As a a matter of fact, the fancy beer with high alcohol content is actually more expensive per unit of alcohol. Let’s do a hypothetical, and compare a bottle of Stone Brewery’s Old Guardian Barleywine to PBR.
Old Guardian
Cost: $5.99
Volume: 22oz
ABV: 10.8%
Volume of alcohol: 2.376oz
Cost per oz alcohol: $2.52
PBR
Cost: $14.99
Volume: 30 x 12oz = 360oz
ABV: 5.0%
Volume of alcohol: 18oz
Cost per oz alcohol: $$0.83
So the fancy beer is about 3x more expensive per unit of alcohol. Bottom line: the free market dictates that those who only want to get drunk will not choose the fancy beers, and if they do, for some reason, they will actually get less alcohol!
As a former teenager, I can say that when we went looking for alcohol, it wasn’t 8-dollar specialty beers. We drank what was cheap, and what was cheap and effective was a $10 handle of 80-proof vodka, not expensive beer.
These “for the children” politicians need to be muzzled… wake up people it’s “For the children…so we can get reelected for looking like we care about doing stuff other than getting reelected.”
Let’s be real, when a drunk driver hits someone and starts throwing beer cans over a bridge, they’re throwing Miller Genuine Draft, Budweiser and Tecate over, not Maredsous, La Fin Du Monde, and Ephemere.
J Ruperts… 1992 about $5.00 a case. Once you drink enough you can’t even taste it. Why pay for the good stuff when its just going to end up on a sidewalk or the side of toilet… one way or the other. There was always that one guy in high school who would show up with some high end six pack. Heck just give me a bottle of Mad Dog… Ah. The past… if I could just remember it.
Totally agree with you on finding cheap alcohol as a teenager…Old Mil, Milwaukee’s Best, Keystone Light, Golden Anniversary, etc. If it was less than $15 a case of 24, it was ours.
Just reading the names of these beers brought back memories of the nasty hangovers they gave you.
Is a kid going to spend $10 for a 13.9% 12 oz. bottle of beer or $18 for a handle (1.75 liter for you old folks)of 40% vodka.
The opponents are just grandstanding for publicity.
Everclear Forever!
I, also, am a former teenager – very, very,former. We drank Lucky Lager, Dutch Mill (Thrifty Drug stores own in-house brand) at 25 cents a quart, Acme, and, for a real upscale treat, Rhinegold (it was ‘imported’ from new york).
Agree this is much ado about nothing
When I lived in AL years ago I tried a local beer called Big Mouth Beer. It was cheap but tasted like sewer water. Pass laws to put taste into their beer instead.
My former-teen self and my former-teen friends went for the cheap crap, too.
Milwaukee’s Beast, usually. We called it “beast” for short and because it was appropos.
We also punished ourselves with plenty of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Busch, and Natural Light.
I have to say, we weren’t 21 yet when we discovered for a few dollars more we could enjoy Guiness, Boulevard and Sapporo. We didn’t have bills to pay, so why not?
To say teens would absolutely NOT be interested in the fancy beer isn’t entirely true. But I agree with the rest of you, there would not be a significant increase in teen consumption.
It’s great to see that as teenagers we were all pretty much the same. Of course my teenage years are a bit harder to remember (age not draim dramage), I do remember old 3.2 beer at a nickle a glass. How we ever got drunk on that stuff is beyond me.
PS – at that time in Ohio they made 3.2 beer for those of us not yet able to handle the high test stuff.
On the one hand, I suppose teenagers would opt for the cheapest brew possible. Then again, many seem to have enough money for designer sneakers and iPods.
Of course, teens aren’t supposed to be drinking in the first place. I know they will and do, but should we exxagerate the double standard by making it easier to get intoxicated? They don’t call it “rot gut” for nothing.
If the good legislators wanted to do something really helpful, they should act to ban trans-fats, which are really poison — plus, they don’t even give you a buzz, they just plug up your arteries so food manufacturers can make more money.
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As a a matter of fact, the fancy beer with high alcohol content is actually more expensive per unit of alcohol. Let’s do a hypothetical, and compare a bottle of Stone Brewery’s Old Guardian Barleywine to PBR.
Old Guardian
Cost: $5.99
Volume: 22oz
ABV: 10.8%
Volume of alcohol: 2.376oz
Cost per oz alcohol: $2.52
PBR
Cost: $14.99
Volume: 30 x 12oz = 360oz
ABV: 5.0%
Volume of alcohol: 18oz
Cost per oz alcohol: $$0.83
So the fancy beer is about 3x more expensive per unit of alcohol. Bottom line: the free market dictates that those who only want to get drunk will not choose the fancy beers, and if they do, for some reason, they will actually get less alcohol!
As a former teenager, I can say that when we went looking for alcohol, it wasn’t 8-dollar specialty beers. We drank what was cheap, and what was cheap and effective was a $10 handle of 80-proof vodka, not expensive beer.
These “for the children” politicians need to be muzzled… wake up people it’s “For the children…so we can get reelected for looking like we care about doing stuff other than getting reelected.”
Let’s be real, when a drunk driver hits someone and starts throwing beer cans over a bridge, they’re throwing Miller Genuine Draft, Budweiser and Tecate over, not Maredsous, La Fin Du Monde, and Ephemere.
J Ruperts… 1992 about $5.00 a case. Once you drink enough you can’t even taste it. Why pay for the good stuff when its just going to end up on a sidewalk or the side of toilet… one way or the other. There was always that one guy in high school who would show up with some high end six pack. Heck just give me a bottle of Mad Dog… Ah. The past… if I could just remember it.
Totally agree with you on finding cheap alcohol as a teenager…Old Mil, Milwaukee’s Best, Keystone Light, Golden Anniversary, etc. If it was less than $15 a case of 24, it was ours.
Just reading the names of these beers brought back memories of the nasty hangovers they gave you.
Is a kid going to spend $10 for a 13.9% 12 oz. bottle of beer or $18 for a handle (1.75 liter for you old folks)of 40% vodka.
The opponents are just grandstanding for publicity.
Everclear Forever!
I, also, am a former teenager – very, very,former. We drank Lucky Lager, Dutch Mill (Thrifty Drug stores own in-house brand) at 25 cents a quart, Acme, and, for a real upscale treat, Rhinegold (it was ‘imported’ from new york).
Agree this is much ado about nothing
When I lived in AL years ago I tried a local beer called Big Mouth Beer. It was cheap but tasted like sewer water. Pass laws to put taste into their beer instead.
LOL This is wonderful!
My former-teen self and my former-teen friends went for the cheap crap, too.
Milwaukee’s Beast, usually. We called it “beast” for short and because it was appropos.
We also punished ourselves with plenty of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Busch, and Natural Light.
I have to say, we weren’t 21 yet when we discovered for a few dollars more we could enjoy Guiness, Boulevard and Sapporo. We didn’t have bills to pay, so why not?
To say teens would absolutely NOT be interested in the fancy beer isn’t entirely true. But I agree with the rest of you, there would not be a significant increase in teen consumption.
It’s great to see that as teenagers we were all pretty much the same. Of course my teenage years are a bit harder to remember (age not draim dramage), I do remember old 3.2 beer at a nickle a glass. How we ever got drunk on that stuff is beyond me.
PS – at that time in Ohio they made 3.2 beer for those of us not yet able to handle the high test stuff.
On the one hand, I suppose teenagers would opt for the cheapest brew possible. Then again, many seem to have enough money for designer sneakers and iPods.
Of course, teens aren’t supposed to be drinking in the first place. I know they will and do, but should we exxagerate the double standard by making it easier to get intoxicated? They don’t call it “rot gut” for nothing.
If the good legislators wanted to do something really helpful, they should act to ban trans-fats, which are really poison — plus, they don’t even give you a buzz, they just plug up your arteries so food manufacturers can make more money.