US beer

[oxf]

Perhaps someone can answer this for me. I have noticed that bottles/cans of beer in the USA never have any indication of the acoholic strength on them. This even includes beer that is produced outside the US and imported into the US. Is there some law in the USA that forbids desplaying telling the customer how strong it is? Every other country I have been to always has the %ABV on the label.

Just curious!

[isaacj87]

Perhaps someone can answer this for me. I have noticed that bottles/cans of beer in the USA never have any indication of the acoholic strength on them. This even includes beer that is produced outside the US and imported into the US. Is there some law in the USA that forbids desplaying telling the customer how strong it is? Every other country I have been to alwats has the %ABV on the label.

Just curious!

A couple months ago, I wanted to try out Bud Light Platinum. When I tasted it, the taste was pretty much the same as Bud Light. I remember thinking, "what's so special about this beer?" So, I looked at the bottle and read that it has 6% ABV. I can't remember whether I've read the ABV on a can of beer, but I do recall reading it on bottles.

[Frogs Hair]

Micro brews with high alcohol content will often display the % on the label . Most of the major brands like Bud and Miller run about 4% to 6%. There are some states that have or had a 3.2 % regulation and this was/is called "near beer." I don't know how many states still have these kinds of laws on the books.

[oxf]

Micro brews with high alcohol content will often display the % on the label . Most of the major brands like Bud and Miller run about 4% to 6%. There are some states that have or had a 3.2 % regulation and this was/is called "near beer." I don't know how many states still have these kinds of laws on the books.

Now you mention it I do recall some of the designer microbrews having %ABV on the label. But why don't run of the mill ones like Bud/Miller/Coors etc etc have it on the label? Even Mexican/European imports dont seem to. I once asked a bar tender about this and he just shrugged and didn't know the answer except to say "just the way it is"

[uRock]

Heineken does not have the ABV rating. Pyramid Thunderhead is labeled 6.7% and Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat is labeled 5.2%. I think most cheap American beers do not mark their percentages due to embarrassment of their weakness.

[elliotn]

here in SA all alcohol must carry the Alc/vol in them, even the imported beers like MGD,Amstel and Heineken, they normally vary from 4.0% alc/vol to 6.5% alc/vol, I haven't seen a beer that passed 6.5 and last time I check Castle Milk Stout was 6% lowest bring Castle Lite at 4.0%, Black Label at 5.0%, Castle lager 5.4%
...... hot stuff are heavy with most at 43% like Gordon Dry Gin

[Copper Bezel]

Weird. I'll be honest, I drink a lot of cheap beer; but everything I buy is labeled for ABV. (Killian's, Liney's, Guinness....)

Edit: Oh, and here in Kansas, there are rules on the ABV this or that sort of retailer can sell, so the proper beverage outlets sell exclusively the 5%-ish beer, while gas stations and grocery stores can only sell the 3.2%.

[Bandit]

Perhaps someone can answer this for me. I have noticed that bottles/cans of beer in the USA never have any indication of the acoholic strength on them. This even includes beer that is produced outside the US and imported into the US. Is there some law in the USA that forbids desplaying telling the customer how strong it is? Every other country I have been to always has the %ABV on the label.

Just curious!

Some do here in the US, but most dont show the alc content. Reason I can think of is the states set the alch level for determining what license you need to sell. For example you need a license to sell Beer and one for stronger stuff like Big Beers (Chimay for example) Wines and Liquors. So instead of Budweiser making 50 different labels per se for each state, they just make one without the content displayed. 50 labels is an exaggeration, but you get the point. That however doesn't explain why other beers that are imported can be sold under the same license and still have higher alch content. I know Tennessee if I am not mistaken has like 5.2ish percent and here in Mississippi its like 4.7ish percent for domestic horse ****.

[Bandit]

Heineken does not have the ABV rating. Pyramid Thunderhead is labeled 6.7% and Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat is labeled 5.2%. I think most cheap American beers do not mark their percentages due to embarrassment of their weakness.

LOL this is prob the best answer.



I got a few empty bottles of Chimay 9% and Steen Burgge 8.7% on my fridge. Wished they were full again.. :D

[F.G.]

mmm... american beer.

from what i recall in the states alot of the generic domestic beer (pbr, busch etc) doesn't have it's strength on particularly light beer, though it is fairly easy to find out on the web. certainly i think the stronger ones do have the strength marked (i;m thinking Old English and Natty Ice, which i think has 6.4 on the tin) also i think most microbrews do (particularly the stronger ones like Arrogant Bastard and Russian Imperial Stout, which i think are 7.4 and 12 % respectively).

yeah there are definitely some states where the strength of the beer is limited to 3.something , i think Utah is one of them. coming from the uk it does seem pretty odd that it isn't a requirement to have the strength on the tin, still were talking about a country that have 9% alcoholic drinks (even 12% 'Crunk Juice') as 'energy drinks'.

edit -> just thinking about different beers, found this website:
http://www.alcoholcontents.com/beer/
i guess i was wrong about natural ice. some quite interesting reading though i doubt it is accurate across all states. and yeah, apparently Utah have a statewide limit of 4% (3.2 by wieght) for alcohol.

[stalkingwolf]

all at least as far as i know are required to have the alchohol content on the label. it is part of the truth in labeling laws.

what is not required is for it to be of a size that is readable. The proverbial fine print. i have also seen it hidden in art work.

[Gone fishing]

I thought American beer was nasty mass produced stuff like Miller - appears I was completely wrong and America has a vibrant micro brewery industry producing really interesting beer.

Shows how wrong you can be - maybe someday I'll get over there and try some.

[Simian Man]

I thought American beer was nasty mass produced stuff like Miller - appears I was completely wrong and America has a vibrant micro brewery industry producing really interesting beer.

Shows how wrong you can be - maybe someday I'll get over there and try some.

Good beer is going through kind of a renaissance right now. The most common beers are still Bud Light and Miller Light, but more people are drinking better stuff than in the past. And stores are offering more options than they used to.

[Copper Bezel]

So to clarify by "American beer", this discussion is referring specifically to American beer, mass-produced things (not microbrews) that are made in the US (not imported) as opposed to "beer sold in the US"? (I would have assumed that the labeling rules were universal.) Of the ones I mentioned earlier, Killian's still counts, though, and I could swear it has the ABV here in Kansas.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I was curious so I checked a can of Budweiser. I has 5% ALC/VOL printed on the can along with 145 calories, 10.6g carbohydrates, 1.3g protein, and 0g fat. It is written in the smallest font on the can.

I also checked a can of Coors and surprisingly didn't find anything about alcohol content; although, I know it is also 5%.

It may have something to do with this lawsuit http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=514&invol=476


Because 5(e)(2) of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (FAAA or Act) prohibits beer labels from displaying alcohol content, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) rejected respondent brewer's application for approval of proposed labels that disclosed such content. Respondent filed suit for relief on the ground that the relevant provisions of the Act violated the First Amendment's protection of commercial speech. The Government argued that the labeling ban was necessary to suppress the threat of "strength wars" among brewers, who, without the regulation, would seek to compete in the marketplace based on the potency of their beer. The District Court invalidated the labeling ban, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Although the latter court found that the Government's interest in suppressing "strength wars" was "substantial" under the test set out in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of N. Y., 447 U.S. 557 , the court held that the ban violates the First Amendment because it fails to advance that interest in a direct and material way.

Some companies may continue to not print the alcohol content because of this law that was invalidated in 1995.

[Bandit]

Good beer is going through kind of a renaissance right now. The most common beers are still Bud Light and Miller Light, but more people are drinking better stuff than in the past. And stores are offering more options than they used to.

Yea thank god.. I hate Budlight mess..

Samuel Adams Brewery is one of the few widely available micro-brewers here in the US that you can find in almost all gas stations and convenient stores. Yet its still like less then 1% of the US market. Blue Moon is also becoming very popular past 10 years as well. But better they are, I would still like to see more Big Beers on store shelves.

[zer010]

Here in Alabama, the state limit was 6%, but a local liquor store owner fought to have it raised due to the requests of foreign students in the state. Now the limit on beer is 12% and wine is around 21%.
I do find that only beers of the upper limits have the percentage printed on the vessel, while the run of the mill don't.

[Gone fishing]

Consumer pressure can do it - in Britain in the 70s bear was nasty stuff, Watney's Red Barrel, Brew X1, Uggh I think even continuous fermentation process were tried in an attempt to make the beer as nasty as possible (and cheap to make).

Then we got CAMRA http://www.camra.org.uk/ and everything changed, beer in the UK is good now every pub has a few different types. Too expensive though.