In one town I know there are two bars. Actually, there are dozens of bars, but these two bars happen to be across the street from each other. One is a German themed restaurant, with girls in beer wrench outfits, and a polka band that only serves expensive beer with very high alcohol content. The other one is a regular bar that sells mostly cheep beer with very low alcohol content. The place that sells the cheep nasty beer is the one that has all the stabbings and fights, while the only trouble the other place has is when trouble makers who get kicked out from across the street try to come into their place.
Like a "beer spanner?" I wouldn't know what a "beer spanner" is, either, so neither helps. Monkey wrench? Crescent wrench? Adjustable spanner? Ring spanner?
Given that every single beer commonly sold in the UK that I know is at least 3.8%, does this mean there are special low alcohol versions of the major international brands brewed and sold, or is it all locally brewed barley water?
A hydrometer (available at home brewing supply stores) is a useful tool that tells you the percent of alcohol in your home brew. It can also be used to tell you the percent of alcohol in beer you buy at a store.
My own testing of major brands of beer in Utah (Coors, Budweiser, Schlitz, Miller) usually showed an actual alcohol content in the range of 2.2% to 2.5%. Remember that in Utah 3.2% is the legal LIMIT for maximum alcohol. There is nothing in the law that says that beer sold in Utah MUST be 3.2%. The manufacturers do not want to risk being in violation of the 3.2% law so they target their product to a lower alcohol content, such as 2.4%. That gives them some slack so that they won't ever exceed the legal limit.
If you are drinking beer to get a buzz, you are getting an inferior product when you buy Utah beer. When I was doing my home brewing, my typical batch of beer was 5.75% alcohol. Plus it tasted infinitely better than the Utah beer. We commonly referred to that beer as "weasel piss".
They are only substitutes if the only benefit you get from them is the ability to get drunk.
If you happen to like to taste of certain alcohol drinks, and believe correctly that drinks have difference occasions and accompanying food, then it matters what you drink.
It's been many years since I tasted the fine products of the Wasatch Brewing Co. Does anybody know if they had to comply with the 3.2 law? They made some tasty brew.
I had to take alcohol servers classes. I found out the beer is 3.2% ABW (Alcohol by weight), which is the same as 4% alcohol by volume (the rest of the states measure by ABV). So 4% is a little better at least. I just go to the liquor store and get the better beers, even though it's expensive.
If it taste you are after then you are really screwed. In my experience all the normal beer that I have drank in other states tastes considerably better then the watered down stuff in Utah. I don’t know why you would think with less alcohol it would taste better, but the 5.9% Natural Ice that I used to get in Oregon taste considerably better than the 3.2% Natural Ice that I can get here in Utah. Maybe it is just me, but I would be interested in other people’s opinions about the taste of our beer.
Watery yellow American style lager is disgusting no matter the ABV/ABW. Guiness Draft is lower in alchohol than Budweiser and has 10 times the flavor.Guiness special export Stout, at 8% ABV is another tasty story entirely.