British breweries to sell weaker beer

[mr x]

Was just listening to this story on CBC radio, which had a good interview with Fullers head brewer. He was talking more roasted malt and more hops:

British breweries to sell weaker beer following low-alcohol content tax cut
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... x-cut.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since March, when the Chancellor announced a 50 per cent duty reduction on beers of 2.8 per cent alcohol by volume or less, many breweries have begun experimenting with weaker beers in anticipation of a price-driven surge in popularity.

The tax cut could make a less strong beer up to 50p a pint cheaper than its higher-strength counterpart.

Recent research also shows that many drinkers would happily switch to low-alcohol beer if the taste remained on a par with their usual pint.

Fuller’s, the London brewery which runs 361 pubs across the UK, has been developing a 2.8 per cent beer in readiness of the new duty reduction in October.

Head brewer John Keeling told The Independent: “It's certainly a challenge. Alcohol content comes from the malt. The more malt you use, the more alcohol content you have, and malt gives flavour. If you want to brew a weak beer, you can't use lots of malt.”

The brewery, which produces London Pride, is holding a taste test trial of the beer next week but according to Mr Keeling the growing market for weaker beer is not just because it is cheaper.

He added: “People want to drink different strength drinks at different times of day. With lunchtime drinking increasingly frowned upon, drinkers want a weaker beer with their lunch than they would after work or at home.”

A survey by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) concluded that 52 per cent of drinkers would consume a lower-strength beer if it were available in their local pub.

Derek Moore, brewer at Glasgow's Kelburn brewery, said: “There's a big difference between low-alcohol and no-alcohol beers. You can't drink six pints of two per cent beer and drive home.”

Also:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... r-too.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 32087.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.bitterwallet.com/beat-inflat ... atch/47795" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[derek]

Was just listening to this story on CBC radio, which had a good interview with Fullers head brewer. He was talking more roasted malt and more hops:

Well, duh! It covers up the faults don't you know!

I was listening to the same story. They treated it like the Brits only drink high-alcohol beer. Never mind that the average British beer is probably around 4% abv and 3.5% beers are already common. It showed a disturbing lack of understanding of what they were reporting.

I like "You can't drink six pints of two per cent beer and drive home.” Really? I bet most people can, and legally too. Even with the generally lower carbonation than North American beers, it's hard to put down 6 full pints of 2% fast enough that you don't metabolize most of the alcohol.