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What if I told you that the Seattle Seahawks may be selling watered-down beer at their home games? That would be outrageous, right? I mean it’s one thing to charge a shade under $10 for a plastic cup of beer. But to lie about the alcohol content? That’s downright un-American. According to a report from KOMO News, something is amiss in this regard at CenturyLink Field.
KOMO News worked with a lab in Seattle that can test alcohol content, and of the 6 beers they tested from samples taken from CenturyLink Field, each of them graded out with less alcohol than advertised. Budweiser was the most egregious, grading out at 4.4% alcohol by volume despite being advertised at 5%. Oh, the humanity!!! This strikes a personal chord with me because the only way I’d even be able to drink a Bud is if I was under the impression that it was getting me drunk quicker.
Other brands that were tested were Stella (5.0% advertised/4.8% tested), Bud Light (4.2%/3.9%), Redhook (5.2%/4.8%), Shocktop (5.2%/4.7%), and Bass Pale Ale (5.1%/4.5%).
A representative from Anheuser-Busch questioned the test and data, saying that the beer at the stadium is the same beer you purchase at bars and restaurants, and their own test of the beer “found no irregularities” in alcohol content. Hmm.
According to the report, federal law prohibits the sale of beer that is less than 0.3% below the advertised content. So if the results of the lab test are accurate, the Seahawks could have some explaining to do.
UPDATE
Anheuser-Busch VP David Craig has released a statement:
We sell only full-strength beer in the state of Washington. The Anheuser-Busch draft beers offered at CenturyLink Field, and throughout the state, are the same as the packaged beer consumers purchase at bars, restaurants, convenience stores and other retail locations including CenturyLink Field.
We use exacting processes to monitor and test alcohol content throughout the brewing and packaging process of all our beers to ensure quality, consistency and accuracy. Laws and regulations governing alcohol requirements vary by state and we abide by all such requirements. In addition, we strictly follow federal guidelines regulating our products to make sure every package of beer that leaves our breweries meets the correct specifications for alcohol content.
We analyzed the production for the beers sampled in this instance, including alcohol levels, and found no irregularities. Based on our findings, we believe the draft beers sampled at the stadium during those dates met the specifications.
When we learned of Jon Humbert’s and KOMO-TV’s inquiry, we proactively reached out to him and also organized a conversation between Jon and one of our brewing experts to share the findings of our analysis and the technical aspects of testing beer.
Beer has unique properties, and accurately measuring its alcohol content requires specific controls, equipment and expertise. A large number of variables could affect testing results including management of the sample, equipment used and how it’s calibrated, and the testing method. In this case, the collection and transport using a plastic container, the lab and testing method could all fail to protect the alcohol content, which would explain the same variance in all samples taken.
