jerry540i wrote:
Since no one has actually answered the OP's question, I'll give it try.
Most US beers do not state the alcohol content on the can/bottle because they are prohibited from doing so. The rationale being that labelling the alcohol content will somehow entice people to buy beers with higher alcohol contents (get you drunk quicker...)
Also, it has to do with how the Americans typically measure alcohol content. While the rest of the planet uses Alcohol by Volume (ABV) (ie: 5ml of Alcohol per 100ml = 5% ABV), the US has typically measured alcohol content by Alcohol by Weight (ABW), which measures the mass of the substance as a percentage of the mass of the entire mixture. Confusing huh?
To make things worse, alcohol is less dense than water, (about 4/5ths as dense), so you can't compare ABV directly to ABW. To convert ABW to ABV, you multiply the ABW x .79336.
So, a beer labelled 5% ABV in the rest of the world would only be be considered 3.97% in the US, and a 4% beer would be 3.17% ABW.
Most US mainstream beers (Bud, Coors Original) have a ABV of 5%. Coors light is. 4.5%, Bud light is 4.2%.
And to answer another question, "light" has to do with the alcohol content, not the color of the beer. Most American beers are light yellow in color due to recipes.
Pretty good response! Although Light beer really refers to the lower calories (which is of course achieved by reducing the lower % alcohol. Most people tend to think of American beers as Bud Miller Coors lager type offerings, but the recent explosion of Microbrewery Ales, and "home brewing" has changed that - I hope for ever. I home brew, and make a mean IPA, which is always served at 50F. If you did not hit the craft beer section of a local liquor store while you were stateside, I can imagine your dismay. Most of the Bud Miller Coors offerings are 3.5 - 4.0%, and the light beers often less than 3.2%. Many here probably know if you put a regular Bud Miller Coors and a lite Bud Miller Coors in water, only the lite version floats!
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