DENVER — Ever wonder if that overpriced beer you buy at Denver’s big sporting events truly is what the label says?
A TV station in Seattle and a newspaper in San Diego exposed the alcohol content by volume wasn’t accurate at sporting venues in recent years.
FOX31 used Industrial Laboratories in Wheat Ridge to test three draft beers at Pepsi Center and three brews at Coors Field.
Blue Moon advertises an alcohol content of 5.4 percent. The lab result was 5.3 percent. Budweiser’s label says 5.0 percent and the lab result was 4.9 percent. Then 90 Schilling was tested. Its label said its alcohol content was 5.3 percent but the test result came back a little stronger at 5.5 percent.
“That’s just kind of wasted grain on our part,” said Eli Kolodny, the quality manager for Odell Brewing Company that makes 90 Schilling at its Fort Collins bottling plant.
Kolodny said making beer is not an exact science, which is why he tests every batch twice.
Federal guidelines allow a beer’s alcohol content by volume to be within 0.3 percent of what’s stated on the label.
“We’re not adding water to our beer or anything like that to try and get on the low end of compliance,” Kolodny said.
All three beers tested at Coors Field stayed within the 0.3 percent ballpark for alcohol content.
Coors beer is supposed to be 5.0 percent alcohol content, but the lab result showed 4.7 percent. Coors Light is supposed to be 4.2 percent, but the lab result came in at 3.9 percent. Fat Tire Amber was the only beer tested that came in exactly as advertised, 5.2 percent.
“I’m glad that we do have someone making sure that we’re being honest. I’d hate to find out if I bought a beer at 8 percent and it was like 4 percent or something ridiculous,” Kolodny said.
The biggest gripe fans might have with the beer at Coors Field and the Pepsi Center is the price, usually $7.50 or more for a 16 ounce draft.
But Rockies fan Carson Cooper says when it comes to stadium beer, “You’re pretty much paying for the atmosphere of the beer as well as the content of it.”