We drank craft beers so you won’t drive drunk
One beer = one glass of wine = one shot of liquor. It’s a time-tested formula printed on DMV pamphlets and federal diet guides, and makes counting drinks easier throughout long nights of mixed alcohols.
It’s also misleading, at least for many Sacramento drinkers in 2018. Most craft beers weigh in above the 5.0% alcohol by volume used as a template in that comparison, and the beers frequently come in pint glasses or cans instead of 12 ounces.
As people swap Blue Moon for barrel-aged stouts and Natural Ice for New England IPAs, the extra booze means they get drunk quicker. Just how much quicker? A handful of Bee employees purchased a WEIO breathalyzer on Amazon and a few six-packs of craft beer with at least 6.0% ABV to test it out.
“That’s the deceptive nature of these wonderful new beers ... they really are potent,” said Bee columnist Marcos Bretón. “There has to be a lot more thought put into what you’re going to do if you’re out and about enjoying yourself because you can get inebriated pretty quickly.”
The goal was to reach the legal limit of .08% blood alcohol content. Everyone’s experiment was over once they blew .08%. Alcohol can linger on the breath for a short while after drinking, so each breathalyzer exam came 15 to 20 minutes after the subject’s last sip.
The group met one Saturday around a counter full of snacks in assistant editor Jim Patrick’s kitchen, since drinking on an empty stomach hastens drunkenness. Intern Claire Morgan and video producer Akira Kumamoto were out after just one beer apiece, flush-faced off an 8% Pineapple Passion New England Double IPA from Lead Dog and The Bruery’s 8.5% Mischief golden ale, despite having eaten lunch beforehand.
“Normally that would hinder the warm fuzzies for a little while, but the (Mischief) seemed to jump in anyway,” Kumamoto said. “It was almost as if I had started on an empty stomach, which is always bad news for me.”
Capital bureau chief Dan Smith and I felt fine following our first beers, but blew .086 and .091 after seconds. Kumamoto’s boyfriend Ben Alexander made it to his third beer before passing .08% BAC and Bretón quit with a .076 BAC after three cans, though at 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-5 they had a considerable size advantage over the rest of the field. Alexander also dawdled, taking about three hours to drink his three beverages.
Smith wasn’t the group’s original choice for a control subject, but he’s an Akron native, so we knew he’d be interested in having a beverage while watching the Cleveland Browns extend their 19-game winless streak. (Credit where it’s due: The Browns finally won a game the following week.) A Club Raven bartender handed Smith his first bottle of Miller High Life (4.6% ABV) at 10:25 a.m. on Sunday, and he didn’t pass the legal driving limit until finishing his fourth around 1 p.m., when Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez missed a game-tying field goal as time expired.
Smith ’s two beers on Saturday — Sudwerk Brewing Co.’s Denaliland and New Glory’s Do You Even Simcoe Broh? — checked in at 6.3% and 6.8% ABV, or roughly one-and-a-half times the strength of a Miller High Life. Then there was the volume difference: each Miller came in a 12-ounce bottle, while the microbrews were sold in pint cans.
“That’s the normal drinking pattern I see in Sacramento, both on my own part and people I observe,” Smith said. “They’re drinking pints and drinking IPAs — stuff that’s stronger than an old classic like Miller High Life.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 8:52 AM.