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Stronger ABV in bottle

MRMARTINSALES

Grandmaster Brewer
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Hi,

Just a quick question.

Does anybody know why some breweries make there beer stronger in a bottle than in a cask?

For example, Hobgoblin here in the UK is put in a cask at 4.5% but is bottled at 5.2%.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
MRMARTINSALES said:
Hi,

Just a quick question.

Does anybody know why some breweries make there beer stronger in a bottle than in a cask?

For example, Hobgoblin here in the UK is put in a cask at 4.5% but is bottled at 5.2%.

Any ideas?

Thanks

The higher the abv the longer the shelf life..... Bottled beer is sometimes higher to sit on store shelf's for longer.
 
Cask ale and bottles might be different markets. Are the bottles just for local sale? My experience is that Americans like their beer a bit stronger than Brits. The cask ale will likely on be sold locally, but the bottles could be exported.

--GF
 
GigaFemto said:
Cask ale and bottles might be different markets. Are the bottles just for local sale? My experience is that Americans like their beer a bit stronger than Brits. The cask ale will likely on be sold locally, but the bottles could be exported.

--GF

Yeah, that's true, I brew mostly British and German beers myself. Pretty much the local go to guy when it comes to british beer styles.
 
Thanks for your replies. So would they brew two different strengths of beer for cask and bottle or just do one brew and add something toit to increase the ABV for the bottles?

Thanks
 
MRMARTINSALES said:
Thanks for your replies. So would they brew two different strengths of beer for cask and bottle or just do one brew and add something toit to increase the ABV for the bottles?

Thanks

Idk, depends on the brewer, but typically cask beers are gone fast, as they are meant for pubs they don't usually last long a few days to a week maybe.

Whereas bottles could sit for 6 months on a store shelf.
 
MRMARTINSALES said:
Hi,

Just a quick question.

Does anybody know why some breweries make there beer stronger in a bottle than in a cask?

For example, Hobgoblin here in the UK is put in a cask at 4.5% but is bottled at 5.2%.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Greetings MRMARTINSALES - my guess would be that it depends on the state in which the beer is being distributed.  It makes sense that some states would not allow beer with a high ABV to be sold in bars where cask beer is typically sold.  Similarly, 3.2 ABV is the highest percentage allowed at major sporting events in the state of Illinois.  Just a guess...

Also, they most likely use water to reduce the ABV of the cask beer.
 
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