Expert: Spencer W Thomas - 4/5/2008

Question
I was wondering if you knew if there used to be a federal law limiting the
alcohol content of beer sold (maybe brewed?) in the U.S.?  I seem to recall
that 15-20 years ago, most beer was in the 3.5%-4.0% range.  When I was in
college, we used to have friends from Canada come down and bring beer with
them because it had a higher alcohol content.  Obviously microbrews have a
lot to do with higher alcohol content beers, but were laws changed to allow
this or were there no laws and people just kept blindly drinking swill since
Prohibition was repealed and finally someone decided to make better beer.  
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Since the end of prohibition, there has been no federal limit on alcohol content in beer.  There are various state limits, such as the 3.2% limit in Utah and the (since repealed) 6% limit in Ohio.  Some states also had lower limits for younger drinkers.  For example, when I was in college in Ohio in the mid 70s, drinkers 18-20 were limited to 3.2%.

As far as I know, the standard mega-beers have not changed alcohol content, but the variety has certainly increased, both from the big brewers and, of course, from microbrewers.