How much alcohol is your average American beer?

[zinfamous]

4-5%, I suppose, considering the light crap is what sells the most. That's actually only a handful of brands (but 90% of the market)...but the really good stuff (far more brands, much smaller market) is in the 5-6% range.

Of course, there are several American beers hitting the 7-10% mark these days.

 

[MiniDoom]

Dogfishhead 90 IPA - American and best beer I've ever had at 9%. They make one that's around 22% but doesn't taste as good.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: Kaervak
Most table beer here in the states are around 4.5-5%. Moving outside the realm of swill produced by budweiser, ABV can vary all the way up to 20% (barely wine.)

IIRC anything over 8% can't be marketed as beer in the USA.

Sounds like a lie to me. I've had beers over 8% that have called themselves beer... Double Bastard, Speedway Stout, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Old Guardian, Hair of the Dog Adam, Doggie Claws, Old Boardhead Barleywine, Black Gold... No, there are tons of beers with more than 8% ABV out there brewed in the US. Maybe it's a state by state thing (like in Utah you can't go above 3.2% alcohol in beer except in rare circumstances).

Are you sure they're marketed as beer? Arrogant Bastard says "ale" on the bottle, not beer, IIRC.

Ale is beer. Just as stout, porter, doppelbock, hefeweizen, lager, weizenbock, and many many more are all "beer." Beer is just a generic name for the product. I can walk into any grocery store here and take a picture of a big sign labeled "BEER" with any of the stuff listed by Atomic Playboy for sale underneath it.

 

[SirStev0]

3 to 6... 5 being probably the most likely...

Micro's can be all over the place... Had an 11% He'brew the other evening... it was quite tasty.

 

[Eeezee]

Approximately 0%

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: Kaervak

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: Kaervak
Most table beer here in the states are around 4.5-5%. Moving outside the realm of swill produced by budweiser, ABV can vary all the way up to 20% (barely wine.)

IIRC anything over 8% can't be marketed as beer in the USA.

Sounds like a lie to me. I've had beers over 8% that have called themselves beer... Double Bastard, Speedway Stout, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Old Guardian, Hair of the Dog Adam, Doggie Claws, Old Boardhead Barleywine, Black Gold... No, there are tons of beers with more than 8% ABV out there brewed in the US. Maybe it's a state by state thing (like in Utah you can't go above 3.2% alcohol in beer except in rare circumstances).

Are you sure they're marketed as beer? Arrogant Bastard says "ale" on the bottle, not beer, IIRC.

Ale is beer. Just as stout, porter, doppelbock, hefeweizen, lager, weizenbock, and many many more are all "beer." Beer is just a generic name for the product. I can walk into any grocery store here and take a picture of a big sign labeled "BEER" with any of the stuff listed by Atomic Playboy for sale underneath it.

Legally, I think there's a difference. I'm pretty sure in Texas at least there are limits on alcohol percentage if the beverage is labeled as beer. If it's labeled as an ale, a stout, a barleywine or whatever, it's not subject to those regulations. I remember St. Nick Barleywine got pulled off of shelves several years ago because it said beer somewhere on the label and it was about 10%.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: OpenThirdEye
Then there's Utah...where it's all 3.2% IIRC...

This only applies to beer that you can buy in the supermarket.

You can get regular stuff at the state liquor store.

We have a local brewery that is currently marketing an 8% beer...

Devastator Double Bock

 

[jiggahertz]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Kaervak

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: Kaervak
Most table beer here in the states are around 4.5-5%. Moving outside the realm of swill produced by budweiser, ABV can vary all the way up to 20% (barely wine.)

IIRC anything over 8% can't be marketed as beer in the USA.

Sounds like a lie to me. I've had beers over 8% that have called themselves beer... Double Bastard, Speedway Stout, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Old Guardian, Hair of the Dog Adam, Doggie Claws, Old Boardhead Barleywine, Black Gold... No, there are tons of beers with more than 8% ABV out there brewed in the US. Maybe it's a state by state thing (like in Utah you can't go above 3.2% alcohol in beer except in rare circumstances).

Are you sure they're marketed as beer? Arrogant Bastard says "ale" on the bottle, not beer, IIRC.

Ale is beer. Just as stout, porter, doppelbock, hefeweizen, lager, weizenbock, and many many more are all "beer." Beer is just a generic name for the product. I can walk into any grocery store here and take a picture of a big sign labeled "BEER" with any of the stuff listed by Atomic Playboy for sale underneath it.

Legally, I think there's a difference. I'm pretty sure in Texas at least there are limits on alcohol percentage if the beverage is labeled as beer. If it's labeled as an ale, a stout, a barleywine or whatever, it's not subject to those regulations. I remember St. Nick Barleywine got pulled off of shelves several years ago because it said beer somewhere on the label and it was about 10%.

I go to beer tastings at a store that has locations on both sides of the NH/MA line. The one in NH can't get certain high alcohol beers in stock because it's against state regulations. It's currently 12%, but there is a push to raise it to 18%. Two thirds of states don't have any limit on alcohol content in beer.

 

[imported_Baloo]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Well the question was "in America..."

.

mwmorph needs to get out his atlas, or globe. Notice that Canada is in North America.