In the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

, Malt liquor is a type of mass market

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

with high

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

content, (typically above 5%), made with

malted barley Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as " malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar ...

and resembling those for

American-style lager The American lager or North American lager is a style of pale lager produced in the United States and Canada. Pale lagers originated in Europe in the mid-19th century and were brought to North America by German American, German immigrants. While ...

Manufacture

Malt liquor is a strong lager or

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

in which

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

or other

adjuncts In brewing, adjuncts are unmalted grains (such as barley, wheat, maize, rice, rye, and oats) or grain products used in brewing beer which supplement the main mash ingredient (such as malted barley). This is often done with the intention of cut ...

are added to the malted barley to boost the total amount of fermentable sugars in the

wort Wort () is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars, the most important being maltose and maltotriose, that will be Ethanol fermentation, fermented by the brewing yeast to prod ...

. This increases the final alcohol concentration without creating a heavier or sweeter taste. Also, it is not heavily hopped, so it is not very bitter.

Brewing and legal definitions

Malt liquor is typically straw to pale amber in color. While traditional premium lager is made primarily from

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, water, and

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

, malt liquors tend to make much greater use of inexpensive adjuncts such as

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, or

dextrose Glucose is a sugar with the molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water an ...

. Use of these adjuncts, along with the addition of special

enzymes An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as pro ...

, results in a higher percentage of alcohol than an average beer. Higher-alcohol versions, sometimes called " high-gravity" or just "HG", may contain high levels of

fusel alcohol Fusel alcohols or fuselol, also sometimes called fusel oils in Europe, are mixtures of several higher alcohols (those with more than two carbons, chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The word ''Fusel'' is G ...

s, which give off solvent- or fuel-like aromas and flavors.Breaking Out the Forty
Beer Advocate.com. March 21, 2001. Accessed on December 16, 2007. Malt liquor is a type of beer that is brewed with a higher percentage of alcohol than regular beer. It originated in Europe, where it was first made with malted barley. Malt liquor became popular in the United States during the Prohibition era when many people turned to make their alcoholic beverages at home. Today, malt liquor is typically made with a combination of grains, including wheat, rye, and corn. It is often bottled or canned and has a higher alcohol content than most beers. Some brands of malt liquor are also available in barrels. While ordinary beers in the United States average around 4-5% alcohol by volume, malt liquors typically range from 6% up to 9% alcohol by volume. A typical legal definition is

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

's Rev. Stat. ss. 12-47-103(19), which provides that: "Malt Liquors" includes beer and shall be construed to mean any beverage obtained by the alcoholic fermentation of any infusion or decoction of barley, malt, hops or any other similar products, or any combination thereof, in water containing more than three and one fifth percent of alcohol by weight. Alcohol percentages measured by weight translate into larger figures when re-expressed as alcohol percentages by volume, because ethanol is less dense than water.

History

The term "malt liquor" is documented in England in 1690 as a general term encompassing both beer and

. The first mention of the term in North America appears in a patent issued by the Canadian government on July 6, 1842, to one G. Riley for "an improved method of brewing ale, beer, porter, and other maltliquors." The Clix brand is often credited as the first malt liquor made in the United States, granted a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

in 1948. The first widely successful malt liquor brand in America was Country Club, which was produced in the early 1950s by the M. K. Goetz Brewing Company in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

. Popular brands include Colt 45, St. Ides,

Mickey's Mickey's is a brand of malt liquor made by the Miller Brewing Company, a subsidiary of Molson Coors. It has a 5.6% ABV. The brand was created by Sterling Brewery in Evansville, Indiana, which brewed it from 1962 through 1972, when the company ...

, Steel Reserve,

King Cobra The king cobra (''Ophiophagus hannah'') is a species complex of snakes Endemism, endemic to Asia. With an average of and a record length of , it is the world's longest venomous snake and among the heaviest. Under the genus ''Ophiophagus'', i ...

Olde English 800 Olde English 800 is a brand of American malt liquor brewed by the Miller Brewing Company. It was introduced in 1964, and has been produced by the company since 1999. It is available in a variety of serving sizes including, since the late 1980s, ...

, Country Club, Magnum, Schlitz Bull, Private Stock, Earthquake, Camo, Hurricane, Natty Daddy, and Icehouse Edge.

Advertising

The core market for malt liquor brewers in the United States in recent decades has been the

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

populations. Brewers' use of

target marketing A target market, also known as serviceable obtainable market (SOM), is a group of customers within a business's serviceable available market at which a business aims its marketing efforts and resources. A target market is a subset of the total m ...

in advertising malt liquor primarily to young,

inner-city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

, black males has been controversial, because of the drink's higher alcohol content and the perceived vulnerability of the target audience. Brewers and advertisers have stated that they simply advertise to those who already buy their products. Critics have objected to the targeting of a segment of the population suffering disproportionately from alcohol-related disease and poor access to medical care. In order to highlight the potency of malt liquor, brand names have stressed powerful imagery such as Colt 45 (a reference to the .45 Colt handgun cartridge),

Big Bear Big Bear, also known as (; – 17 January 1888), was a powerful and popular Cree chief who played many pivotal roles in Canadian history. He was appointed to chief of his band at the age of 40 upon the death of his father, Black Powder, u ...

, and Power Master, and used slogans such as "It's got more" or "The Real Power". Power and sexual dominance have been common themes in their advertising. Latter-20th-century television commercials for Schlitz Malt Liquor featured an 1800-lb.

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

bull charging through walls. Ads for Power Master, and the brand name itself, were eventually banned in the United States by regulations against advertising implying the strength of alcoholic beverages.

Health concerns

The

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, supports and conducts biomedical and Behavioral research, behavioural research on the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevent ...

(NIAAA) has reported that African Americans suffer disproportionate rates of

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

of the liver and other alcohol-related health problems. In light of such statistics, African-American community leaders and some health officials have concluded that targeting high-alcohol beverage ads at this segment of the population is unethical and socially irresponsible. In 1991, U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello criticized all alcoholic beverage companies for "unabashedly targeting teenagers" with "sexual imagery, cartoons, and rock and rap music" in television and print ads.

Container size

In the American vernacular, a forty-ounce or simply a forty is a glass or plastic bottle that holds of malt liquor. Malt liquors are commonly sold in 40–fluid ounce bottles, as opposed to the standard bottle that contains a single serving of beer. After the introduction of 40-ounce containers, which contain roughly five standard drinks, "Forties" became a favorite high of many youth in inner-city areas. They have often been mentioned and endorsed by rap stars as well as by

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands, as in such songs as "40.oz Casualty" by

The Casualties The Casualties are an American punk rock band from New York City, founded by vocalist Jorge Herrera, Hank Fischer (guitar), Colin Wolf (vocals), Mark Yoshitomi (bass) and Yureesh Hooker (drums) in 1990. In July 2017, it was announced on the band ...

, "Rock the 40. Oz." by

Leftöver Crack Leftöver Crack is an American punk rock band formed in 1998, following the breakup of Choking Victim. The band is currently signed to Tankcrimes for CD releases, and Alternative Tentacles for vinyl releases. Leftöver Crack spans several diffe ...

, and " 40oz. to Freedom" by Sublime. Examples of malt liquors sold in forty-ounce bottles include Olde English 800, Colt 45, Mickey's, Camo 40, Earthquake, Black Fist, Country Club, Black Bull, Labatt Blue Dry 6.1/7.1/8.1/9.1/10.1, Labatt Max Ice, WildCat, Molson Dry 6.5/7.5/8.5/10.1, Molson XXX, Private Stock, Big Bear, St. Ides, Steel Reserve 211, B40 Bull Max, King Cobra, and

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

Dogfish Head Brewery Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually. Select brews (inclu ...

has sporadically produced a high-end

bottle-conditioned Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

forty called "Liquor de Malt".Liquor de Malt
Dogfish Head Brewery. Accessed on March 27, 2008. At least for a brief period in the mid-1990s, some brands of malt liquor, including Olde English 800, Colt 45, and Mickey's, were available in even larger, 64-ounce glass bottles. Forty-ounce bottles are not permitted in some U.S. states, including

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, where the largest permissible container of retail malt beverage is . Florida Statutes, Title XXXIV, Chapter 563; see item (6)
/ref>

References

External links

*
Database of 40s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malt Liquor Beer styles

Liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

Alcoholic drinks