Update: BAC & craft beer experiment
Update (August 11, 2010)
Many questions have been coming in regarding my BAC / Breathalyzer experiment (see the original post below). Findings? There were “findings” to be sure. None of which are bullet proof enough to be shared (not yet anyway), but there are more than a few anecdotal results for the blog. And I most certainly had a great deal of fun in the backyard and at my local pub. Try filling a table with 8 of your friends at your local pub and then start blowing into a Breathalyzer periodically. It’s a scene.
So, the results? First of all, if you do not know what 0.08% BAC feels like, you should. It surprised me. How can I describe it? Let’s try this – DRUNK. Really, I’d be lying to say otherwise. How quick to get there, and how does that vary by a beer’s ABV? That is far too dangerous to share, you need to find out for yourself.
However, I will say this, all things being equal (rate of consumption, food in the stomach, etc.) – Session Beer has a notably slower effect in getting to DRUNK (aka 0.08% BAC). The results confirmed my hypothesis, that Session Beer can be your friend during occasions when flavor is desired, but excessive ABV is not. Again, this is based on me – a 6′4″ 200 pound man who hates to sip beer, but loves to hang with his friends in the pub, or his backyard, for hours and hours and hours. Your results may vary, but Session Beer provides you options.
More research on the way…
Original Post (July 14, 2010)
What does 0.08% blood alcohol content feel like? Do you know? I have no idea, because I have no means to measure it. But that will change on Friday when my new high-end breathalyzer is delivered to my front door. Unless of course it is stolen, as was my Session Beer Project shirt when UPS tossed it on my front step, and not in the door. Anyway, the breathalyzer will allow me to conduct a comparative study on the effects of consuming different ABV percentage craft beers. This may or may not be informative, but it will most definitely be entertaining.
It will go something like this – consume 3 beers an hour, over multiple hours, one day imbibing 7% beer, another day 4% beer. I’ll chart my blood alcohol content (aka BAC) along the way, thanks to my new high tech gizmo, and then compare and contrast. I’ll also mash it up and invite friends of various body sizes, gender, and drinking reputations, as well as the ability to provide entertainment during these sessions without becoming a bore or an asshole. Yes, it’s science, but it’s my science, and my science has no place for boring or tedious experiments. I may even document Session beer consumers “likeability” factor against that of Extreme beer consumers. Maybe chart something like blood alcohol percentage vs. asshole / bore factor, based on style of beer consumer. I see a Harvard Business School case study in the making.
I’m sure at this point most breweries would have their attorneys either shutting down this activity, or have it prefaced with legalese and cover your ass statements. But I don’t care. This is to make a point – an important one I hope, but can’t promise – that a beer’s ABV is well worth knowing, because it may impact your ability to do just about everything that comes next – catch a cab, take public transportation, jump on your bike, or drive a car. The results of this will not be anything that would suggest how much any consumer can or should drink. It is nothing more than a comparative look at how ABV% impacts one individual’s BAC over time – my BAC, not yours.
There are a wide variety of variables to deal with when determining blood alcohol content, including body weight, gender, age, super-livers, amount of food in the stomach, rate of consumption, etc. So, my experiments will be relative, meaning the number I (or others) blow on the Breathalyzer is only a reference point, not an absolute. My methodology will certainly have holes, many holes, but this is an on-going experiment, and I’ll refine my methods after each iteration (I love that I can use “iteration” in place of “each time I get intoxicated“).
While those schooled in the Scientific Method are most likely cringing, I hope Session friends stay tuned.
