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Beer might not have as much alcohol as you think
It's an old link I stumbled upon... while I was looking up uh... studying...
Quote:
It smells like beer. It tastes like beer. But is it the same stuff you buy at the store? Not always. That five dollar cup of brew that you buy at a ballgame or a concert may actually have less alcohol in it. I-Team reporter Jon Baird has traveled from stadium to stadium and he'll tell you what's flowing from the taps.
Our first stop was the new Pac Bell Park in San Francisco.
Oh it's beer alright. According to state officials if the alcohol level is over one half percent, it is considered beer.
But when we tested different beers at different places we found some just didn't have the same kick.
Our first stop was the sparkling new Pac Bell Park in San Francisco. The place with the boats in the outfield and a good place to kick feet your feet up soak up the sun and quaff down a cold one.
We ordered up a small bud and then dumped some of it into a little jar. Then we crammed the jar into our dodger blue ice chest and headed for Arco Arena.
We ordered a bud there too. Then sneaked into a rest room to pour our sample into another jar.
We grabbed some Miller Genuine Draft at the amphitheater and more beer samples at Raley Field. And we made beer pit stops in Modesto, Stockton, Oakland and the state fair.
Then we had the beer tested by a laboratory for alcohol content. What did we find? We already knew that Budweiser in the store is listed as five-percent alcohol. We even tested a bottle to be sure. And yet when we bought Budweiser at Pac Bell Park and the coliseum, guess what. The brew was only four-percent alcohol.
We ordered up a small bud and then dumped some of it into a little jar.
As for Miller Genuine Draft, samples we took at Raley Field and the amphitheater all registered 3.87 percent. A can of MGD itself was at four and a half percent.
At Raley Field the concession manager said there's a very good reason for the lower alcohol beer.
Concession Manager:"It provides our consumer a safer way to drink. They can still drink what they normally feel they can and still be able to not feel the effects quite as strong.
He points out that fans can buy other beers at Raley. Some full strength beers.
And during our travels we found full strength Budweiser at Arco Arena and at baseball parks in Stockton and Modesto. The two beers we sampled at the fair were also full strength.
But state officials say lower-strength beer is actually pretty common. The reason is sports venues don't want people to get overly intoxicated. They want people to come enjoy the game and not get drunk and get rowdy.
And no the beer companies don't have to tell you that the beer is lower in alcohol. But is there really a difference? Another lab figured that with five-percent beer it would take a little over two and a half 12 ounce servings to become legally intoxicated. But with four-percent beer it would take about 3 and a third servings.
Samples of Miller Genuine Draft we took at Raley Field and the amphitheater all registered 3.87 percent.
A doctor at UC Davis who studies the effects of alcohol thinks the lower levels may actually lead to higher beer sales.
Dr.: "If they can't get a buzz then they'll drink more.
Still, when we told some fans at about the lower alcohol beer they seemed surprised, but that's it.
What do the brewers say about this? Anheuser Busch told us, "in California, four-percent beer has become the concessions industry standard for beer sold at major entertainment and sports venues."
And Miller said retailers are offered the option of buying four-percent beer or five-percent beer and the decision is up to the concessionaire.
We should make clear that we only tested a few of the many beers available. The microbrews we tested came back as full strength in the five percent range.
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