American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s just some of what’s been happening in the beer world while you were enjoying the weekend.
UK Beers Cut Alcohol Content To Ease Tax Burden
In response to the UK’s revised alcohol duty structure which took effect in August 2023, several big breweries have reduced the alcohol content of their beers to benefit from lower tax rates applied to beverages with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 3.4% and below. According to reports via The Sun, increased cost pressures facing the sector have also pushed the decision for beer companies to bring the strength down on some beers.
Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing reduced its flagship beer from 3.8% ABV to 3.4% ABV in 2025 and starting on February 25th Heineken reduced its Sol Mexican beer brand to just 3.4% ABV down from 4.2% ABV, joining other mass-market beers like Stella Artois and Foster’s.
Similarly, Grolsch Premium Pilsner’s ABV was lowered from 4.0% to 3.4% in the UK, allowing the brewery to save approximately 23p in excise duty per 440ml can. Despite these tax savings, the decision has sparked frustration among customers who feel they are paying the same price for less alcohol content.
According to figures shown to the Financial Times by data company IWSR, sales of low-alcohol beer in the UK have doubled in 2023. Plus, data compiled by the British Beer and Pub Association has found that 87% of the UK’s pubs now serve at least one low- or no-alcohol beer, although not necessarily on draft.
Words to Drink By
“The one who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find themselves in places no one has ever been before.” – Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity
The Reason People Don’t Drink In Beer Commercials
Did you ever notice that beer commercials never actually show anyone drinking that beer? We have and we’d always assumed there must be some federal regulation prohibiting that. But according to Chowhound we were wrong…
“The government actually has no hard-and-fast rules about showing anyone consuming alcohol in commercials. It actually comes down to the networks themselves, all of which generally look down on alcohol consumption on camera.”
###
