Report: Watered-Down Beer Being Sold During Seahawks Games
Cornerback Richard Sherman #25 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates with fans after the Seahawks defeat the San Francisco 49ers 23-17 in the 2014 NFC Championship at CenturyLink Field on Jan. 19, 2014 in Seattle, Wash. (credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
SEATTLE (CBS Seattle) — Watered-down beer is reportedly being sold at CenturyLink Field during Seattle Seahawks and Sounders games.
KOMO-TV collected six samples of draft beer – Stella Artois, Bud Light, Redhook Brewery No Equal, Shocktop, Bass Pale Ale and Budweiser – during the games at concession stands and worked with IEH Labs to find out the alcohol by volume for each. They found that each beer had a lower alcohol by volume than what was advertised.
Stella Artois:
5.0 percent advertised ABV
4.8 percent tested
Bud Light:
4.2 percent advertised
3.9 percent tested
Redhook Brewery No Equal:
5.2 percent advertised
4.8 percent tested
Shocktop:
5.2 percent advertised
4.7 percent tested
Bass Pale Ale:
5.1 percent advertised
4.5 percent tested
Budweiser:
5.0 percent advertised
4.4 percent tested
Alcohol providers are prohibited by federal law from selling beer that is less than 0.3 percent below the advertised content.
CenturyLink Field did not share contracts with vendors and concessionaire Delaware North Sports Service to KOMO.
An Anheuser-Busch representative questioned the testing method and that the beer purchased at the stadium is the same people can “purchase at bars, restaurants, convenience stores and other retail locations.” The representative told KOMO that the company “strictly” follows federal laws and when testing the five beers they own, they “found no irregularities.”
Redhook Brewery explained to KOMO that they have never been asked by a vendor to water-down beer and doing so would “violate standards and protocols” and “deceive beer drinkers.”
IEH Labs indicated that there could be a drop in alcohol content during the testing process but that the results do merit further investigation.
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