Can you tell ABV without reading it?

give me 48 ounces and yeah ... i could ballpark it

 

Q: "Can you tell ABV without reading it?"

No. ABV can be masked extremely well in beers depending on the attention given during the process. Yeast pitch rates, fermentation temps, and injecting enough of O2 into the wort prior to pitching the yeast. Ingredients are crucial, but most importantly, it's ALL about the yeast and you want them as happy as possible ... happy yeast yield a much better beer. (Sort of like relationships!! - Don't laugh, it's true!!!) As a home brewer, that's my humble opinion.

(***DISCLAIMER*** Yep, I'm posting at a ridiculous hour, it's a holiday weekend, don't have to get up early for work in the AM. Don't judge my post! )

 

I agree. Cigar City has some crack yeast now that fools me and my pals initially. That is what its all about. It can for the first couple minutes on taste alone; if the beer is at least 11%, it starts to go for my body and I can tell, I can feel that sh. Its hard to hide 13% and up. The beer gets hot like a liqueur, that's why I'm on this site, for the beer news and the couple of connoisseurs who agree'th.


(Drinking SMS now for the first time and it's dangerously similiar to BCCS besides the mouthfeel(yeast) and I can feel the 11% ABV - a barrel aged buzz is like textbook synergy, when you're getting down and you're mixing substance. The taste and smell is there though, worth getting a lot of.)

 

i can get ballpark if given the style, but there are always those breweries that wanna kill a style with booze.

 

Some yes but certain beers with a high abv are deceivingly easy to drink....unless it's my tolerance that's built up.

 

no

 

No, I'd have no clue if it wasn't posted somewhere in most cases. Maybe a general idea of ABV by style, but nothing more.

 

One of my favorite things about trying new beers is being totally surprised by the ABV when I guess. The first time I had a Heady, it was so smooth and clean you could have told me I was drinking a 5% pale ale I would have believed it. That said, even knowing the style of the beer you're drinking should be able to get you an educated guess within 1-2%.

 

I just quizzed myself by looking up beers I had recently and I'm within .5% on all of them. Having said that, I have been very surprised by some beers in the past.

 

The beers of today are too well crafted. For example, a Duvel is close to 9 percent alcohol. The first time I tried it I swore it was close to 5 or 6! Some are easier to guess than others I suppose.

 

That works for one, maybe two beers tops. By the third 48 ounces your accuracy is going to suffer quite a bit!