Lawsuit against A-B

[northyorksammy]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... 7652.story

[phirleh]

I saw this, although comical, isn't it really just the process of High Gravity brewing that they are doing, not making beer that has less alcohol than stated on the can. The process is a compromise of fermenter space and quality, but I doubt this will get far.
http://www.brewing-solutions.com/produc ... ty_Brewing

[G.M. Gillman]

As I understood various reports on the interweb, it's not high-gravity brewing as such that is objected to. The allegation is that water was added just before bottling such that the alcohol content would be less than the usual 5% ABV or 4% (or whatever it was for the brand in question). The supposed reductions in alcohol content were said to be from three to eight per cent. E.g. if a beer was supposed to be 5% ABV, then the alcohol in the bottles affected was 3%, say, less in amount. So e.g. instead of .6 of an ounce of pure alcohol (I'm basing this on a 12 ounce container), it would be from 3-8% less than that.

At least that is my understanding of what the plaintiffs have alleged. The company has firmly denied doing anything wrong and says it is in compliance with all laws, based again on the same reports.

Gary

[phirleh]

Ahh, I read a BBC article where they didn't really get as specific as the Tribune.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21597076

[JasonTremblay]

It's like making love in a canoe!

FWIW, I think what's happening is that brewers are granted some wiggle room between the listed ABV and the actual, measured value (different values in attenuation, mash efficiencies, and what have you.) AB was gaming the system, judging from a press release saying something about "being within federal guidelines" for their labels by packaging their beer with the lowest permissible ABV.

Jason

[Tapsucker]

The best part of this story is all the comments you see on news sites and even by reporters equating American beer as weaker than Canadian. It shows how little the general public knows, or the perceptions that still exist.

At some point you can only say people get the crap they deserve. Besides, what's that extra bit of alcohol going to do when you are pairing your beer with a box of macaroni and 'cheese product'?

[ErkLR]

AB was gaming the system... [snip] by packaging their beer with the lowest permissible ABV.

Ahhh, THAT would make sense. The article I read earlier today was obviously written by someone who doesn't understand brewing at all, and it was really confusing. ie) they first described high-gravity brewing (from the law suit), saying it was diluted to the % on the label and then saying it was somehow less than the label. It made no sense.

But yeah if you can control down to +/- 0.01% but the law allows you to sell 4.6% beer as 5% beer, it makes financial sense to dilute your high-gravity down to 4.6% all the time. If you do that to millions of bottles per year, that will save you MASSIVE amounts of money in mash ingredients (mostly rice).

Didn't someone link to a recent article about some brewers going back to all malt since rice had actually become more expensive than barley?


Yeah Tapsucker, I noticed the ignorance on display on both articles I've read. The one linked above has some guy saying you can't taste the rice sugars in beer so it doesn't matter if beer has rice.

[G.M. Gillman]

I think plaintiffs are alleging either that the brewery exceeded the permitted tolerance, which I think for beer in the U.S. is .3% from a labeling standpoint, or, that it was regularly taking advantage of (but not exceeding) the tolerance rule to save money at the expense of the consumer, i.e., where it wasn't normal production variations that caused the dip. If it is the latter case, perhaps the plaintiffs consider that compliance with labeling laws doesn't as such resolve the matter, that it is still unfair to the consumer to do this.

I'd think the (unproven, of course) allegation is probably one of these two things but I haven't read the claim and I don't know.

Gary

[Tapsucker]

The other post about the Labatt microbrewery job, made me notice this. It's from Labatt's mission statement. I assume it applies to all of AB.


4. We are never completely satisfied with our results, which are the fuel of our company. Focus and zero-complacency guarantee a lasting competitive advantage.
(Make the product taste better by adding water)

5. The consumer is the boss. We connect with our consumers through meaningful brand experiences, balancing heritage and innovation, and always in a responsible way.
(Bikini girls are a meaningful experiences)

6. We are a company of owners. Owners take results personally.

7. We believe common sense and simplicity are usually better guidelines than unnecessary sophistication and complexity.
(LOL)

8. We manage our costs tightly, to free up resources that will support top-line growth.
(To fund more acquisitions instead of make better products)

9. Leadership by personal example is the best guide to our culture. We do what we say.

10. We don't take shortcuts. Integrity, hard work, quality and consistency are keys to building our company.
(Just like in point number 7)

[icemachine]

NPR got White labs to test some AB products and they all came in within a few hundredths of the listed %age value

[JeffPorter]

NPR got White labs to test some AB products and they all came in within a few hundredths of the listed %age value

That's interesting...I have a somewhat related question: In those few states where you don't have to list abv, would AB change the Bud labels or just leave them to say 4 or 5 percent?

[Tapsucker]

Not sure if it is about having to list ABV. There was a time, and it may still be so, where you could not list the strength. It had something to do with not inadvertently promoting one product as stronger than another.

And here we thought only the LCBO was looking out for the children!

[Belgian]

Scenario X. Is it possible that Budweiser and Michelob Ultra are now gravity brewed to a higher initial ABV strength than before (more complete fermentation of sugars) and then diluted accordingly with even more water than before to compensate?

Because that would seem to inspire such staff rumors & consumer outcry. I guess if you could test a vertical of Bud (shudder!) for year-to-year changes in final gravity, this revealing A-B are constantly putting more water and less other ingredients in the beer - even if the tricked-up ABV is the same.

I believe ALL major mass-market foods have been dumbed down for decades. Beer is hardly the exception. Everything from Ritz crackers to Nutella to big brands of cheddar are an empty shadow of what they once were.

[G.M. Gillman]

Hmm, those tests sound fairly conclusive. The whole thing sounds a little odd, but maybe will become clearer..

Gary

[S. St. Jeb]

This is very upsetting and I, for one, will stop making any further purchases of Bud Light.