What is Malt Liquor October 10, 2019

Hey Peeps!!!! So you're humble narrator is jumping head first down the internet rabbit hole to answer a question that was recently posed to me at the bar: What is Malt Liquor. Ah, Malt Liquor, the elixir of the hood. While Malt Liquor is linked with urban areas, this was not always so. Actually, most Malt Liquor was originally marketed to a different demographic and has its roots during the post-Prohibition era through to the World War II era.

Beer is made with four basic ingredients: Water, Malted Barley, Hops and Yeast. Malt Liquor is made a but differently. So you might ask yourself. How is it made? According to the post The Brief, Drunk History of Malt Liquor by Evan Malachosky from the Hop Culture website dated March 17, 2017:

The beer inside the big bottles is produced with a mix and match of either corn, rice, or dextrose (often called “adjuncts,” these simple carbohydrates are used to jack up the alcohol content while maintaining a lighter mouthfeel), bottled in glass or plastic, and has an alcohol content of anywhere between 6-9 percent ABV.

Another question is what led to brewers having to use the adjuncts and other grains to make malt liquor. That comes from two pivotal events in American History: The Great Depression and World War II.

Breweries post Prohibition during the The Great Depression saw malt shortages which made it hard to make traditional beer in large amounts once the nationwide beer ban ended with the enactment of the Cullen-Harrison Act on March 21, 1933.  The Cullen-Harrison Act amended the Volstead Act by stating that beer and wine with an alcohol content of 3.2% were not intoxicating and could be made for mass production and sold to the public (and those sales could be taxed creating revenue for the government) as of April 7, 1933. This is why National Beer Day is celebrated on April 7th of every year.

Fast forward eight to ten years to the World War II years. With a national rationing program occurring in the United States in conjunction to the aforementioned malt shortages, breweries had to find other grains and fillers, such as sorghum and potatoes to name just two in order to make beers. This led to the creation of Malt Liquor by the Grand Valley Brewing Co. in Ionia, Michigan in 1937 and a different sparkling version of Malt Liquor from the Gluek Brewing in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1942.

A great detailed article on the history of Malt Liquor is A Story Without Heroes: The Cautionary Tale of Malt Liquor by Kihm Winship from the All About Beer Magazine - Volume 26, Issue 2 dated May 1, 2005.

My next post will go a bit more in depth on the role played by Colt 45 in the rise of Malt Liquor in the United States. To whet your thirst, check out some of the more popular and well known Malt Liquor brands.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
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