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Who am I?
- Dylan Wrathall
- An individual, of no great importance, who is unable to see the natural world as a place for competition. I catch fish, watch birds, derive immense pleasure from simply looking at butterflies, moths, bumble-bees, etc - without the need for rules! I am Dylan and this is my blog - if my opinions offend? Don't bother logging on again - simple!
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Nanny State greed
Now it might surprise many of my visitors, but I do enjoy a light ale; on occasion - surely not? Yep, never smoked, nor set foot inside a betting shop, wouldn't have the first idea how to fill in a betting slip, but have to admit that a beer is a weakness, although never been a fan of spirits. At my age, surely I should be entrusted to make decisions for my self? Well, apparently not!
I used to love a Stella Artois, or two, but despite the "reassuringly expensive" advertising campaign, the UK brewers took the piss by lowering the alcohol content from 5.2% to 4.8% yet failed to consult the consumers or pass on any cost saving. I voted with my wallet and took my custom elsewhere. Holidays around the Med. have allowed me to sample many of the brews from this fantastic region and I have to admit that I'm rather fond of San Miguel, as purveyed in the bars of Mallorca and Menorca. Lovely stuff, at 5.4% ABV. In the UK, this same brand has been marketed, by whoever, as a 5.0% beverage, along with all the drink sensibly bull-shit that our government insist upon. Imagine my horror when I went into our local shop to grab a couple of tinnies, to discover that my beverage, of choice, has been reduced to 4.5% ABV, but remains at the same price. Yet another demonstration of contempt, by an elitist culture, who know better than me, but have no issues with ripping the arse out of it. FFS I'm an adult, I'll make my own decisions about what, and how much, I can or can't drink. Looks like I'm searching for a new "favourite"? It's a hard life!
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Grinds my gears too. Adnams Broadside is 6.8 ish abv by bottle but a session type abv rating under 5 abv by pump. Some hipster types 4 quid plus for a 330ml tin of american style craft ale. Serves em right
ReplyDeleteBB - a man after my own heart! Big enough, old and ugly enough, to make decisions for ourselves?
DeleteDyl, I googled 'Does lowering the alcohol content of Lager make a difference' and came up with some snippets of information.
ReplyDeleteNothing about the taste mind.
Lower ABV attracts less excise duty was one thing, and EU laws allowing a 0.5% ABV variation between whats on the tin and inside it, was another.
So is it a question of labeling for tax reasons? was the content of the tin lower anyway? or was it stronger?
A scientist would put the lager in a mass spectrometer for the truth. But seeing as it's lager, I'd do a version of the Nike 'Just-do-it' advertising campaign and 'Just drink it'.
Ric,
DeleteI nipped into our Operations Director's office for a quick chat, on my way home, this evening. He is a real ale buff and a highly regarded R&D scientist (chemist) I asked him about ABV and how it was measured. He gave me a very simple explanation of the density of the product being a linear measure against two known points. ie water and pure alcohol. He added that the gaseous quality of the liquid would impact on the result, but said that such things are calculable. He also went on to explain HMRC taxes, and suppliers maximising profit, very much as you have discovered on Google.
As for just drinking it? I do, but feel cheated when such discoveries are made. Don't like change, that's my problem - hence the long hair and using ABU Cardinal's still! Toodle-pip - Dyl