Beers getting weaker.

lamoss

I was up town the other day looking around for that new Molson canadian lager, I only wanted to buy 2 cans to try out as I saw on the other thread that it was only 4% abv, I could have bought a 8 pack but did not want to waste my money on something I would probably not like.

While I was looking around I was checking out some of the cans I used to buy, Some had new packaging and I was curious to see if they had improved, but I was shocked to see that a lot of them have got weaker.

Fosters was 4.3%.............Now 4%
Bottles of miller were up to about 3 years ago 4.7 %..........now 4.3%
Tuborg used to be 4.2%...............now 4%
Harp now 4%
Bottles of brama used to be 4.6%...............now 4.3%
Tiger was 5%...........now 4.8%
The ultimate I saw was Bud light which used to be 4.1% ..........Now down to 3.8%.( I only tried his once and spat it out it was so vile )
These are only some I saw recently, but I know that others have dropped in strength as well. Is 4.% the new 4.3% ? Why do brewers make these weak beers even weaker..........it doe not make sense

slayerking

I believe all the big macro brewers use high gravity brewing techniques where they brew beer at a higher gravity and add water post fermentation to get it to the desired final alcohol.
The more water added, the lower the alcohol will be BUT you will end up with more beer to sell. I'd imagine that its just a case of trying to get as much money as possible by having more product to sell but in a way that's not too noticeable. I've also seen a good few different bottles of macro beer looking like 330 ml, but actually being 275 ml, this again is similar tactics to 'trick' people and make more money!!

Coupled with the fact that all those brands are established and the general Irish public's nature to blindly purchase a brand regardless, they're on to a winner!!

rubadub

lamoss wrote: »

Is 4.% the new 4.3% ? Why do brewers make these weak beers even weaker..........it doe not make sense

it does seem to be the new 4.3%. 4.3% was a pretty much standard for heineken, carlsberg & bud here. Guinness is 4.2%, many guessed it was 4.3%.

Heineken is only 4.3% here and some other country/region, everywhere else is usually 5%.

Some of the weaker beers here are intended for the UK market, which is typically lower than here unless specifically marked as export. So you might get 3.8% carlsberg here. Tesco import a lot, they can have lower % becks.

Becks vier was 4% in the UK and 4.3% here, probably to match others here.

Stella dropped in % too, I think it was about 5.3%. I think this is partly why stella got a reputation for giving hangovers, people drinking the same volume without accounting for the higher %.

Dutch gold has also gone from 4.2 to 4.0. And lidl dropped one of their cheapo ones.

It is similar to chocolate bars, rather than increase the price they can reduce the ingredients used and charge the same.

dmcdermo

Excise duty on beer is levied by the %age alcohol so weaker beers attract less tax so the brewer keeps more of the cost price = more profit.

Staff Infection

I'm open to correction here but could it also be that the Brewers want you to buy more beer?
So if Joe Punter notices their usual beer is now weaker they might buy an extra can to compensate.
Similarly in a pub setting if a beer is now weaker than it was previously then individuals may be able to drink and thus buy more beer before feeling any ill effects.

howamidifferent

Maybe Roisin Shorthall won the breweries over to her healthy drinking policies. :eek:

rubadub

howamidifferent wrote: »

Maybe Roisin Shorthall won the breweries over to her healthy drinking policies. :eek:

This gives breweries a good defence argument. Some of the shrinking chocolate bar companies said it was to give people smaller portions for health reasons.

coylemj

I think it's part of a general trend to screw the consumer. I've seen multiple articles in UK newspapers about things like chocolate bars and packets of biscuits getting smaller but the price staying the same.

Ravelleman

This is a trend across the food and drink industry. Rather than raise prices, manufacturers are giving you less quantity for the same price. Hence Yorkies only having five squares now instead of six (with Yorkie printed on each square instead of one letter across each of the six). It's the same with beer. Hence also the appearance of the 440ml can.

lamoss

I have to agree with everything posters are saying here , its a race to the bottom in terms of giving drinkers a decent product at a sensible price. Take bramah for example, when I first tried this it was 4.6% and was not a bad drink, not too strong ,but not too weak either it went down well. The next time I tried it ,it tasted watery I looked at the lable and saw it had dropped in strenght to 4.3 % I have stopped buying it now as the product has been ruined by making it weaker. If they had left it alone and put up the price a small amount I would have still bought it.
In a pale lager you need a bit of a stronger ABV to give it a bit of body and a bit more flavour , in an ale or bitter you can get away with a lower ABV as they have barley and different hops in them to give them a more rounded flavour.

The offers they have on in tesco are a good way to try out different types of beers, ales and lagers, there is so much more on the market then just watered down American style pi**y lagers.