University of Virginia Library

Truth In Beer Lies In Weight

By Frazier King

According to Van Munching &
Co., importers and distributors
of beers, all regular beer drinkers,
ages 18 to 20, can stop complaining
of the difference in green and
yellow beers. To these not acquainted
with Virginia beer, a
yellow tax stamp denotes "high
test" and a green tax stamp denotes
"low test." The stamp is
affixed to the bottom of the can.

Beer is measured by weight. By
this measurement standard "high
test" is 3.8 per cent alcohol instead
of 6.4 per cent as commonly
believed. The low test is 3.2 per
cent, so there exists a difference
of only .6 per cent alcohol.

The difference in the two beers
is obtained by diluting every nine
cans of "high test" with one can
of water. Therefore, one-tenth of
the beer is water. Further, to
obtain the effect of 10 cans of
"high test" one would have to
drink only 12 cans of "low test"
and not the popular 20. (Figure
10 cans at 10 ounces each. "High
test" would contain 3.8 ounces
and "low test" would contain
3.2 ounces of the one-hundred
ounce total. A difference of .6
ounces would exist. This may be
made up by two 10-ounce cans
containing .32 ounces each).

The misunderstanding comes
from the fact that by volume
"high test" beer has an alcoholic
content of approximately 6.4 per
cent. But this would give "low
test" a content of about 5.3 per
cent instead of 3.2. The two figures
of 6.4 per cent and 3.2 per cent
were probably lifted from context
and account for the exaggerated
difference in the two beers.

To refute the popular belief that
foreign beer has an alcoholic content
of six or seven per cent,
Van Munching states that their
beer, Heineken, contains 4.3 per
cent by weight and that "only
certain types of ale and stout
have a slightly higher alcoholic
content but nothing like 6 or 7 per
cent by weight."