Greetings, beer lovers! Happy Friday (however discordant the word “Happy” sounds now), and once (or not) again, ‘tis chingchongchinaman as your semi-friendly guest FNBB blogger, giving esquimaux another well-earned breather from blogging duties tonight. The starting point for this edition is this NYT article from exactly 4 weeks ago by Joshua M. Bernstein, about low-alcohol beers. Had one asked 3CM the loser to define a “low-alcohol” beer, given that I consider 5%-6% to be “moderate”, maybe I would have said something like 4% or so. It turns out that, according to JMB:
“The federal government lets breweries label beers less than 2.5 percent ‘low alcohol’.”
The thesis of JMB’s article goes:
“American brewing excels at extremes, delivering brawny stouts and I.P.A.s as well as nonalcoholic beers that are growing in quality and sales. But for drinkers seeking a moderate option, not abstinence, breweries are increasingly making compelling beers that weigh in at 2 and 3 percent alcohol, below the typical 4 percent floor for light lagers. (Bud Light is 4.2 percent.)”
This makes an interesting contrast with other countries and alcohol content, in terms of the presence of low-alcohol beers:
“Lower-alcohol beers are stitched into the drinking fabric of Scandinavia and pub-rich England, where taxation increases as alcohol content rises.”
That actually makes sense, in terms of raising “sin tax” revenue. Or to put it another way: if you really want to get an alcohol-fueled buzz, you’re going to have to pay for it, in multiple senses.
But it also makes sense in terms of trying to create a new market and to tap into an untapped market (double pun intended). One demographic analysis of the interest in low alcohol beers is from Lester Jones, chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association:
“We’re not surprised that lower-A.B.V. beers are coming of age because, well, millennials are coming of age”.
Several craft brewers rationalize going for this potential new niche in the article:
Todd DiMatteo, Good Word Brewing & Public House: “You don’t need to blast people in the face with alcohol”.
Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery: “The 40-year-old liver is not the same as a 25-year-old liver”.
Cheyne Tessier, Origin Beer Project: “It’s not about consuming alcohol to get drunk.”
Of course, coming up with flavorful low-alcohol beers is a challenge, perhaps even more so than with more “standard” alcohol-content beers. JMB notes one such challenge:
“Brewers must use less malt — the grains supplying the sugars that are fermented into alcohol — and too many hops can create clashing bitterness and flavor.”
JMB also mentions another general potential gripe about low-alcohol beers:
“One complaint about low-alcohol beers is that they can taste watery.”
Trying to avoid issues like these does put the creativity of craft brewers to the test. One example of such creativity, mentioned in the same paragraph, is from Matt Young of Half Acre Beer, for their Buzzard brew, a 3% beer priced at $10.99 for four 16-ounce cans, where Young notes about the cost:
“Just because there’s less alcohol doesn’t means that it was cheaper to produce”.
Remember: it’s not the parts, it’s the labor :) .
Or another way of dealing with the overall alcohol content is perhaps the most mind-bendingly simple way, namely to mix the beer with another beverage. This looks to be the case with tonight’s selection chez 3CM, a Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen Passion Fruit Beer. (So much for the Rheinheitsgebot, ja?) The back of the label includes this bit (all in CAPS, BTW, unlike how I present it below):
“50% of Schöfferhofer Unfiltered Hefeweizen blended with 50% passion fruit drink with natural juice”
The percentage shows as 2.5%, just at the “low-alcohol” Federal limit stated at the outset. This actually is a refreshing very light beer, maybe in the spirit (pun semi-intended) of a Radler, given its fruit flavor and tinge. Even though it is but 2.5%, it does go much better with a real meal rather than, say, only a dessert. This was a whimsy purchase rather than a deliberate search for it (a pointless story in of itself, namely where I purchased it). After the first try (with the dessert, hence my comment), it grew on me with the second try, with a full meal.
In general principle, I probably would not really go for alcohol-free beers, at least at this moment, although I completely understand why some folks would (and the percentage and market may indeed well be growing there). But even without the old-age factor starting to kick in (am well past 40, never mind 25, per the one quote above), I can see a lot of enjoyment of a low-alcohol beer brewed with care, and with flavor. I had purchased this Schöfferhofer before finding the NYT article. However, in a completely unplanned way, the beer and the article dovetailed nicely.
With that, time to turn the FNBB floor over to you folks? What are you drinking tonight? Anyone brewing their own? Inquiring minds, etc..