THE
TRUTH IN PRINT
June 2004, Vol. 10: Issue 5
A Publication of the Valley
LIGHT BEER IS NOT SO LIGHT!
By
Bob W. Lovelace
I heard a comment about “light beer” that made
me wonder just how much alcohol it actually contains. Coincidental to this
article, upon leaving the house this morning I saw a semi advertising this very
thing. The entire side of the trailer it was pulling was an advertisement for
light beer.
Proverbs
23:29-35 (KJV):
“Who hath woe? who
hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who
hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? [30] They that tarry long at the
wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. [31] Look not thou upon the wine when it
is red, when it giveth his colour
in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. [32] At the
last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. [33] Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. [34] Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in
the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the
top of a mast. [35] They have stricken me, shalt thou
say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I
awake? I will seek it yet again.”
By the way, the point above about one’s
desire (addiction) to “seek it yet again” can, dear reader, apply to light
beer. But that’s part of the danger of alcohol, and other drugs, that being the
deception involved. Hear Solomon again,
Proverbs 20:1
(KJV):
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
Here wine or alcohol is personified as themselves doing what they make
the drinker do. Yes! Wine is a mocker—it deceives one by its fragrance, it
intoxicates by its alcoholic strength, and it makes one a fool when
intoxicated. One thing that mockers do, Solomon said, is they mock at sin (Pr.
14:9). Moreover the very verse preceding this strong warning says so. It says,
“Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools”
(Proverbs
Alcohol does have the potential to present
an angry person (see “raging,” Pr. 20:1) when drunk, one who is yelling and
boisterous, and often one who is mean and cruel. Moreover the word deceived” is lit. the word "intoxication.” Inherent in alcohol is the
ability to deceive the mind as one can become drunk!
I asked a fellow at the Chevron station who
was buying a six pack what the alcohol content was. He said that light beer was
what he drank and he was sure it was over four percent. Was he right I wondered
because the al. content isn’t printed on the containers or package? I asked him
if one could get drunk on light beer and he politely laughed out loud. This
particular individual stated that it only took one more than a regular beer
(alcoholic content being 5%) to make him drunk. In fact, he said if he drank
three of his drink, the light beers, that he’d best not be caught driving a car
as he’d be in trouble! In turn I asked another man what the content in light
beer was. He also told me that’s what he drinks, and he thought it was 3.2% or
something like that. I asked him if he was sure. He recalled that when he was
in the military they used to serve alcohol at the PX that was less alcohol content
than a regular beer. Still another individual told me that lesser in alcohol content beer
that he remembered being served at the PX was 2.3% alcohol. And he said that he
used to be a bar tender at the NCO Club for many years while in the Marines
(he’s retired) and he’d seen many get drunk on the 2.3% alcohol beer! I have no
reason to disbelieve one who used to be a bar tender. He also said that he does
not drink now and that recently he was asked to speak at the base and when he
and his wife were asked what they’d like to drink he said she’d like a sprite
and he’d have a glass of water. When things began to get out of hand because of
the drinking he said they dismissed themselves and left. He’s not a member of
the
Among the admonitions given in the
scriptures is Peter’s. Hear Peter, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for
us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath
suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; [2] That he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
[3] For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of
the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and
abominable idolatries: [4] Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with
them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: [5] Who shall give
account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. [6] For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that
are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:1-6 (KJV)
Yes! Peter’s right of course and Christians
should have no part of “banquetings” which is nothing
more than drinking parties. Drunkenness is a sin, a work of the flesh (Gal.
Still wanting to know the alcoholic content
of light beer, and having talked to a couple of individuals, I called the 800
number listed on the side of a six pack in order to get the correct information
(1-800-342-5283). The following was given to me by their representative:
Bud Light 4.2
Bush Light
4.2
Natural Light
4.2
Michelob
Light Ultra 4.2
Bud Ice Light
4.1
Michelob
Light 4.3
I asked why the alcoholic content was not listed
on the light beers, but it was on the others, and I was told that it was a
marketing decision not to put the al. content on the lights, since the law does
not require it. He stated that certain
states require contents of 5% and greater to be shown on the containers.
Concerning the “non-alcoholic” beverages he
gave the following information. First, so called nonalcoholic labels are less
than 1/2 of 1%:
O'Doul's 0.4
O'Doul's Amer 0.4
Michelob
Amber 0.4
The manufacturing representative also said
that it takes, for example,
8 1/2 cans of O'Doul's to
equal 1 can of light beer above.