How strong is too strong?

I can say that 19.2 cans seem to almost always be quite fresh, guess that’s an indication of them selling fast. I also find it interesting that some 4x19.2 are much less than the 4x16 that is also older.

Enjoy

 

The immediate health risk is the alcohol. The 9% stovepipes are higher in alcohol than Four Loco, almost all malt liquors, and about the same as the strongest MD2020. These alternatives to a craft 9% might also be safer because, at least for me, it would be much easier to finish the craft beer.

 

I don't know what a stovetop is, but I never drink anything higher than 30 IBU or 10 ABV

Hell, even with lagers and lighter ales, I try to avoid 20 IBU and 6 ABV

(Yes, I know my taste buds are bitch-made, but I've only been in the beer tasting game for a few months now, and am still trying to get that acquired taste)

 

A 'stovepipe' is a can that contains 19.2 oz. of beer. Keeping the same diameter of a standard can to contain that much beer causes it to be tall enough to remind you of a stovepipe.

If you want to experience a beer in this can size I'll suggest that you try to find a Bell's Oberon. It comes in the stovepipe size and should be easy to find. I think it will also fit the requirements that you have set for beers in the early stage of your beer drinking career. Many people consider it as an entry level beer. Enjoy!

 

Drink what you like. I was in my 20s in the late 60s and 70s, when 5% was the biggest beer you could find most of the time. I try to keep to 12 oz at a time with 6% or less. I drink a moderate pale ales and moderate IPAs, and a good lager when I find it. I can drink two, sometimes even three of those at a time. A large 9% beer limits me to one, and is generally more that I really want. More that about 2 or 3 12 oz 5% beers a day has the potential to have negative health effects.

 

Since Lagunitas no longer makes bombers, and they are a corpse brewery anyways.
It's a bang for the buck option, and it's perfect as a commuter or concert sized beer.
That said. It's sized for youngsters.

 

I just bought a stovepipe of Double Jai Alai at 10% yesterday as a matter of fact. Never had one, thought I'd give it a shot some night while preparing dinner when liquid motivation is greatly needed.

 

This.

 

Four Loko is like 12%. They did remove the caffeine, though.

 

I didn't look carefully enough at the Four Loko info. According to the website, it varies depending on the flavor, sometimes more than one strength per flavor, up to 14%.

 

Gonna sound like a dweeb here, but I rarely go above 5.5%. There's so many great options at the 4.7-5.5% range nowadays. I'd rather drink a few lower ABV beers than nurse a high octane imperial stout for hours.

 

I've said similar things several times. I nudged my upper limit to 6% because there aren't too many good 5% options I've found. In the 70s, a 6% beer (usually malt liquor or ale) was rare, and considered strong. It's not dweeb-like to maximize your enjoyment.

 

Definitely. IIRC Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which came out in the 1980s (?) way before the craft beer craze took off, was considered an extremely strong beer. Hell, I recall my father even telling me that Budweiser @5% was one of the "strong ones". And that beers like Paulaner were considered high-end craft LOL. Things have changed quite a bit. It's always interesting to hear about the beer scene pre-mid-1990s...

 

Sierra Nevada even had to created a lower alcohol Sierra Nevada Draught-Style Pale Ale at 5% to be able to sell kegs in certain parts of the country where there was an alcohol content limit on draught beer. As seen in the link, they still brew it.

Both Budweiser and Coors (Banquet) were under 5% into the 1990s (coincidentally, or maybe not, when Coors went all the way to the Supreme Court to legalize brewers voluntarily listing ABV on their labels).

 

It's not clear why Coors wanted to be able to list alcohol content. Based in CO, they produced a good amount of 3.2 beer for their home state. In CA, in the 70s, Coors always tasted thin to me. Maybe somebody had started a rumor that they were just putting the 3.2 beer into the regular packages? Most regional and national labels had 3.2% versions (4% vol) of their regular beer for distribution in states with various restrictions. Too bad nobody (as far as I can tell) made the effort to make side-by-side comparisons. Minnesota looks like it might be the last holdout with 3.2 outlets.

 

If I recall correctly, it's because - supposedly - the AB, Miller, Pabst, Heileman and Stroh reps, as Coors was expanding east and entering new states in the late 1970-1980s, had a habit of telling people Coors' lightness (something it was famous for before "light beer" came to dominant the market) was due to it being a lot lower in alcohol.

One explanation after they won a suit in a Federal District court.


Pretty sure that Anheuser Busch was actually the first US brewer to take advantage of the law, since AB had more regional breweries and were more able to change labels for particular states - many states had to also change their regulations to allow alcohol content to be in line with the new Federal rules,

 

Well do I remember when I came to Kansas from Illinois to go to college after turning 19 in high school and being able to buy beer and wine (but not spirits) for a few months in Iliinois before relocating and beginning to get introduced to craft and import beers that I was puzzled as to why Kansas restricted anyone under 21 to only being able to buy 3.2% beer/no wine/no spirits (this was back in the bad-old-days of antiquated Kansas liquor laws that also prohibited liquor-by-the-drink unless you were not only of age but also a paid member of a private club).

It took me the longest time to figure out how to tell the difference between 3.2% beer and, "strong" beer since all my friends would always answer the question of how to tell with this answer:

"Because it doesn't say 3.2%".

I would then ask again, "but how can you tell if it doesn't say?"

They would repeat, "Because it doesn't say!"

If they just would have said, "Because 3.2% beer will have '3.2%' printed on the top of the can/label", THAT would have solved everything immediately!

And yes, 3.2%, "near beer" was every bit the pisswatery crap it tasted like compared to "strong" beer like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or any of the imports.

God I wish we could get Coopers REAL ALE (with the yeast sediment) from Australia in Kansas again! That, along with Guinness, Bass and Samuel Smiths as well as Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada, Boulevard and Free State were my gateway brews.

 

3.2 ABW (Alcohol by Weight) beer by law had to be under 4% ABV.

AB must have gotten so tired of explaining the difference between ABW and ABV they started putting it on the labels of their 3.2 beers.


Near Beer, aka "cereal beverage" or "non-alcoholic" beer, has to be under 0.5% ABV.