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Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the United States: Variation Over Time, Across States and by Individual Drinks
23 Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the United States: Variation Over Time, Across States and by Individual Drinks William C. Kerr Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, CA, USA
Abstract
Introduction
Research studies estimating the average alcohol content of beer sold in the United States indicate that beer strength has generally declined over time from around 5% alcohol by volume (% ABV) in the 1950s to a low of 4.5% ABV in 2005. This decline is mainly attributed to the growth in popularity of light beer, with a market share of over 50% in 2005, and to growth in lower alcohol content brands in other categories, particularly Mexican beers among the imported beers. Differences in the popularity of beer types by state also result in varying estimates of average % ABV by state. Some states in recent years have a market share for light beer of over 60%, while others are below 40% and consume more imported and super premium beers. The particularly strong beer types, malt liquor and ice beer, also show substantial variation in market share across states. Individual beer drinks in the United States have been found to be more consistent and to have less alcohol on average than wine or spirits drinks but also to vary by size and alcohol content, especially when served in bars and restaurants. For example, a 16 oz. beer with a strength 7.3% ABV contains nearly two US standard drinks of alcohol. The research presented highlights the importance of obtaining information on drink size and brand or alcohol content in understanding survey response to questions regarding the number of beer drinks consumed and of taking estimates of mean beer % ABV into account when evaluating trends in alcohol consumption or modeling relationships between alcohol consumption from beer and health or other outcomes.
Individual’s beer drinks
List of Abbreviations % ABV AEDS NAS NIAAA USA
Percentage alcohol by volume Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System National Alcohol Survey National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism The United States of America
Beer in Health and Disease Prevention ISBN: 978-0-12-373891-2
The alcohol content of individual drinks of beer and the mean alcohol content of beer sold in the United States in a given year are important factors in the accuracy and interpretation of epidemiologic research regarding the effects of beer on health and other outcomes. Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the United States, comprising 59.4% of the ethanol consumed in 2002 (Kerr et al., 2006a). In their respective analyses and consumption decisions, researchers and, in many cases, consumers typically assume that all beer drinks contain roughly the same amount of ethanol. However, the detailed description of the US beer market presented here indicates considerable variation in the ethanol content of the beer drinks available at any given time. This variation has important implications for both consumer decision-making and survey assessment of consumer behavior. The essential dimensions of beer drink ethanol content variation are straightforward: the liquid volume of beer in the container or glass and the alcohol (ethanol) content by volume (% ABV) of that beer. Yet it is difficult for consumers to gauge the size and strength of the beer they drink and even harder for them to translate these into the often vaguely described “standard drink” in terms of which they are expected to report for many surveys. In the United States a standard drink of beer is most often defined as 12 oz. at 5% ABV, containing 0.6 oz. (14 g) of alcohol. This difficulty may be reflected in the inability of general population surveys to account for all of the beer (and similarly wine and spirits) sold (Rogers and Greenfield, 2000). Further, systematic differences in the ethanol content of beer drinks across individuals could lead to differential under- and overestimates of their consumption, confounding the modeling of the determinants of and outcomes related to beer consumption. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
256 Beer Composition and Properties
to vary across states (Kerr et al., 2004; 2006a, b), a factor not considered in any previous analyses of US state-level relationships between alcohol measures and outcomes. This chapter presents a variety of information on the alcohol content of the beer sold in the United States and beer drinks consumed by US drinkers. This information has been collected and organized as part of two ongoing research programs at the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, California. One focused on estimating per capita consumption of alcohol for use in modeling relationships between alcohol intake and potentially alcohol-related mortality outcomes in the US states and a second focused on estimates of the amount of alcohol contained in individual drinks of beer, wine and spirits consumed in the United States and the key sources of variation in these amounts to better understand and estimate self-reported alcohol intake in surveys. Both of the projects are supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Aggregate beer sales Similarly, aggregate analyses of trends and cross-state differences in per capita consumption of beer, wine, spirits and total alcohol, and the estimation of population-level relationships between alcohol consumption measures and outcome measures require accurate estimates of the mean % ABV for each beverage, year and geographic unit. Only recently have empirically based estimates of mean % ABV become available for the United States and for specific states (Kerr et al., 2006a). For beer, as suggested in guidelines published by the World Health Organization (2000), these estimates are based on information on producer-reported brand % ABV, national brand-level sales, national and state beer type sales and measures of malt and other ingredients per barrel for earlier years. Estimates for wine and spirits mean % ABV are based on similar types of information and also utilize different types of information for some years (Kerr et al., 2006a, b). These estimates were found to differ from the ad hoc estimates, which were originally developed by the Rutgers Center for Alcohol Studies (Efron et al., 1974) and are currently used by the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS) (Lakins et al., 2004). The empirically based estimates described in Kerr et al. (2006a) indicate that beer had more alcohol in all years and wine and spirits less alcohol in most years than the AEDS estimates had assumed. Mean % ABV estimates for beer, wine and spirits were also found
US Beer Types and Brand % ABV Beer sold in the United States is generally divided into seven types by sources that monitor and track beer industry statistics: premium, popular, light, super premium (including craft, microbrew and flavored malt beverages), imported, ice and malt liquor (Adams Beverage Group, 2006). The popularity of these types varies by state (as discussed below) and has changed considerably over time as seen in Figure 23.1.
50.00 45.00 40.00
Market share (%)
35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00
% Ice
% Import
% Super premium
05 20
04
03
20
02
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01
20
00
20
99
% Light % Popular
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93
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19
91
19
19
89
90 19
19
19
88
0.00
% Malt liquor % Premium
Figure 23.1 US market shares of industry beer types as a percentage of beer sold. Each line represents the percentage of overall beer sales accounted for by each type of beer in each year from 1988 to 2005.
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 257
Statistics on the market share of beer types presented here come from all issues of the Beer Handbook ( Jobson Publishing Corporation, 1994, 1995; Adams/Jobson Publishing Corporation, 1996; Adams Business Media, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000; Adams Business Research, 2001; Adams Beverage Group, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006). Light beer Light beer has by far the largest market share of any category comprising over 50% of the beer sold in 2005. Light beer is generally defined as beer with at least 20% fewer calories than the regular version of the same brand. In practice this also means less alcohol since most beer calories come from the alcohol so the major light beers have 4.2% ABV. The market share of light beer in the United States has risen annually since its invention in the late 1960s. Its market share has doubled since1988 (see Figure 23.1). Premium beer Much of the rise in market share for light beer has been at the expense of the premium beer category, which declined from 40% of the market in 1988 to only 15.7% in 2005. Premium beer is considered to be the regular US beer and includes brands from the largest US breweries such as Budweiser, Coors and Miller Genuine Draft. These beers are generally 5% ABV although they have all changed over time. Most recently Miller Genuine Draft reduced its % ABV to 4.7%, returning to its pre-1995 level. In 1995 Coors was 4.6% ABV and Budweiser was 4.8% ABV. These shifts by major brands over time highlight the difficulty of tracking the alcohol content of beer for both researchers and consumers as these changes are not usually announced and, in some cases, do not appear on the label.
growth is due to the popularity of Mexican beers which now make up 5 of the top 10 imported brands. As with domestic beers, the lighter brands have grown most in popularity resulting in a lower mean % ABV for this category over time. While a few 5% ABV brands such as Heineken and Labatt Blue are still among the most popular, most have lower % ABVs. The leading imported brand is Corona Extra (4.6%) and other Mexican brands are 4.4% ABV. In addition some imported light brands like Corona Light (4.1%) and Amstel Light (3.5% ABV) have become popular. Guiness Stout at 4.2% ABV has always had an alcohol content similar to light beers. Super premium beer The super premium category, which includes craft beers, microbreweries and in recent years flavored malt beverages,
Table 23.1 brands
2005 alcohol content and market share of top beer Cumulative market share (%)
Brand
% ABV
Market share (%)
4.2 5.0 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.6 4.6 4.1 4.7 5.0 4.7 4.2 4.2 5.9 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.3 5.5 4.4
19 13 9 8 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
19 32 40 48 53 56 59 62 65 67 69 70 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 78
Imported beer
Bud Light Budweiser Miller Lite Coors Light Natural Light Corona Extra Busch Busch Light Miller High Life Heineken Miller Genuine Draft Michelob Ultra Keystone Light Natural Ice Budweiser Select Milwaukee’s Best Milwaukee’s Best Light Michelob Light Icehouse Yuengling Traditional Lager Milwaukee’s Best Ice Pabst Blue Ribbon Coors Old Milwaukee Tecate Modelo Especial Labatt Blue Smirnoff Twisted V Colt 45 King Cobra Mean % ABV of top brands
5.9 5.0 5.0 4.6 4.4 4.4 5.0 5.0 6.1 6.0 4.5
1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 84
79 80 80 81 81 82 82 83 83 84 84
Imported beer has grown substantially in recent years and now constitutes 12.5% of the beer market. Much of this
Note: Producer reported % ABV and estimated market share from the Adams Beer Handbook 2006 for leading brands in 2005.
Popular beer Popular beer has also lost popularity over time and now makes up less than 10% of the market. This category consists of lower priced brands from major breweries and some historically regional brands. Many of these brands have been consolidated by Pabst Brewing. These include Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, Rainer and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The alcohol content of popular beers varies widely with some as low as 4.3% such as Milwaukee’s Best, others around 4.6% such as Busch or 4.7% like Miller High Life, while others are as high as 5% ABV including Pabst Blue Ribbon. The % ABV of popular beer brands has changed over time as well, for example Busch was 4.9% ABV in the late 1990s and is now 4.6% ABV (Table 23.1).
258 Beer Composition and Properties
35
30
Market share (%)
25
20
15
10
5
0 3.1 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.9 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.9 5.1 5.3 5.5 5.7 5.9 6.1 6.3 6.5 6.7 6.9 7.1 7.3 7.5 7.7 7.9 Ethanol content by volume %
Figure 23.2 Beer ethanol content distribution for 2000. Bars represent the percentage of beer sold among major brands that had the labeled percentage ethanol content by volume in the year 2000.
has also grown over time and is now over 7% of the beer market. While the Michelob brand led this category for many years, the top brand is now Yuengling Lager, which is lower in alcohol than most beers in this category at 4.4% ABV. Many beers in this category have higher alcohol contents such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (5.6%) and some are as high as 7% or 8% ABV. The category includes a very large number of low production beers and is thus difficult to form a complete picture of it in terms of the % ABV distribution. Ice beer Ice beer is a type of beer that has been clarified by forming small ice crystals and then removing them. This process also removes some of the water, increasing the alcohol content such that these beers are typically 5.5–5.9% ABV. As seen in Figure 23.1, this category was introduced in 1994 and has maintained a small share of the market since. This category is a mix of low cost high alcohol beers with 5.9% ABV such as Natural Ice, Milwaukee’s Best Ice and Keystone Ice that compete with malt liquors in offering the most alcohol for the dollar among beers and 5.5% ABV brands including Icehouse and Bud Ice that are priced like premium beers. The stronger, lower priced brands have gained a larger share of this category in recent years, possibly through some consumers switching from the declining malt liquor category. Malt liquor beer Malt liquor is generally lower priced, higher alcohol content beer that is often sold in larger containers such as 16 or 40 oz.
Malt liquor consumption peaked in the mid-1990s at nearly 5% of the beer market and has since declined to only 2.1% in 2005. This category covers a range of % ABVs from Mickey’s at 5.6% ABV to King Cobra and Colt 45 at 5.9% to Olde English 800 or St. Ides at 7.3% ABV or more. Malt liquor % ABV appears to be more complicated than other beers because versions with very different strengths have been sold in different parts of the country. Some brands have sold 5.9% ABV versions in the Eastern United States due to certain states that do not allow higher % ABVs while selling much stronger versions in the Western states. Brand % ABVs also change over time as with other beer types.
Distribution of beer alcohol contents The beer ethanol content distribution for major beer brands in 2000 is shown in Figure 23.2. This illustrates the concentration of % ABVs at 4.2%, 5% and between these in that year with much smaller market shares for beers with higher or lower % ABVs. By 2005 there has been a further shift toward lower % ABV beer as can be seen in Table 23.1. These beers represent 84% of the beer market and have an average % ABV of 4.5. While this estimate is based on less detail than those presented in Kerr et al. (2004), it indicates that the average % ABV of beer has likely fallen since 2001 due to the increasing market share of light beers and lower % ABV imports like Corona and reduced % ABVs for major brands such as Busch and Miller beers. Considering the strong trend in this direction it can be expected that even further declines in the mean % ABV of beers in the United States will occur in the future.
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 259
5.50 5.40 5.30 5.20
Alcohol by volume (%)
5.10 5.00 4.90 4.80 4.70 4.60 4.50 4.40 4.30 4.20 4.10 2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1970
1968
1966
1964
1962
1960
1958
1956
1954
1952
1950
4.00
Figure 23.3 Estimated mean % ABV of beer in the United States. The line shows the estimated mean % ABV for all beer sold in the United States in each year from 1950 through 2005.
Time Trends in % ABV and Beer Consumption Estimates of the mean % ABV of beer sold in the United States (Figure 23.3) indicate a generally declining trend over the past 50 years from about 5% ABV in the early 1950s to 4.5% ABV in 2005. One exception to this was a rise in the late 1990s, which was mainly due to the increase % ABV of certain brands (Kerr et al., 2004). As noted above, the major factor in this shift has been the relentless rise in the popularity of light beer. The importance of the changing alcohol content of beer can bee seen in Figure 23.4 where trends in the liters of beer sold and the ethanol contained in that beer are charted. While both are seen to peak around 1980, at the same time as overall alcohol consumption, the ethanol consumed in the form of beer has declined proportionally more than beer sales. For purposes of estimating the relationship between alcohol consumption from beer and health outcomes, it is the ethanol, rather than the beer, that would be relevant. This has increased from a low of about 4 l per capita aged 15 years and older in the late 1950s and early 1960s to a high of about 5.5 l per capita around 1980 and has subsequently fallen to below 5 l from the early 1990s. In comparison to wine and spirits, beer has been the largest source of alcohol for the US population since the end of prohibition. As seen in Figure 23.5, the proportion of US alcohol intake from beer declined from over 55% in the
early 1950s to below 50% around 1970. During that time spirits rose in popularity from 35% of the alcohol sold to nearly 42%. With the decline of spirits popularity since the mid-1970s, beer’s share of US alcohol intake has risen to over 60% by the mid-1990s. Wine has never comprised more than 15% of the alcohol sold in the United States but has risen from about 10% through 1970 to nearly 15%. Spirits have also seen a small increase in recent years resulting in a small decline in beer’s share of US alcohol intake. However, beer remains by far the main source of alcohol for the US population.
State Differences in % ABV and Type Shares The mean % ABV of beer sold has been found to vary across states in the United States in addition to changing over time as discussed above (Kerr et al., 2004). Estimates of state mean % ABV utilize each state’s market shares of the seven beer types along with estimates of the mean % ABV by beer type calculated using national sales of major brands. These estimates are presented in Table 23.2 for selected years for states sorted by the 2001 % ABV estimate. While it would be preferable to utilize brand-level sales by state to calculate these means, this information has not yet been found, although producers or wholesalers are likely to have these data due to the separate licensing and
130
6.5
120
6
110
5.5
100
5
90
4.5
80
4
70
3.5
60
3
50
2.5
40
2
30
1.5
20
1
10
0.5 0 02
00
20
98
20
96
19
94
19
92
19
90
19
88
19
86
19
84
19
82
19
80
19
78
19
76
Beer sold
19
74
19
72
19
70
19
68
19
66
19
64
19
62
19
60
19
58
19
56
19
54
19
52
19
19
50
0 19
Liters of ethanol
Liters of beer
260 Beer Composition and Properties
Ethanol from beer
Figure 23.4 Per capita (15) liters of beer and ethanol from beer for the United States Line with circles shows the amount of beer sold in liters on the left axis and the line with diamonds show the amount of ethanol sold as beer in liters on the right axis for each year.
65.00 60.00 55.00 50.00 45.00
(%)
40.00 35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00
19 50 19 52 19 54 19 56 19 58 19 60 19 62 19 64 19 66 19 68 19 70 19 72 19 74 19 76 19 78 19 80 19 82 19 84 19 86 19 88 19 90 19 92 19 94 19 96 19 98 20 00 20 02
0.00
%Spirits
%Wine
%Beer
Figure 23.5 Proportion of total ethanol from beer, wine and spirits in the United States over time. Each line represents the percentage of total ethanol consumed in the United States from each beverage type with circles for beer, diamonds for spirits and squares for wine.
tax requirements of each state. State means are found to differ by about 0.25% ABV from the highest to lowest in later years with somewhat less variation seen in earlier years. The main source of this variation is in the share of light beer relative to the share of imported and super premium beer
across states. The states with higher mean % ABV such as New York and New Jersey have particularly high shares of imported beer in 2005 at over 20% and super premium beer, about 9%, as well as ice beer and malt liquor, over 8% combined in New York compared to 5.4% nationally
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 261
Table 23.2
Estimated mean % ABV of beer in selected years by state (sorted by 2001 estimate)
State
1993 (%)
1995 (%)
1997 (%)
1999 (%)
2001 (%)
New York New Jersey District of Columbia Maryland Washington North Carolina Mississippi Virginia Alaska Georgia South Carolina Florida Michigan Kentucky Oregon Vermont Illinois Ohio Delaware Maine Connecticut Massachusetts Tennessee Montana Rhode Island Minnesota California Arkansas Pennsylvania Indiana Missouri Alabama Nebraska New Hampshire Louisiana Nevada Wyoming Wisconsin Colorado Arizona West Virginia New Mexico Hawaii Kansas North Dakota Idaho South Dakota Utah Oklahoma Texas Iowa USA
4.59 4.59 4.57 4.57 4.72 4.56 4.60 4.57 4.64 4.57 4.55 4.57 4.61 4.57 4.71 4.56 4.63 4.60 4.58 4.56 4.56 4.55 4.57 4.68 4.56 4.64 4.56 4.56 4.58 4.59 4.57 4.53 4.58 4.54 4.55 4.52 4.53 4.66 4.52 4.54 4.56 4.51 4.53 4.51 4.60 4.57 4.57 4.51 4.47 4.53 4.62 4.58
4.66 4.66 4.62 4.60 4.77 4.60 4.63 4.61 4.72 4.61 4.58 4.61 4.65 4.60 4.74 4.63 4.70 4.63 4.62 4.61 4.63 4.62 4.60 4.72 4.62 4.67 4.62 4.59 4.64 4.62 4.60 4.57 4.60 4.58 4.58 4.58 4.56 4.71 4.56 4.58 4.58 4.54 4.58 4.54 4.62 4.62 4.58 4.56 4.54 4.57 4.64 4.62
4.82 4.79 4.76 4.79 4.78 4.80 4.79 4.78 4.74 4.76 4.78 4.76 4.75 4.75 4.76 4.72 4.73 4.74 4.73 4.72 4.71 4.72 4.73 4.72 4.70 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.72 4.70 4.72 4.70 4.70 4.69 4.71 4.68 4.68 4.68 4.68 4.67 4.67 4.66 4.66 4.65 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.67 4.64 4.59 4.53 4.72
4.81 4.77 4.73 4.76 4.76 4.77 4.75 4.75 4.74 4.74 4.73 4.74 4.73 4.74 4.75 4.73 4.72 4.72 4.72 4.72 4.70 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.69 4.70 4.69 4.70 4.72 4.70 4.70 4.69 4.69 4.69 4.68 4.67 4.67 4.68 4.68 4.67 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.64 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.63 4.57 4.53 4.70
4.74 4.72 4.72 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.70 4.70 4.70 4.69 4.69 4.69 4.69 4.68 4.68 4.68 4.67 4.67 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.64 4.63 4.62 4.62 4.62 4.61 4.61 4.61 4.61 4.60 4.60 4.60 4.59 4.59 4.59 4.52 4.48 4.65
(Adams Beverage Group, 2006). Conversely these states have low share of light beer at around 40% of the market while states like Texas and especially Iowa have very high shares of light beer. In 2005, nearly 70% of the beer sold in Iowa was light beer and a number of other states including
Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota had around a 60% share of light beer (Adams Beverage Group, 2006). As both light beer and the imported and super premium categories show increasing trends in market share, the differences in mean % ABV across states may
262 Beer Composition and Properties
also be expanding over time highlighting the importance of considering these differences in research studies utilizing cross-state variation in beer consumption.
Table 23.3 The effect of beer drink size and % ABV on the number of standard (0.6 oz. of ethanol) drinks consumed when drinking one to six drinks Number of drinks
Alcohol Content of Beer Drinks Containers In 2000, 51% of beer sold in the United States was packaged in cans, 40% was in bottles and 9% was on draft (Beer Institute, 2001). States differ in these percentages with 15% of sales or more in the form of draft beer in Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin, while 5% or less of sales were in the form of draft beer in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas (Beer Institute, 2001). Including sales of both draft and cans and bottles, 24.9% of beer in 2000 was sold for on-premise consumption while 75.1% was sold for off-premise consumption (Adams Beverage Group, 2002). Less information is available on the size of the cans and bottles sold but figures are available from 1992. In that year about 90% of the volume of beer sold in both bottles and cans of beer were 12 oz., not including malt liquor (about 5% of the packaged market), which typically is sold in larger containers. About 6.4% of beer sold was in 16 oz. cans and about 1.4% was sold in 32 oz. bottles with the small remainder being of unknown size (Beer Institute, 1998). While it is clear that 12 oz. containers make up a large majority of total beer sales, roughly 82%, other sizes and draft beer could account for significant drink size differences if larger-sized containers, or varioussized glasses of draft, are reported as a single drink.
Brand % ABV As shown in Table 23.1 and discussed in the section about beer types, the % ABV of different brands varies widely. Figure 23.2 shows that while most of the beer sold is between 4.2% and 5% ABV, a wide variety of strengths are available. The importance of a beer’s % ABV and container size in determining the number of 0.6 ethanol ounce (14 g) standard drinks consumed for a given number of beer drinks is shown in Figure 23.3. When beer is 3.6% ABV even six 12 oz. drinks do not add up to five drinks, the typical threshold used to determine heavy drinking occasions. For 4.2% or 4.6% beers, six 12 oz. drinks must be consumed to reach five standard drinks. For stronger beer or larger sizes, fewer drinks will be required. For beer above 7% ABV only four 12 oz. drinks and only three 16 oz. drinks are needed to reach five standard drinks. These conversions to standard drinks clearly illustrate the importance of considering size and % ABV in determining an individual’s alcohol intake (Table 23.3).
% ABV
1
2
3
4
12 oz. 3.6 4.2 4.6 5.0 5.6 5.9 7.3 7.7
0.72 0.84 0.92 1 1.12 1.18 1.46 1.54
1.44 1.68 1.84 2 2.24 2.36 2.92 3.08
2.16 2.52 2.76 3 3.36 3.54 4.38 4.62
2.88 3.36 3.68 4 4.48 4.72 5.84 6.16
3.6 4.2 4.6 5 5.6 5.9 7.3 7.7
4.32 5.04 5.52 6 6.72 7.08 8.76 9.24
16 oz. 3.6 4.2 4.6 5.0 5.6 5.9 7.3 7.7
0.96 1.12 1.23 1.33 1.49 1.57 1.95 2.05
1.92 2.24 2.45 2.67 2.99 3.15 3.89 4.11
2.88 3.36 3.68 4.00 4.48 4.72 5.84 6.16
3.84 4.48 4.91 5.33 5.97 6.29 7.79 8.21
4.80 5.60 6.13 6.67 7.47 7.87 9.73 10.27
5.76 6.72 7.36 8.00 8.96 9.44 11.68 12.32
5
6
Note: Each cell represents the number of US standard drinks (14 g of ethanol) that would be consumed for a given number of actual drinks and a given % ABV for two common drink sizes 12 and 16 oz.
Measured drinks More detailed information on the size and strength of beer drinks consumed in the United States is available for individuals surveyed in the 2000 National Alcohol Survey (NAS) Methodological Follow-up Study, a national sample of 323 individuals conducted in the winter of 2003–2004 (Kerr et al., 2005) and the 2003 San Francisco Bay Area Pilot Study of drink ethanol content measurement where 24 individuals reported on beer drink size and brand in consumed in bars or restaurants. Variation in both glass and container size and in brand ethanol content were found to influence drink ethanol content. Figure 23.6 shows the distribution of beer drink ethanol content for home drinks from the 2000 NAS Follow-up Study. Home beer drinks were found to average 0.56 oz. of ethanol with large numbers reporting either 0.5 oz., the amount in 12 oz. of light beer, or 0.6 oz., the amount in 12 oz. of regular 5% ABV beer. The ethanol content of beers served in restaurants and bars reported in the 2003 Bay Area Pilot Study are more varied and are, on average, larger than those of beer consumed at home in that study or in the 2000 NAS Follow-up Study. Beer served at bars and restaurants averaged 0.69 oz. of ethanol with a substantial proportion of drinks being larger than 0.7 oz. of ethanol, as seen in Figure 23.7. In this sample, the beer drinks served at restaurants and bars tended to be larger, 21.5% larger on average, than those served at
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 263
Limitations and Measurement Issues
100
4
The results reported here do not represent the final word on the alcohol content of beer sold or the alcohol content of beer drinks in the United States. Considerable extrapolation from available data was required to achieve the mean beer % ABV estimates. This is especially true for years prior to 1988 and for state-level estimates. More detailed information could certainly alter these estimates if it was to become available. These estimates also utilize producer provided brand % ABV in most cases and the accuracy in these is not known. Further studies where samples are directly measured may indicate that there is a degree of error or even systematic bias in these reports. Also, as mentioned above, the use of type averages rather than state-specific brand sales reduces the accuracy of the estimates presented. Research on the alcohol content of beer drinks by US consumers is at a very early stage. Our national estimates of home beer drinks have shown that these drinks are less varied and contain, on average, less alcohol than wine or spirits drinks but larger samples are need to confirm these results and explore potential sources of variation. The pilot study results also indicate that beer drinks in bars, at least in one part of the United States, tend to be larger and to contain more alcohol than drinks consumed at home. Future research to directly measure the alcohol content of drinks consumed in bars and restaurants across the United States is needed to fully understand the dimensions of this important issue.
2
Concluding Remarks
Frequency
80
60
40
20
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Beer ethanol content if context ~ rest./bars
Figure 23.6 Distribution of beer ethanol content in measured home drinks from the 2000 NAS Methodological Follow-up Study. Histogram shows the number of respondents in the 2000 NAS Methodological Follow-up Study reporting home drink ethanol content in 0.1 oz. groupings between 0.05 and 1.55 oz. of ethanol per drink.
8
Frequency
6
0
0
10 1.
0
00 1.
0
90
0
80
0.
0.
0
70
0
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0.
0.
0
50 0.
0
40 0.
0
30 0.
0
20
10
0.
0.
0.
00
0
0
Ounces of ethanol
Figure 23.7 Ethanol content of beer drinks at restaurants and bars in Pilot Study. Histogram shows the number of respondents in the 2003 Bay Area Pilot Study reporting drink ethanol content in 0.1 oz. groupings between 0.4 and 0.9 oz. of ethanol per drink.
home. Most (38 of 43) home drinks were reported to be consumed from 12 oz. cans, bottles or glasses while bar and restaurant drinks included thirteen 16 oz., two 14 oz. and three 24 oz. glasses compared to only six 12 oz. drinks. The results of this pilot study clearly indicate the importance of both size and ethanol concentration in determining the amount of alcohol in one drink of beer. The home drinks measured in the larger study indicate that for these drinks the brand % ABV is the main varying factor in this context and both studies together indicate that context of drinking may be an important determinant of beer drink alcohol content.
Considering the wide range of beer choices available to American beer drinkers and the changes over time in the brand % ABV and market share, it is particularly important for both survey and aggregate-level analyses to consider the details of beer size and strength to the extent possible. Unlike some countries where almost complete brand-level sales information is available, for example Sweden, Norway and some Canadian provinces, in most countries, including the United States, this information is more difficult and time consuming to obtain. Often, as in the figures presented in this chapter, a variety of information sources that are less than perfect can be used to generate the best possible estimates while still leaving considerable room for improvement. The assessment of individual’s beer drink ethanol content is important for surveys and other types of individual-level research. It is now clear that not all drinks contain the same amount of alcohol, particularly across beverage types but also within them. Therefore, beer drinks should be assessed separately from wine and spirits drinks and information on the size and brand or type of beer should be collected where possible. The importance of accurate ethanol measurement is probably most keen in studies of health and medical outcomes.
264 Beer Composition and Properties
In these studies an individual’s self-reported number of drinks, often from relatively simplistic question formats, is converted into a number of grams per day variable that gives the appearance of precision. These variables are then used to estimate relationships and risk thresholds in terms of grams of alcohol, which are then extrapolated to populations and used to form drinking guidelines and recommendations. In fact, almost none of the literature regarding alcohol’s relationship with health outcomes is based on detailed measures of drink alcohol content and very little of it includes assessment of drinking patterns (Rehm et al., 2006), another dimension likely to be essential in most of these relationships. Hopefully this overview of the US beer market and individual beer drinks will encourage researchers and consumers of research finding to consider these important dimensions in the conduct and interpretation of future studies.
Summary Points ●
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The mean % ABV of beer sold in the United States has generally declined since 1950 from around 5% to a low of 4.5% in 2005. The popularity of beer types, as represented by US market share, has changed over time with light beer increasing to over 50% of the market in 2005 and popular and premium beer types declining. Imported beer has also grown substantially since the early 1990s. The alcohol content of major beer brands sold in the United States ranges from 3.5 to over 8% ABV. However, most beers are between 4.2% ABV, the typical strength of light beer, and 5% ABV, the typical strength of regular beer. Beer is the most commonly consumed form of alcohol in the United States, representing around 60% of all alcohol since 1990. The estimated mean alcohol content of beer differs by US state with the lowest % ABVs found in states with large market shares for light beer and the highest % ABVs seen in states with the highest shares of imported and super premium beers and lower shares of light beer. Individual’s drinks of beer in the United States are more consistent and lower on average in terms of alcohol content than wine or spirits drinks since most beer is consumed from 12 oz. bottles or cans.
References Adams Beverage Group (2002). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT.
Adams Beverage Group (2003). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Beverage Group (2004). Adams Beer Handbook 2004. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Beverage Group (2005). Adams Beer Handbook 2005. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Beverage Group (2006). Adams Beer Handbook 2006. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Business Media (1997). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Media (1998). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Media (1999). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Media (2000). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Research (2001). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, Norwalk, CT. Adams/Jobson Publishing Corporation (1996). Adams/Jobson’s Beer Handbook 1996. Adams/Jobson Publishing Corporation, New York. Beer Institute (1998). Brewers Almanac 1998. Beer Institute, Washington, DC. Beer Institute (2001). Brewers Almanac 2001. Beer Institute, Washington, DC. Efron, E., Keller, M. and Gurioli, C. (1974). Statistics on Consumption of Alcohol and on Alcoholism. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Inc., New Brunswick, NJ. Jobson Publishing Corporation (1994). Jobson’s Beer Handbook 1994. Jobson Publishing Corporation, New York. Jobson Publishing Corporation (1995). Jobson’s Beer Handbook 1995. Jobson Publishing Corporation, New York. Kerr, W.C., Brown, S. and Greenfield, T.K. (2004). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 28, 1524–1532. Kerr, W.C., Greenfield, T.K., Tujague, J. and Brown, S. (2005). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 29, 2015–2021. Kerr, W.C., Greenfield, T.K. and Tujague, J. (2006a). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 30, 1583–1591. Kerr, W.C., Greenfield, T.K., Tujague, J. and Brown, S. (2006b). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 30, 516–522. Lakins, N.E., Williams, G.D., Yi, H.-y. and Smothers, B.A. (2004). National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD. Rehm, J., Greenfield, T.K. and Kerr, W.C. (2006). Contem. Drug Probl. 33, 205–235. Rogers, J.D. and Greenfield, T.K. (2000). Contemp. Drug Probl. 27, 367–381. World Health Organization (2000). World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract
Introduction
Research studies estimating the average alcohol content of beer sold in the United States indicate that beer strength has generally declined over time from around 5% alcohol by volume (% ABV) in the 1950s to a low of 4.5% ABV in 2005. This decline is mainly attributed to the growth in popularity of light beer, with a market share of over 50% in 2005, and to growth in lower alcohol content brands in other categories, particularly Mexican beers among the imported beers. Differences in the popularity of beer types by state also result in varying estimates of average % ABV by state. Some states in recent years have a market share for light beer of over 60%, while others are below 40% and consume more imported and super premium beers. The particularly strong beer types, malt liquor and ice beer, also show substantial variation in market share across states. Individual beer drinks in the United States have been found to be more consistent and to have less alcohol on average than wine or spirits drinks but also to vary by size and alcohol content, especially when served in bars and restaurants. For example, a 16 oz. beer with a strength 7.3% ABV contains nearly two US standard drinks of alcohol. The research presented highlights the importance of obtaining information on drink size and brand or alcohol content in understanding survey response to questions regarding the number of beer drinks consumed and of taking estimates of mean beer % ABV into account when evaluating trends in alcohol consumption or modeling relationships between alcohol consumption from beer and health or other outcomes.
Individual’s beer drinks
List of Abbreviations % ABV AEDS NAS NIAAA USA
Percentage alcohol by volume Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System National Alcohol Survey National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism The United States of America
Beer in Health and Disease Prevention ISBN: 978-0-12-373891-2
The alcohol content of individual drinks of beer and the mean alcohol content of beer sold in the United States in a given year are important factors in the accuracy and interpretation of epidemiologic research regarding the effects of beer on health and other outcomes. Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the United States, comprising 59.4% of the ethanol consumed in 2002 (Kerr et al., 2006a). In their respective analyses and consumption decisions, researchers and, in many cases, consumers typically assume that all beer drinks contain roughly the same amount of ethanol. However, the detailed description of the US beer market presented here indicates considerable variation in the ethanol content of the beer drinks available at any given time. This variation has important implications for both consumer decision-making and survey assessment of consumer behavior. The essential dimensions of beer drink ethanol content variation are straightforward: the liquid volume of beer in the container or glass and the alcohol (ethanol) content by volume (% ABV) of that beer. Yet it is difficult for consumers to gauge the size and strength of the beer they drink and even harder for them to translate these into the often vaguely described “standard drink” in terms of which they are expected to report for many surveys. In the United States a standard drink of beer is most often defined as 12 oz. at 5% ABV, containing 0.6 oz. (14 g) of alcohol. This difficulty may be reflected in the inability of general population surveys to account for all of the beer (and similarly wine and spirits) sold (Rogers and Greenfield, 2000). Further, systematic differences in the ethanol content of beer drinks across individuals could lead to differential under- and overestimates of their consumption, confounding the modeling of the determinants of and outcomes related to beer consumption. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
256 Beer Composition and Properties
to vary across states (Kerr et al., 2004; 2006a, b), a factor not considered in any previous analyses of US state-level relationships between alcohol measures and outcomes. This chapter presents a variety of information on the alcohol content of the beer sold in the United States and beer drinks consumed by US drinkers. This information has been collected and organized as part of two ongoing research programs at the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, California. One focused on estimating per capita consumption of alcohol for use in modeling relationships between alcohol intake and potentially alcohol-related mortality outcomes in the US states and a second focused on estimates of the amount of alcohol contained in individual drinks of beer, wine and spirits consumed in the United States and the key sources of variation in these amounts to better understand and estimate self-reported alcohol intake in surveys. Both of the projects are supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Aggregate beer sales Similarly, aggregate analyses of trends and cross-state differences in per capita consumption of beer, wine, spirits and total alcohol, and the estimation of population-level relationships between alcohol consumption measures and outcome measures require accurate estimates of the mean % ABV for each beverage, year and geographic unit. Only recently have empirically based estimates of mean % ABV become available for the United States and for specific states (Kerr et al., 2006a). For beer, as suggested in guidelines published by the World Health Organization (2000), these estimates are based on information on producer-reported brand % ABV, national brand-level sales, national and state beer type sales and measures of malt and other ingredients per barrel for earlier years. Estimates for wine and spirits mean % ABV are based on similar types of information and also utilize different types of information for some years (Kerr et al., 2006a, b). These estimates were found to differ from the ad hoc estimates, which were originally developed by the Rutgers Center for Alcohol Studies (Efron et al., 1974) and are currently used by the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS) (Lakins et al., 2004). The empirically based estimates described in Kerr et al. (2006a) indicate that beer had more alcohol in all years and wine and spirits less alcohol in most years than the AEDS estimates had assumed. Mean % ABV estimates for beer, wine and spirits were also found
US Beer Types and Brand % ABV Beer sold in the United States is generally divided into seven types by sources that monitor and track beer industry statistics: premium, popular, light, super premium (including craft, microbrew and flavored malt beverages), imported, ice and malt liquor (Adams Beverage Group, 2006). The popularity of these types varies by state (as discussed below) and has changed considerably over time as seen in Figure 23.1.
50.00 45.00 40.00
Market share (%)
35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00
% Ice
% Import
% Super premium
05 20
04
03
20
02
20
01
20
00
20
99
% Light % Popular
20
98
19
97
19
19
96
95
19
94
19
19
93
92
19
91
19
19
89
90 19
19
19
88
0.00
% Malt liquor % Premium
Figure 23.1 US market shares of industry beer types as a percentage of beer sold. Each line represents the percentage of overall beer sales accounted for by each type of beer in each year from 1988 to 2005.
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 257
Statistics on the market share of beer types presented here come from all issues of the Beer Handbook ( Jobson Publishing Corporation, 1994, 1995; Adams/Jobson Publishing Corporation, 1996; Adams Business Media, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000; Adams Business Research, 2001; Adams Beverage Group, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006). Light beer Light beer has by far the largest market share of any category comprising over 50% of the beer sold in 2005. Light beer is generally defined as beer with at least 20% fewer calories than the regular version of the same brand. In practice this also means less alcohol since most beer calories come from the alcohol so the major light beers have 4.2% ABV. The market share of light beer in the United States has risen annually since its invention in the late 1960s. Its market share has doubled since1988 (see Figure 23.1). Premium beer Much of the rise in market share for light beer has been at the expense of the premium beer category, which declined from 40% of the market in 1988 to only 15.7% in 2005. Premium beer is considered to be the regular US beer and includes brands from the largest US breweries such as Budweiser, Coors and Miller Genuine Draft. These beers are generally 5% ABV although they have all changed over time. Most recently Miller Genuine Draft reduced its % ABV to 4.7%, returning to its pre-1995 level. In 1995 Coors was 4.6% ABV and Budweiser was 4.8% ABV. These shifts by major brands over time highlight the difficulty of tracking the alcohol content of beer for both researchers and consumers as these changes are not usually announced and, in some cases, do not appear on the label.
growth is due to the popularity of Mexican beers which now make up 5 of the top 10 imported brands. As with domestic beers, the lighter brands have grown most in popularity resulting in a lower mean % ABV for this category over time. While a few 5% ABV brands such as Heineken and Labatt Blue are still among the most popular, most have lower % ABVs. The leading imported brand is Corona Extra (4.6%) and other Mexican brands are 4.4% ABV. In addition some imported light brands like Corona Light (4.1%) and Amstel Light (3.5% ABV) have become popular. Guiness Stout at 4.2% ABV has always had an alcohol content similar to light beers. Super premium beer The super premium category, which includes craft beers, microbreweries and in recent years flavored malt beverages,
Table 23.1 brands
2005 alcohol content and market share of top beer Cumulative market share (%)
Brand
% ABV
Market share (%)
4.2 5.0 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.6 4.6 4.1 4.7 5.0 4.7 4.2 4.2 5.9 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.3 5.5 4.4
19 13 9 8 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
19 32 40 48 53 56 59 62 65 67 69 70 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 78
Imported beer
Bud Light Budweiser Miller Lite Coors Light Natural Light Corona Extra Busch Busch Light Miller High Life Heineken Miller Genuine Draft Michelob Ultra Keystone Light Natural Ice Budweiser Select Milwaukee’s Best Milwaukee’s Best Light Michelob Light Icehouse Yuengling Traditional Lager Milwaukee’s Best Ice Pabst Blue Ribbon Coors Old Milwaukee Tecate Modelo Especial Labatt Blue Smirnoff Twisted V Colt 45 King Cobra Mean % ABV of top brands
5.9 5.0 5.0 4.6 4.4 4.4 5.0 5.0 6.1 6.0 4.5
1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 84
79 80 80 81 81 82 82 83 83 84 84
Imported beer has grown substantially in recent years and now constitutes 12.5% of the beer market. Much of this
Note: Producer reported % ABV and estimated market share from the Adams Beer Handbook 2006 for leading brands in 2005.
Popular beer Popular beer has also lost popularity over time and now makes up less than 10% of the market. This category consists of lower priced brands from major breweries and some historically regional brands. Many of these brands have been consolidated by Pabst Brewing. These include Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, Rainer and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The alcohol content of popular beers varies widely with some as low as 4.3% such as Milwaukee’s Best, others around 4.6% such as Busch or 4.7% like Miller High Life, while others are as high as 5% ABV including Pabst Blue Ribbon. The % ABV of popular beer brands has changed over time as well, for example Busch was 4.9% ABV in the late 1990s and is now 4.6% ABV (Table 23.1).
258 Beer Composition and Properties
35
30
Market share (%)
25
20
15
10
5
0 3.1 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.9 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.9 5.1 5.3 5.5 5.7 5.9 6.1 6.3 6.5 6.7 6.9 7.1 7.3 7.5 7.7 7.9 Ethanol content by volume %
Figure 23.2 Beer ethanol content distribution for 2000. Bars represent the percentage of beer sold among major brands that had the labeled percentage ethanol content by volume in the year 2000.
has also grown over time and is now over 7% of the beer market. While the Michelob brand led this category for many years, the top brand is now Yuengling Lager, which is lower in alcohol than most beers in this category at 4.4% ABV. Many beers in this category have higher alcohol contents such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (5.6%) and some are as high as 7% or 8% ABV. The category includes a very large number of low production beers and is thus difficult to form a complete picture of it in terms of the % ABV distribution. Ice beer Ice beer is a type of beer that has been clarified by forming small ice crystals and then removing them. This process also removes some of the water, increasing the alcohol content such that these beers are typically 5.5–5.9% ABV. As seen in Figure 23.1, this category was introduced in 1994 and has maintained a small share of the market since. This category is a mix of low cost high alcohol beers with 5.9% ABV such as Natural Ice, Milwaukee’s Best Ice and Keystone Ice that compete with malt liquors in offering the most alcohol for the dollar among beers and 5.5% ABV brands including Icehouse and Bud Ice that are priced like premium beers. The stronger, lower priced brands have gained a larger share of this category in recent years, possibly through some consumers switching from the declining malt liquor category. Malt liquor beer Malt liquor is generally lower priced, higher alcohol content beer that is often sold in larger containers such as 16 or 40 oz.
Malt liquor consumption peaked in the mid-1990s at nearly 5% of the beer market and has since declined to only 2.1% in 2005. This category covers a range of % ABVs from Mickey’s at 5.6% ABV to King Cobra and Colt 45 at 5.9% to Olde English 800 or St. Ides at 7.3% ABV or more. Malt liquor % ABV appears to be more complicated than other beers because versions with very different strengths have been sold in different parts of the country. Some brands have sold 5.9% ABV versions in the Eastern United States due to certain states that do not allow higher % ABVs while selling much stronger versions in the Western states. Brand % ABVs also change over time as with other beer types.
Distribution of beer alcohol contents The beer ethanol content distribution for major beer brands in 2000 is shown in Figure 23.2. This illustrates the concentration of % ABVs at 4.2%, 5% and between these in that year with much smaller market shares for beers with higher or lower % ABVs. By 2005 there has been a further shift toward lower % ABV beer as can be seen in Table 23.1. These beers represent 84% of the beer market and have an average % ABV of 4.5. While this estimate is based on less detail than those presented in Kerr et al. (2004), it indicates that the average % ABV of beer has likely fallen since 2001 due to the increasing market share of light beers and lower % ABV imports like Corona and reduced % ABVs for major brands such as Busch and Miller beers. Considering the strong trend in this direction it can be expected that even further declines in the mean % ABV of beers in the United States will occur in the future.
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 259
5.50 5.40 5.30 5.20
Alcohol by volume (%)
5.10 5.00 4.90 4.80 4.70 4.60 4.50 4.40 4.30 4.20 4.10 2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1970
1968
1966
1964
1962
1960
1958
1956
1954
1952
1950
4.00
Figure 23.3 Estimated mean % ABV of beer in the United States. The line shows the estimated mean % ABV for all beer sold in the United States in each year from 1950 through 2005.
Time Trends in % ABV and Beer Consumption Estimates of the mean % ABV of beer sold in the United States (Figure 23.3) indicate a generally declining trend over the past 50 years from about 5% ABV in the early 1950s to 4.5% ABV in 2005. One exception to this was a rise in the late 1990s, which was mainly due to the increase % ABV of certain brands (Kerr et al., 2004). As noted above, the major factor in this shift has been the relentless rise in the popularity of light beer. The importance of the changing alcohol content of beer can bee seen in Figure 23.4 where trends in the liters of beer sold and the ethanol contained in that beer are charted. While both are seen to peak around 1980, at the same time as overall alcohol consumption, the ethanol consumed in the form of beer has declined proportionally more than beer sales. For purposes of estimating the relationship between alcohol consumption from beer and health outcomes, it is the ethanol, rather than the beer, that would be relevant. This has increased from a low of about 4 l per capita aged 15 years and older in the late 1950s and early 1960s to a high of about 5.5 l per capita around 1980 and has subsequently fallen to below 5 l from the early 1990s. In comparison to wine and spirits, beer has been the largest source of alcohol for the US population since the end of prohibition. As seen in Figure 23.5, the proportion of US alcohol intake from beer declined from over 55% in the
early 1950s to below 50% around 1970. During that time spirits rose in popularity from 35% of the alcohol sold to nearly 42%. With the decline of spirits popularity since the mid-1970s, beer’s share of US alcohol intake has risen to over 60% by the mid-1990s. Wine has never comprised more than 15% of the alcohol sold in the United States but has risen from about 10% through 1970 to nearly 15%. Spirits have also seen a small increase in recent years resulting in a small decline in beer’s share of US alcohol intake. However, beer remains by far the main source of alcohol for the US population.
State Differences in % ABV and Type Shares The mean % ABV of beer sold has been found to vary across states in the United States in addition to changing over time as discussed above (Kerr et al., 2004). Estimates of state mean % ABV utilize each state’s market shares of the seven beer types along with estimates of the mean % ABV by beer type calculated using national sales of major brands. These estimates are presented in Table 23.2 for selected years for states sorted by the 2001 % ABV estimate. While it would be preferable to utilize brand-level sales by state to calculate these means, this information has not yet been found, although producers or wholesalers are likely to have these data due to the separate licensing and
130
6.5
120
6
110
5.5
100
5
90
4.5
80
4
70
3.5
60
3
50
2.5
40
2
30
1.5
20
1
10
0.5 0 02
00
20
98
20
96
19
94
19
92
19
90
19
88
19
86
19
84
19
82
19
80
19
78
19
76
Beer sold
19
74
19
72
19
70
19
68
19
66
19
64
19
62
19
60
19
58
19
56
19
54
19
52
19
19
50
0 19
Liters of ethanol
Liters of beer
260 Beer Composition and Properties
Ethanol from beer
Figure 23.4 Per capita (15) liters of beer and ethanol from beer for the United States Line with circles shows the amount of beer sold in liters on the left axis and the line with diamonds show the amount of ethanol sold as beer in liters on the right axis for each year.
65.00 60.00 55.00 50.00 45.00
(%)
40.00 35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00
19 50 19 52 19 54 19 56 19 58 19 60 19 62 19 64 19 66 19 68 19 70 19 72 19 74 19 76 19 78 19 80 19 82 19 84 19 86 19 88 19 90 19 92 19 94 19 96 19 98 20 00 20 02
0.00
%Spirits
%Wine
%Beer
Figure 23.5 Proportion of total ethanol from beer, wine and spirits in the United States over time. Each line represents the percentage of total ethanol consumed in the United States from each beverage type with circles for beer, diamonds for spirits and squares for wine.
tax requirements of each state. State means are found to differ by about 0.25% ABV from the highest to lowest in later years with somewhat less variation seen in earlier years. The main source of this variation is in the share of light beer relative to the share of imported and super premium beer
across states. The states with higher mean % ABV such as New York and New Jersey have particularly high shares of imported beer in 2005 at over 20% and super premium beer, about 9%, as well as ice beer and malt liquor, over 8% combined in New York compared to 5.4% nationally
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 261
Table 23.2
Estimated mean % ABV of beer in selected years by state (sorted by 2001 estimate)
State
1993 (%)
1995 (%)
1997 (%)
1999 (%)
2001 (%)
New York New Jersey District of Columbia Maryland Washington North Carolina Mississippi Virginia Alaska Georgia South Carolina Florida Michigan Kentucky Oregon Vermont Illinois Ohio Delaware Maine Connecticut Massachusetts Tennessee Montana Rhode Island Minnesota California Arkansas Pennsylvania Indiana Missouri Alabama Nebraska New Hampshire Louisiana Nevada Wyoming Wisconsin Colorado Arizona West Virginia New Mexico Hawaii Kansas North Dakota Idaho South Dakota Utah Oklahoma Texas Iowa USA
4.59 4.59 4.57 4.57 4.72 4.56 4.60 4.57 4.64 4.57 4.55 4.57 4.61 4.57 4.71 4.56 4.63 4.60 4.58 4.56 4.56 4.55 4.57 4.68 4.56 4.64 4.56 4.56 4.58 4.59 4.57 4.53 4.58 4.54 4.55 4.52 4.53 4.66 4.52 4.54 4.56 4.51 4.53 4.51 4.60 4.57 4.57 4.51 4.47 4.53 4.62 4.58
4.66 4.66 4.62 4.60 4.77 4.60 4.63 4.61 4.72 4.61 4.58 4.61 4.65 4.60 4.74 4.63 4.70 4.63 4.62 4.61 4.63 4.62 4.60 4.72 4.62 4.67 4.62 4.59 4.64 4.62 4.60 4.57 4.60 4.58 4.58 4.58 4.56 4.71 4.56 4.58 4.58 4.54 4.58 4.54 4.62 4.62 4.58 4.56 4.54 4.57 4.64 4.62
4.82 4.79 4.76 4.79 4.78 4.80 4.79 4.78 4.74 4.76 4.78 4.76 4.75 4.75 4.76 4.72 4.73 4.74 4.73 4.72 4.71 4.72 4.73 4.72 4.70 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.72 4.70 4.72 4.70 4.70 4.69 4.71 4.68 4.68 4.68 4.68 4.67 4.67 4.66 4.66 4.65 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.67 4.64 4.59 4.53 4.72
4.81 4.77 4.73 4.76 4.76 4.77 4.75 4.75 4.74 4.74 4.73 4.74 4.73 4.74 4.75 4.73 4.72 4.72 4.72 4.72 4.70 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.69 4.70 4.69 4.70 4.72 4.70 4.70 4.69 4.69 4.69 4.68 4.67 4.67 4.68 4.68 4.67 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.64 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.63 4.57 4.53 4.70
4.74 4.72 4.72 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.70 4.70 4.70 4.69 4.69 4.69 4.69 4.68 4.68 4.68 4.67 4.67 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.64 4.63 4.62 4.62 4.62 4.61 4.61 4.61 4.61 4.60 4.60 4.60 4.59 4.59 4.59 4.52 4.48 4.65
(Adams Beverage Group, 2006). Conversely these states have low share of light beer at around 40% of the market while states like Texas and especially Iowa have very high shares of light beer. In 2005, nearly 70% of the beer sold in Iowa was light beer and a number of other states including
Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota had around a 60% share of light beer (Adams Beverage Group, 2006). As both light beer and the imported and super premium categories show increasing trends in market share, the differences in mean % ABV across states may
262 Beer Composition and Properties
also be expanding over time highlighting the importance of considering these differences in research studies utilizing cross-state variation in beer consumption.
Table 23.3 The effect of beer drink size and % ABV on the number of standard (0.6 oz. of ethanol) drinks consumed when drinking one to six drinks Number of drinks
Alcohol Content of Beer Drinks Containers In 2000, 51% of beer sold in the United States was packaged in cans, 40% was in bottles and 9% was on draft (Beer Institute, 2001). States differ in these percentages with 15% of sales or more in the form of draft beer in Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin, while 5% or less of sales were in the form of draft beer in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas (Beer Institute, 2001). Including sales of both draft and cans and bottles, 24.9% of beer in 2000 was sold for on-premise consumption while 75.1% was sold for off-premise consumption (Adams Beverage Group, 2002). Less information is available on the size of the cans and bottles sold but figures are available from 1992. In that year about 90% of the volume of beer sold in both bottles and cans of beer were 12 oz., not including malt liquor (about 5% of the packaged market), which typically is sold in larger containers. About 6.4% of beer sold was in 16 oz. cans and about 1.4% was sold in 32 oz. bottles with the small remainder being of unknown size (Beer Institute, 1998). While it is clear that 12 oz. containers make up a large majority of total beer sales, roughly 82%, other sizes and draft beer could account for significant drink size differences if larger-sized containers, or varioussized glasses of draft, are reported as a single drink.
Brand % ABV As shown in Table 23.1 and discussed in the section about beer types, the % ABV of different brands varies widely. Figure 23.2 shows that while most of the beer sold is between 4.2% and 5% ABV, a wide variety of strengths are available. The importance of a beer’s % ABV and container size in determining the number of 0.6 ethanol ounce (14 g) standard drinks consumed for a given number of beer drinks is shown in Figure 23.3. When beer is 3.6% ABV even six 12 oz. drinks do not add up to five drinks, the typical threshold used to determine heavy drinking occasions. For 4.2% or 4.6% beers, six 12 oz. drinks must be consumed to reach five standard drinks. For stronger beer or larger sizes, fewer drinks will be required. For beer above 7% ABV only four 12 oz. drinks and only three 16 oz. drinks are needed to reach five standard drinks. These conversions to standard drinks clearly illustrate the importance of considering size and % ABV in determining an individual’s alcohol intake (Table 23.3).
% ABV
1
2
3
4
12 oz. 3.6 4.2 4.6 5.0 5.6 5.9 7.3 7.7
0.72 0.84 0.92 1 1.12 1.18 1.46 1.54
1.44 1.68 1.84 2 2.24 2.36 2.92 3.08
2.16 2.52 2.76 3 3.36 3.54 4.38 4.62
2.88 3.36 3.68 4 4.48 4.72 5.84 6.16
3.6 4.2 4.6 5 5.6 5.9 7.3 7.7
4.32 5.04 5.52 6 6.72 7.08 8.76 9.24
16 oz. 3.6 4.2 4.6 5.0 5.6 5.9 7.3 7.7
0.96 1.12 1.23 1.33 1.49 1.57 1.95 2.05
1.92 2.24 2.45 2.67 2.99 3.15 3.89 4.11
2.88 3.36 3.68 4.00 4.48 4.72 5.84 6.16
3.84 4.48 4.91 5.33 5.97 6.29 7.79 8.21
4.80 5.60 6.13 6.67 7.47 7.87 9.73 10.27
5.76 6.72 7.36 8.00 8.96 9.44 11.68 12.32
5
6
Note: Each cell represents the number of US standard drinks (14 g of ethanol) that would be consumed for a given number of actual drinks and a given % ABV for two common drink sizes 12 and 16 oz.
Measured drinks More detailed information on the size and strength of beer drinks consumed in the United States is available for individuals surveyed in the 2000 National Alcohol Survey (NAS) Methodological Follow-up Study, a national sample of 323 individuals conducted in the winter of 2003–2004 (Kerr et al., 2005) and the 2003 San Francisco Bay Area Pilot Study of drink ethanol content measurement where 24 individuals reported on beer drink size and brand in consumed in bars or restaurants. Variation in both glass and container size and in brand ethanol content were found to influence drink ethanol content. Figure 23.6 shows the distribution of beer drink ethanol content for home drinks from the 2000 NAS Follow-up Study. Home beer drinks were found to average 0.56 oz. of ethanol with large numbers reporting either 0.5 oz., the amount in 12 oz. of light beer, or 0.6 oz., the amount in 12 oz. of regular 5% ABV beer. The ethanol content of beers served in restaurants and bars reported in the 2003 Bay Area Pilot Study are more varied and are, on average, larger than those of beer consumed at home in that study or in the 2000 NAS Follow-up Study. Beer served at bars and restaurants averaged 0.69 oz. of ethanol with a substantial proportion of drinks being larger than 0.7 oz. of ethanol, as seen in Figure 23.7. In this sample, the beer drinks served at restaurants and bars tended to be larger, 21.5% larger on average, than those served at
Ethanol Content of Beer Sold in the US 263
Limitations and Measurement Issues
100
4
The results reported here do not represent the final word on the alcohol content of beer sold or the alcohol content of beer drinks in the United States. Considerable extrapolation from available data was required to achieve the mean beer % ABV estimates. This is especially true for years prior to 1988 and for state-level estimates. More detailed information could certainly alter these estimates if it was to become available. These estimates also utilize producer provided brand % ABV in most cases and the accuracy in these is not known. Further studies where samples are directly measured may indicate that there is a degree of error or even systematic bias in these reports. Also, as mentioned above, the use of type averages rather than state-specific brand sales reduces the accuracy of the estimates presented. Research on the alcohol content of beer drinks by US consumers is at a very early stage. Our national estimates of home beer drinks have shown that these drinks are less varied and contain, on average, less alcohol than wine or spirits drinks but larger samples are need to confirm these results and explore potential sources of variation. The pilot study results also indicate that beer drinks in bars, at least in one part of the United States, tend to be larger and to contain more alcohol than drinks consumed at home. Future research to directly measure the alcohol content of drinks consumed in bars and restaurants across the United States is needed to fully understand the dimensions of this important issue.
2
Concluding Remarks
Frequency
80
60
40
20
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Beer ethanol content if context ~ rest./bars
Figure 23.6 Distribution of beer ethanol content in measured home drinks from the 2000 NAS Methodological Follow-up Study. Histogram shows the number of respondents in the 2000 NAS Methodological Follow-up Study reporting home drink ethanol content in 0.1 oz. groupings between 0.05 and 1.55 oz. of ethanol per drink.
8
Frequency
6
0
0
10 1.
0
00 1.
0
90
0
80
0.
0.
0
70
0
60
0.
0.
0
50 0.
0
40 0.
0
30 0.
0
20
10
0.
0.
0.
00
0
0
Ounces of ethanol
Figure 23.7 Ethanol content of beer drinks at restaurants and bars in Pilot Study. Histogram shows the number of respondents in the 2003 Bay Area Pilot Study reporting drink ethanol content in 0.1 oz. groupings between 0.4 and 0.9 oz. of ethanol per drink.
home. Most (38 of 43) home drinks were reported to be consumed from 12 oz. cans, bottles or glasses while bar and restaurant drinks included thirteen 16 oz., two 14 oz. and three 24 oz. glasses compared to only six 12 oz. drinks. The results of this pilot study clearly indicate the importance of both size and ethanol concentration in determining the amount of alcohol in one drink of beer. The home drinks measured in the larger study indicate that for these drinks the brand % ABV is the main varying factor in this context and both studies together indicate that context of drinking may be an important determinant of beer drink alcohol content.
Considering the wide range of beer choices available to American beer drinkers and the changes over time in the brand % ABV and market share, it is particularly important for both survey and aggregate-level analyses to consider the details of beer size and strength to the extent possible. Unlike some countries where almost complete brand-level sales information is available, for example Sweden, Norway and some Canadian provinces, in most countries, including the United States, this information is more difficult and time consuming to obtain. Often, as in the figures presented in this chapter, a variety of information sources that are less than perfect can be used to generate the best possible estimates while still leaving considerable room for improvement. The assessment of individual’s beer drink ethanol content is important for surveys and other types of individual-level research. It is now clear that not all drinks contain the same amount of alcohol, particularly across beverage types but also within them. Therefore, beer drinks should be assessed separately from wine and spirits drinks and information on the size and brand or type of beer should be collected where possible. The importance of accurate ethanol measurement is probably most keen in studies of health and medical outcomes.
264 Beer Composition and Properties
In these studies an individual’s self-reported number of drinks, often from relatively simplistic question formats, is converted into a number of grams per day variable that gives the appearance of precision. These variables are then used to estimate relationships and risk thresholds in terms of grams of alcohol, which are then extrapolated to populations and used to form drinking guidelines and recommendations. In fact, almost none of the literature regarding alcohol’s relationship with health outcomes is based on detailed measures of drink alcohol content and very little of it includes assessment of drinking patterns (Rehm et al., 2006), another dimension likely to be essential in most of these relationships. Hopefully this overview of the US beer market and individual beer drinks will encourage researchers and consumers of research finding to consider these important dimensions in the conduct and interpretation of future studies.
Summary Points ●
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The mean % ABV of beer sold in the United States has generally declined since 1950 from around 5% to a low of 4.5% in 2005. The popularity of beer types, as represented by US market share, has changed over time with light beer increasing to over 50% of the market in 2005 and popular and premium beer types declining. Imported beer has also grown substantially since the early 1990s. The alcohol content of major beer brands sold in the United States ranges from 3.5 to over 8% ABV. However, most beers are between 4.2% ABV, the typical strength of light beer, and 5% ABV, the typical strength of regular beer. Beer is the most commonly consumed form of alcohol in the United States, representing around 60% of all alcohol since 1990. The estimated mean alcohol content of beer differs by US state with the lowest % ABVs found in states with large market shares for light beer and the highest % ABVs seen in states with the highest shares of imported and super premium beers and lower shares of light beer. Individual’s drinks of beer in the United States are more consistent and lower on average in terms of alcohol content than wine or spirits drinks since most beer is consumed from 12 oz. bottles or cans.
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Adams Beverage Group (2003). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Beverage Group (2004). Adams Beer Handbook 2004. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Beverage Group (2005). Adams Beer Handbook 2005. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Beverage Group (2006). Adams Beer Handbook 2006. Adams Beverage Group, Norwalk, CT. Adams Business Media (1997). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Media (1998). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Media (1999). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Media (2000). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, New York. Adams Business Research (2001). Adams Beer Handbook. Adams Business Media, Norwalk, CT. Adams/Jobson Publishing Corporation (1996). Adams/Jobson’s Beer Handbook 1996. Adams/Jobson Publishing Corporation, New York. Beer Institute (1998). Brewers Almanac 1998. Beer Institute, Washington, DC. Beer Institute (2001). Brewers Almanac 2001. Beer Institute, Washington, DC. Efron, E., Keller, M. and Gurioli, C. (1974). Statistics on Consumption of Alcohol and on Alcoholism. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Inc., New Brunswick, NJ. Jobson Publishing Corporation (1994). Jobson’s Beer Handbook 1994. Jobson Publishing Corporation, New York. Jobson Publishing Corporation (1995). Jobson’s Beer Handbook 1995. Jobson Publishing Corporation, New York. Kerr, W.C., Brown, S. and Greenfield, T.K. (2004). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 28, 1524–1532. Kerr, W.C., Greenfield, T.K., Tujague, J. and Brown, S. (2005). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 29, 2015–2021. Kerr, W.C., Greenfield, T.K. and Tujague, J. (2006a). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 30, 1583–1591. Kerr, W.C., Greenfield, T.K., Tujague, J. and Brown, S. (2006b). Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 30, 516–522. Lakins, N.E., Williams, G.D., Yi, H.-y. and Smothers, B.A. (2004). National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD. Rehm, J., Greenfield, T.K. and Kerr, W.C. (2006). Contem. Drug Probl. 33, 205–235. Rogers, J.D. and Greenfield, T.K. (2000). Contemp. Drug Probl. 27, 367–381. World Health Organization (2000). World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Copenhagen, Denmark.