(Ale in TX)

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JLem

JLem

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Just noticed on a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest that it has the word 'lager' printed in the bottom corner of the label, but '(Ale in TX)' printed in the top corner.

I wondered why it wasn't a lager in Texas and did a quick google search - came up with this http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/marketing_practices/bulletins/MPB007.pdf - apparently the state of Texas has defined 'Beer' to be a malt liquor with an ABV between 0.5% - 4% and 'Ale' as any malt liquor over 4% ABV. So a 4+% ABV lager has to be labeled as an ale.

My favorite part of the linked document is the rationale - so as not to mislead or deceive the consumer!
 
What the hell?!?!?!?!

Idiots.

I read the pdf and I'm even more confused.
I'm thinking of cracking open an nice 3.5% session ale now...er I mean Lager because I guess the fact that it was made with top fermenting yeast and fermented at 65 degrees means absolutely nothing to those cowboy hat wearing pencil necked geeks.
 
Revvy said:
What the hell?!?!?!?!

Idiots.

I read the pdf and I'm even more confused.
I'm thinking of cracking open an nice 3.5% session ale now...er I mean Lager because I guess the fact that it was made with top fermenting yeast and fermented at 65 degrees means absolutely nothing to those cowboy hat wearing pencil necked geeks.
Click to expand...

At 3.5% you've got yourself a plain old beer, Revvy - neither an ale nor a lager! Actually, lagers don't seem to exist in Texas
 
Texas it seems, has some really screwy laws when it comes to beer. It also has some very high licensing fees for breweries.
 
This is why most strong European lagers say "malt liquor" on the label. Either Paulaner or Spaten, can't remember which, uses "Ale" on their lagers (US labeling obviously).
 
It says that on the keg caps for Octoberfest too. A fellow employee and I noticed it because one of their keg caps came back on one of our kegs, and we were puzzled. I even said "it's probably a tax law." Now we know!
 
JLem said:
Just noticed on a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest that it has the word 'lager' printed in the bottom corner of the label, but '(Ale in TX)' printed in the top corner.

I wondered why it wasn't a lager in Texas and did a quick google search - came up with this http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/marketing_practices/bulletins/MPB007.pdf - apparently the state of Texas has defined 'Beer' to be a malt liquor with an ABV between 0.5% - 4% and 'Ale' as any malt liquor over 4% ABV. So a 4+% ABV lager has to be labeled as an ale.

My favorite part of the linked document is the rationale - so as not to mislead or deceive the consumer!
Click to expand...

Its 5% ABV, or 4% ABW. Anyway, you tell which ones are less than 5% by the ones that have the word "beer" on the labels because not all of them disclose. But yeah, stupid laws here. /Texas native
 
Cuz beer is beer. Ale and Lagers are for those sissy pants Yankees in their hoity toity circles.

YEE HAWWW!

Texas is so big and bad, our beers have to be small.
 
I was just reading the Old Ale section of Designing Great Beers and found this:
"During the Seventeenth Century it would have been redundant to say "strong" ale, because the word "ale" denoted strength and the word "beer" was reserved for "small malt liquors". This continued true during the nineteenth century...
 

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