Is it really 3.2?

[Stickshaker]

I have a brother in law who tends bar for his brother, the bar owner. The beer delivery guy told him that 3.2% is a myth. He said breweries have found it cheaper to pay a fine for "mislabeling" beer than it is to brew separate batches. I figured they just cooked the alcohol off. Could it be true?

 

[JefeTheVol]

Im willing to bet that state law is pretty hard to circumvent, especially by the larger BMC guys. That sounds like what a bartender tells his customers so they dont think they are paying full price for a 3.2% beer. Also, if I was a beer distributor in a state with a 3.2 law, I would spread that myth like wildfire. But thats just my .02%...hehe.

I did talk to the brewmaster at a Knoxville brew pub once and he told me he purposefully reports one of his beers under its actual ABV to avoid a taxation, so it must be easier for smaller breweries to lie "on label" than the larger ones, because the fact that BMC has to distribute while the brew pub sells only on-site.
-Jefe-

 

[McKBrew]

I'm willing to bet that a big brewer on the scale of BMC has more than enough capacity to brew a 3.2% beer for some markets and a different brew for others.

 

[MonkeyWrench]

I agree. There's actually quite a few states that mandate 3.2%. I would bet that the law is written so that every infraction of incorrect ABV will result in a fine, so a pint of over is a fine, and a case of over is 24 fines. Brewing weak beer for those states is probably worth it compared to the possible reprocussions.

That bar tender is just blowing smoke to make sales.

 

[sparkyaber]

3.2 for legal purposes is ABW which is Alcohol by weight. We all work in ABV. 3.2 ABW is about 4% ABV. Many light beers are right around 4% which would keep them right at the 3.2% ABW that is mandated.

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

I have a buddy that is the head brewer for a small production brewery that sells in Texas. He told me that the Texas Alcohol board (not sure of their official name) will randomly buy beer off of the shelves and test them to make sure they are properly labeled

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Why would they have to make a seperate batch. They know what they are doing. They make a high gravity beer then water it down so they get more out of their fermenters. Every once in awhile you can buy the undiluted budweiser. One of my employees had a bottle, he brought it in to work.

Forrest

 

[Pick]

Ohio used to be a 3.2 state. If you were between 18 and 21 that is all you could get. It tasted pretty weak. Someone said that 3.2 was between .5 and 3.2. The way some of it tasted, I would guess .5, especially the draft beer.

 

[Wayne1]

At least as far as Coors operation goes, they do brew completely separately beers for their 3.2 versions.

As is typical of an operation of their size, ALL of the beer is brewed to a higher gravity and then "blended" (de-aerated water is mixed in on the fly) before going into packaging. There is a different tax structure for 3.2 and at Coors, anyway, there is a full time government employee monitoring the blending process to make sure Uncle Sam gets what due to him.

Coors decided that there was too much of a taste change when watering down regular Coors to 3.2 so they do brew special batches meant to be sold that way. I am fairly certain that all the larger national companies do it this way. What happens in the smaller breweries, I can't say.

 

[nebben]

I have a brother in law who tends bar for his brother, the bar owner. The beer delivery guy told him that 3.2% is a myth. He said breweries have found it cheaper to pay a fine for "mislabeling" beer than it is to brew separate batches. I figured they just cooked the alcohol off. Could it be true?

It sounds like a myth that the delivery guy is perpetuating in order to sound cool or to try and sell more beer since if people believe it is higher % than allowable by law, they might drink more of it.

Either way, it isn't true.

 

[annasdadhockey]

MMMMMMMM!!!! 3.2% barleywine. I can't wait to try that.

 

[prrriiide]

3.2 beer...like sex in a canoe...&^*%$&% close to water...

 

[PanzerBanana]

Boy, hearing what some people have to put up with out there makes me a little more fond of Indiana, despite it's numerous short comings. We've got new breweries popping up. And one real gem! even things in the works to support beer tourism, and letting breweries sell alcohol on sundays, last I read on the former Beertown. And of course they're allowed to make real beer.

 

[BendBrewer]

I heard this 20 years ago about Pabst and their 'grocery store' 3.2 beer.

That they just paid the fine and put the same beer in the cans.

Not sure if it was just a marketing ploy or not though. Sounds good don't it?