Formaldehyde in beer?

While visiting some countries in Asia I sampled quite a few of their local brews (all of which were pretty crappy) I heard a lot of the other people I was travelling with (sailors) saying that these beers have formaldehyde added to them. i.e. San Miguel, Tiger, Hite, etc. I was wondering if anyone knew if there is any truth to this or if it is just b.s.?

I remember my uncle, who served in Vietnam, saying something along those lines. Wondering if it's due to hop supply being limited in Asian countries (since formaldehyde is a preservative), or people just like more chemicals in their brew...?!

I'm not sure, I have a hard time believing most of the humors I hear but one thing is certain... The beers I had over there were complete garbage!

Asian people have lower levels of the enzyme needed to deal with alcohol so get drunk easier, hence they're likely to only want weaker stuff so it doesn't surprise me you weren't finding bombers of arrogant bastard.

i went to the Bier Garden in Portsmouth VA. they have over 300 different beers and a quite knowledgeable staff. one of bartenders claimed that Heineken has formaldehyde in it.

she got a bottle of Heineken and a full glass of water. she opened the beer, put her finger over the hole, turned the beer upside down, submerged the top of the bottle neck into the glass of water, and removed her finger from the hole.

you could see something draining out of the bottle into the water. it was a clear stream that distorted the water, a bit like heat from an exhaust pipe will do to the air.

after about two minutes of draining the formaldehyde from the beer, she put her finger back over the hole, turned the beer right side up, and poured the beer into four glasses and gave me one of them. the Heineken tasted TOTALLY different. it no longer tasted like skunk and arm pit. it now tasted more like rolling rock.

give it a try at home.

if it is in there, its probably used as a clarifying agent. much like the austrian used an ingredient in antifreeze to give their wines a full body and got busted back in '85.
i can see formaldehyde being a by product of something else though and not actually added on purpose. much like morons think tobacco companies spray hundreds of chemmicals onto the tobacco when actually the vast majority of that junk just comes out when you burn plant matter.
hieneken doesn't have formaldehyde in it though, that's ridiculous. do you folks think jagermeister still has a bunch of stag blood in it also?

here's this too:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Beer-2269/2008/6/formaldehyde-Heineken-beer.htm
http://www.drinkingbeer.net/BeerArticles/Top_10_Beer_Myths.php5
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/14/content_460109.htm

ChillWill said:

Asian people have lower levels of the enzyme needed to deal with alcohol so get drunk easier, hence they're likely to only want weaker stuff so it doesn't surprise me you weren't finding bombers of arrogant bastard.

Click to expand...

funny thing, I found a bar in Manila, PI that had oaked arrogant bastard in twelve ouncers...of course it was about 7-8 bucks a pop!