One for Jester...

[Chromatix]

Accusations that American "light beers" were watered down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21652311

[PepperElf]

i'd like to see the results of the case myself

But in every other circumstance, the Anheuser-Busch logo is our ironclad guarantee that the beer in your hand is the best beer we know how to brew,"

That actually scares me a bit. Mainly cos I think their beer tastes like crap. ...

[wolfie]

I'd say the complaints are B.S. - after all, alcohol is a highly-regulated commodity, and any booze that deviates from the stated alcohol content is dangerous, whether stronger (for obvious reasons) or weaker (someone used to a "watered down" brew drinking the same quantity of an "honest" brew with the same stated alcohol content).

My take on what's happening - it's either a confusion over some jurisdictions requiring booze to be labeled according to % alcohol by volume, and others requiring % alcohol by weight (source of U.S. beer having a reputation in Canada for being weak), or a case of "high density brewing".

What is high density brewing? It's an economy measure, allowing a brewery to increase production without buying bigger vats. Let's assume a beer with 5% ABV. If the brewery uses a higher concentration of malt in the wort, ferments it to 10% ABV, then dilutes it down to 5% at the bottling stage, they've doubled their capacity compared to producing the beer at the "drinking" strength.

[sms001]

Quoth PepperElf

Mainly cos I think their beer tastes like crap.

Not my favorite by a long shot, but it's a VERY popular beer, so we're in the minority.

Wolfie, I suspect you're right. With the incredible marketing machine AB has developed over the years, they could easily wage a 'Less alcohol, so you can enjoy more' sort of campaign and lower their abv legitimately if they wanted to reduce costs. And I'm doubtful that InBev(? whoever the new owners are) would risk a high profile icon for a few dollars. Guess we'll see.

[wolfie]

With the linked article mentioning continuous monitoring of alcohol content along with adding water, I'd suspect it's "high density brewing", and that the "insiders" revealing this are disgruntled former employees counting on the general public not knowing the way things are done, and therefore interpreting something innocentlegal-but-not-associated-with-GOOD-beer the wrong way.

An analogy: disgruntled ex-employee of $Aircraft_manufacturer reveals that on $Popular_model the deicing system is able to deal with moderate icing conditions, but under severe icing conditions the ice will build faster than the deicing system can get rid of it. How many people not involved with aviation would realize that this is not a revelation of a dangerous flaw, but merely a recitation of the definition of severe icing conditions?

[Jester]

I find this interesting for a number of reasons. The reason that made me laugh is that AB actually admitted that they are making the best beer the know how to make. And the stuff, while popular, is pretty much crap. (I often say that popularity does not denote quality, and use Bud Light and McDonald's as examples.)

I am also interested in the end result of this case. I see three possibilities.

1. Disgruntled employees/former employees making shit up. Reasons are obvious.

2. Disgruntled and/or misinformed employees/former employees being unaware of the high density brewing that may or may not be going on. While I have never heard of such a thing myself, it is not at all different from the way most liquor is produced, as it is generally distilled to a very high alcohol percentage, and then cut with water to bring it down to its drinkable level.

3. The brewer is actually guilty of what it is accused of. Those saying that this is unlikely may be ignorant of corporate history on such matters. Just because a corporation has a reputation to maintain has not deterred many corporations from engaging in questionable business and/or marketing practices in the past. And those saying it is unlikely for AB to do this simply to save "a few bucks" are not only overlooking the potential for corporate greed, but the sheer volume in which AB produces beer. In short, it would not be a few dollars they'd be saving, but a few MILLION.

I personally view all of these three possibilities as equally viable.

[PepperElf]

Quoth sms001

Not my favorite by a long shot, but it's a VERY popular beer, so we're in the minority.

Yeah but "popular" and "better" are two different things.

Cos... McDonald's is more popular than say ... 41 in Sydney, but I can assure you 41 is much better.
(Think Matrix & the steak - only they didn't have a harp when we were there).