Beers requiring more than 5% alcohol cannot be produced in Iowa.
Beer brewers across Iowa are uniting and asking that Iowa breweries be allowed to make and sell beer with more than 5 percent alcohol content.
Home brewers like Jerry Anderson, owner of The Brew Haus, located on Bluff Street in downtown Dubuque. Before Anderson’s business took off, it started as a simple hobby.
Anderson’s business is providing home brewing supplies for customers across the US and into Canada.
“I’m now sharing my hobby with the world,” says Anderson.
But home brewers have the advantage over Iowa’s breweries. They choose the amount of alcohol they want in their beer.
“Fermentation is the process that is legal in the United States, distillation is not. I have products that are fermentable up to 19% – 20% alcohol,” explains Anderson.
On the other side of the Mississippi, Potosi, Wisconsin and other Wisconsin breweries do not have a legal limit to the amount of alcohol placed in their beer.
But Greg Larsen, executive director of the historical Potosi Brewery, understands Iowa’s frustrations with the issue. He says the process of making older traditional beers needs to have that higher percentage of alcohol in order to re-create the same taste and texture of the beer.
“The 5% ABV actually limits the amount or the style of beer you can get. Once it gets over that 5% ABV becomes a liquor item which is a whole bunch of problems with that. Higher taxes I would assume,” explains Larsen. It is also creating higher prices for Iowa’s consumers and brewers, so customers take their money elsewhere and have been doing so for years. “You have an IPA produced or brewed in Iowa and you come just across the river to Wisconsin it’s going to be night and day from a retail perspective,” says Larsen. Larsen also says there are potential problems with home brewed beers too. “Sanitation is key, along with exposing your beer to elements like oxygen and sunlight. There are really a lot of good home brewers out there, but to really get a good brew there’s a lot things that you have just right,” explains Larsen. A controlled environment, like a brewery, will guarantee better results, but until the 5% alcohol restriction is reconsiderd, Iowans will have to take a chance on brewing their own stronger beers or taking their business across state lines.
