
I have tried a few around 15 and the strongest I believe was australian around 17%.
So contest all you want, but take a trip around Europe first =o)
Don't do anything that I've allready done - That'd be just plain STOOOOOOPID.
The only way to get stoned??? - Whisky on the rocks offcourse.!!
Wanna see somethin' scary.?? Click here...
Hey TS, the next time your up here in OK would ya let me know first? I'll pay you to bring me some real beer!
No problem my friend
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them." - John Wayne
The strongest wine that can be made is 18% alcohol. At that point, during the fermentation process, the alcohol is so strong that it kills the yeast.
I made a 16% wine once. I figured, the more alcohol, the better. It turned out that the taste of the alcohol was too strong. It overwhelmed the taste of the wine.
The strongest wine you will see will be about 14%. Unless the wine has something added, like a lot of sugar in a port type wine, to mask the taste of the alcohol, it just doesn't taste well.
As for beer, I imagine the same principle would apply and you could make an 18% beer. I tried making a 6% beer once. This was a very heavy stout. Once again, the taste of the alcohol was a bit much, and now I only go up to 5.5% even with a heavy bodied beer.
I tested a regular Budweiser once, and found it to be only 3.8% alcohol.
So, most beers available here in the US are not much stronger than the 3.2 beer.
Wines are required to list the alcohol per cent on the bottle. Beer is not required to give the alcohol content, so it is anybody's guess.
About 10 years ago GA decided that the strongest beer that could be sold was 4%. This knocked off a lot of my personal favorites, including Sierra Nevade Celebration (6.8%). This last June, GA repealed that law and now allows up to 14%. Some of the better microbreweries immediately started making craft beers in the 10+ range.
cbxjeff<P>It's too late for me, save yourself. <br>
This is definitely a state-law thing. Congress would be pushing outward on a constitutional bubble that the Supreme Court has been trying to shrink back down since 1995, after 58 years of unchecked expansion. (The power "to regulate interstate commerce" was applied at one point to allow Congress to tell a subsistence farmer how much grain he can grow.)
You do not want Congress telling the states what amount of alcohol their beer can have, no matter the convenience it would be to industry or the public. This is a constitutional matter, and when it comes to interpreting the Constitution, consideration for what's convenient must always take a back seat.
That said, I don't drink beer. Never acquired the taste, I guess. Anyone got some bourbon? [:D]
Noli Illegitimi Carborundum
My two favorites Genesee ale and
Molsons Golden are hard to beat.
You will be surprized.
SITAA
"We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song
Like the seasons are all gone"
I contest the 16-18% claim.
Somewhere around here I have a beer encyclopedia. It has just about all the beers in the world listed, along with analyses. The highest alcohol content was about 8% if memory serves.
That bears witness with what my Biology professor stated. That brewed and fermented beverages naturally stop producing alcohol at a certain point. With wines that point is about 12%. Wines with more alcohol are known as "fortified wines," that is, their alcohol content is adjusted by adding pure alcohol until the desired proof is reached. e.g. "M-D 20-20."
I suppose there could be a fortified beer, too, but I have never seen one.
Nunn, you are spot on. Some of the "malt liquors" might be considered fortified beers, but nobody who is a real fan of beer will touch those. You can "fortify" beer by freezing it and removing the ice crystals, thereby removing water, and increasing the alcohol content, but this is really a pointless exercise, since it spoils the carbonation and is also against Federal law!
Ordinary yeasts that ferment beer and wine will die at about 12-13% alcohol by volume, so unless you use special engineered strains of yeast (which do exist) or other special tricks, you can't really get any naturally fermented beverage to have more than about 13% alcohol.
In terms of "real" beers, they tend to top out at about 6-7% alcohol. Some of the stronger Eastern European beers, like imperial stouts are normally that strong. Also, the Belgians produce a number of specialty beers than can range up to 8% alcohol or so.
In addition, there are "barley wines" which are effectively beers fermented to extremely high alcohol contents like wines that run up to the full 12%, but these are specialty beers that require lengthy aging. As an aside, I used to make beer all the time, and what I found is that once you get past about 6% alcohol by volume, the beers dont taste quite as good. So as a general rule, I don't deliberately make beers stronger than that.
The standard American light lager is 5% alcohol by volume. That includes Bud, Miller, Rolling Rock, Coors, and most of the similar imports like Molson, Corona, etc.
Getting back to the 3.2 beer, most common domestic light beers are about 3% alcohol by volume, including Bud lite, Miller lite, etc.
*BUT* the 3.2 beer is measured in terms of alcohol *BY WEIGHT*. So 3.2 beer is actually 3.2% alcohol by WEIGHT, which is the same as 4% alcohol by volume. . .or 80% the kick of standard American beers. As a means of comparison, standard draft Guiness Stout is also 4.0% alcohol.
In my opinion any jurisdiction that is restricting beer to 3.2 beer needs to get its head out of its you-know-where. Its the 21st century. The prohibition was a failure. . .get over it.
[/quote]
Might be the first time Ted Kennedy and I agreed on anything!
I think that all of the Pizza Hut restaurants in this part of the country only serve 3.2. Gives me one more reason, besides their nasty pizza, to not go there.
Did somebody mention Grain Belt? They make it in a "leaded" version too. When I was in high school, they still packaged it in corrugated cardboard boxes. Never had to worry about anybody taking mine when I walked into a party with it. Tasted like someone had left a little wheat chaff in the bottom of the can.
If you could get a buzz on 3.2 you must have 4 kidneys and a bladder the size of a medicine ball! After a gallon or so I spent more time in the men's room than I did at the bar.
cbxjeff<P>It's too late for me, save yourself. <br>
I guess it cuts down on problems when they have bat night at the Ranger's games. [:D]
NRA Life Endowment Member
store, as all other liquor stores are closed. Not to worry, you can always jump in your car and get high alcohol micro-brews on Sunday, Ive never understood that????
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Had a friend that worked as a distributer salesman. claimed alot of brewers wouldn't change the alcohal levels in their beer, that it was cheaper paying the fine than cleaning out the vats to change up.
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the voices in my head don't scare me. it's only when they stop that i get a little nervous.
It gets confusing for U.S. beer drinkers because the alcoholic strength of wine the world over and beer almost everywhere outside of the United States is measured by volume. If you know the alcohol by volume (abv), multiply that by .8 and you'll be pretty close to the alcohol by weight (abw). Inversely, multiply the abw by 1.25 to find the approximate abv. So 3.2 beer is measured by weight and 6.0 is by volume
So 6.0% abv is really about 4.8%abw
3.2% abw is about 4.0% abv
Alaskan Amber - Altbier - 5.2abv/4.2abw
BridgePort Old Knucklehead - Barley Wine - 9.1abv/7.3abw
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - Imperial Stout - 8.3abv/6.6abw
Celis White - Belgian Wit - 4.9abv/3.9abw
Chimay Grand Reserve - Trappist - 9abv/7.2abw
Duvel - Belgian Strong Golden Ale - 8.5abv/6.8abw
Fuller's London Pride - Bitter - 4.7abv/3.8abw
Gordon Biersch Marzen - Marzen-Oktoberfest - 5.8abv/4.6abw
Mackeson Stout - Sweet Stout - 5abv/4abw
Magic Hat Blind Faith IPA - India Pale Ale - 6.1abv/4.9abw
Oasis Zoser Stout - Oatmeal Stout - 5abv/4abw
O'Dell's 90 Shilling - Scottish - 5.6abv/4.5abw
Paulaner Salvator - Dopplebock - 7.5abv/6abw
Pete's Wicked Brown - American Brown Ale - 5.2abv/4.2abw
Pilsner Urquell - Pilsner - 4.4abv/3.3abw
Redhook ESB - Extra Special Bitter - 5.4abv/4.3abv
Samuel Adams Boston Lager - Bohemian-style Pilsener - 4.75abv/3.8abw
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - 5.3abv/4.2abw
Theakston Old Peculier - Old Ale - 5.6abv/4.5abw
Tucher Helles Hefe Weizen - Hefeweizen - 5.3abv/4.2abw
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