Why does England water down the ABV
 

it’s getting hard to find a 5.0 % ABV beer these days. Looks like only Peroni and Heineken are 5.0. Stella, Estrella, Moretti, etc are all low 4’s. I couldn’t believe even white claw (hard seltzer) which I drink at home (5%) are watered down here too.

Well if you drink mass production pisswater, what do you expect?

But for a better explanation:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41059610.amp

Tax is lower on 3.5% and below drinks. The ABV on a label is allowed to be out by 0.5%, so your 4% labelled beers are actually being brewed at 3.5% to lower the tax burden.

There's also genuinely an increasing market for lower strength beers too.

Tell me how you really feel.

:D

In the 1970s/80s the standard ABV for lagers sold in the UK (“pisswater”) was under 3.5% so we’ve come full circle.


BBC NEWS | Business | The death of cheap lager

Everything old is New again. 😏

That last point is certainly true in the real ale space, where better tasting session ales are very desirable. I had a glass of 13.5% stout as my cheeky shopping tipple, today. For some reason, the barman would serve me no more than a third of a pint.

Ooft - I generally tend to favour stout as something to drink if starting very early (e.g. a noon rugby game) - a sort of breakfast drink, if you will. 13.5% would not be in order!

But you remind me of the time when I passed through LHR (T1 I think, which dates it), and asked for a pint of Leffe - only to be told that it can only be served in half pints due to its strength... but she could pour me two half pints if I wanted!

Don't rub it in!

You visiting the UK then? As Scots_Al suggests you have to look at the speciality stuff. Fortunately I have a few local places that produce good stuff.

Yep. Bud Lite's not a thing here either.

:p

Lower-ABV beers are not "watered down", but simply produced differently. Nowadays the alcohol content can be reduced without affecting the taste, which must surely be a good thing.

Indeed watered down beer is a different proposition to beee that has been specifically brewed to have a lower alcohol content.

Exactly… there are local breweries in every town that will generally do a high ABV IPA / Stout etc. If you choose to go to pubs that do Stella / Heineken etc., then that’s your problem :)

Conversely, when in the US, we like to do self paced brewery tours. It’s increasingly difficult to find anything < 6%. There doesn’t seem to be a concept of a “session” beer :D

16oz pints ... deduct 20% to get your true alcohol consumption :). And more scarily, add 25% plus a tip to the price to reach equivalence.

I was in a taproom in Bermondsey ahead of the Millwall-Norwich game last night. ABVs ranged from 4.5% to 10.5%. In retrospect given Norwich's performance, I should have headed towards the anesthetic (or perhaps anesthesia) end ...

But certainly whether you look at craft beer or real ale, you easily find strengths between 3.6% and 5.5% in pretty much any decent pub, and it's not terribly hard to find stronger stuff if you want it.

International beers brewed in the UK under license are best avoided. Here’s a data point: