I was at a local restaurant last night and saw they had Smashed Pumpkin on tap. I ordered some and found it to taste like the bottles I'd had in the past, but noticeably weaker/thinner. Are eating establishments somehow diluting beer? Has anyone here experienced this?
To answer your question, yes, many breweries do cut their beer. It's called high gravity brewing...they make their beer around 8% abv and cut it...this is more efficient (on a large scale), cuts energy costs, and helps with consistency. But I'm not sure what happened to your Pumpkinhead.
It doesn't read to me as if the OP is referring to high gravity brewing. He specifically says "eating establishments" and also refers to tasting the same beer previously - something most consumers never get to do with an "undiluted" HG brew. "Cutting" draught beer (an always-popular urban myth) would be somewhat complicated, obvious in most cases to the distributor and others (inspectors) with access to the cellar/draught system and mostly likely illegal, as well.
Thank you for clarifying, jesskidden...The other replies somehow think I was referring to Pumpkinhead when I stated Smashed Pumpkin. Either way, it was noticeably weaker in flavor AND buzz factor compared to the 22oz bottles I've had before this. The eatery served it in a 64(!!)oz mug and I hardly caught a buzz. Something was awry here.
