Foster’s beer drinkers in the UK will soon find their lager’s alcohol strength cut to 3.4%.
Heineken UK, which brews Foster’s, said cutting the alcohol strength from the current 3.7% would make the lager eligible for lower rates of alcohol duty.
The brewer hinted at cheaper pints saying “customers benefit from more competitive pricing” because of the lower tax charge.
The change is set to go into effect by February, marking the second time in three years that Foster’s alcohol percentage, or ABV, has been diluted.
Heineken UK said it was responding to changes in UK government policy, which have encouraged brewers to offer lower alcohol options.
Japan sorta did this, but it was with malt percentage rather than alcohol amount. Beers were taxed under laws that taxed any drink malted more than 67%, so beer companies got around it by dropping the malt percentage. Then a new tax category was created and less malted drinks followed. Long story short they now make a beer type drink malted less than 25% called happoshu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happōshu
TIL