How Much Booze Is in that Booze?

Published on Wednesday, January 23, 2008, by Traci Vogel / Edit Post

If you’re going to put “serving facts” labels on booze bottles, the one thing that would make sense to include is the alcohol content per serving, right?

Not according to federal regulators, who, after 30 years of debate, have just proposed mandating labels that would list carbohydrates, calories, and protein and fat content—but not the amount of alcohol per drink.

It’s the outcome of a long war between hard-liquor distillers and brewers, who have not been able to agree on equivalent serving sizes. The distilled-spirits industry, which would like to counter the perception that liquor is more intoxicating than beer or wine, wants to adopt the U.S. Dietary Guidelines beverage serving standards: 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits, all of which are presumed to have the same alcoholic content. It’s even come up with a concept for a little graphic: a beer bottle, a wineglass, and a shot glass all lined up, separated by equal signs.

Jeff Becker, president of the trade group Beer Institute, disagrees, saying, “This is about marketing advantages to sell their product. If the public believes having a beer is the same as having a martini, we are in big trouble.”

Consumer advocacy groups are split. Knowing the amount of alcohol in each drink is the consumer’s “top priority,” says C. Everett Koop’s Shape Up America! organization. Koop comes down on the side of the distillers’ formula. The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants alcohol content listed, but doesn’t favor the serving size equivalency proposed by the distillers.

Andy Crouch’s BeerScribe.com column has a good rundown of the history of the dispute.

And what do you think? Public comment on the proposed labeling is open until January 28.

ALLFood Media
POST A COMMENT |3 Comments

COMMENT

  • Nonononononono! Romanmk, it is considered six. Now, having scared you to death, there are complications:

    Complication #1
    It's four by single glass restaurant or bar standards, but six by home or bought-the-whole bottle standards. Meaning? If you're at home or have bought the whole bottle, you should be pouring six glasses' worth. Pouring more means either you have too much in the glass or...+READ

    Nonononononono! Romanmk, it is considered six. Now, having scared you to death, there are complications:

    Complication #1
    It's four by single glass restaurant or bar standards, but six by home or bought-the-whole bottle standards. Meaning? If you're at home or have bought the whole bottle, you should be pouring six glasses' worth. Pouring more means either you have too much in the glass or your glasses are oddly big.

    If you're in a resto/bar and you're ordering wine by the glass, you should expect four glasses to equal a 750 ml bottle. That is the standard.

    Complication #2
    Wine varies in alcohol content. By a lot. Big, bawdy, heavy reds, especially from Italy or California, generally have a lot of alcohol in them - as much as 16%. This is the kind of wine that tastes "hot" if not served at the right temperature. It tastes boozier because it is. French wines, white wines, delicate-tasting wines - these can have as little as 8%.-COLLAPSE

  • Before I get in the car, I would like to know if it was 4 or 6 drinks worth of wine in that bottle I just drank. My friends all seem to think it's about four. It would be nice to know if I should wait a couple extra hours. Somebody told me DUI's are costing $10-$12,000 these days.

  • Isn't listing the alcohol content a moot point, when, let's face it, plenty of folks are going to gravitate to the higher alcohol levels? Plus, what about when the bartender makes a manhattan and his elbow gets stuck halfway through, essentially doubling the alcohol? (btw--this is why you should treat your bartender like royalty)