 |
| Issued By West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service |
|
| Issued By West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service |
SHANDY
STRENGTH VARIATIONS HIGHLIGHTED
Trading Standards departments
across the Yorkshire and Humber regions have taken part in a survey into the
alcohol content of shandies made up in pubs and clubs. Concern has been
expressed about the possible variations in practices of mixing shandies across
the region, which may lead to purchasers unwittingly consuming more alcohol than
they intended. In the run up to Christmas, with the party season in full swing,
those consuming shandies before driving may wish to take note of the findings.
The majority of beers and
lagers sold in pubs have an alcoholic strength of between 3.5% alcohol by volume
(abv), for example John Smiths Smooth Bitter and 5.0% abv, for example Stella
Artois 5.1% abv. This means that a pint of beer or lager contains between 2 and
2.8 units of alcohol. A unit of alcohol equates to two teaspoons of pure alcohol
or a pub measure of a 40% vol spirit drink. By drinking shandy you would expect
to halve your consumption of alcohol, so that a pint of shandy should contain
between 1 and 1.4 units of alcohol.
The
survey has shown a wide range of proportions of beer or lager in shandy, ranging
from 39% to a staggering 93%. Although the latter finding was way over what was
expected, quite a few samples contained around 70% of beer or lager in the mix.
Using that level as a more typical upper limit, the range of units of alcohol
consumed could vary from 0.8units to as high as 2 units if you drank a Stella
shandy containing 70% Stella.
So
if you believe that you can drink one pint of beer and still drive safely you
may think that you can have two pints of shandy and the same will apply. The
results of the survey show that two pints of shandy could
be equivalent to 1˝ pints of beer.
Martin
Wood, Chief Officer of West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service commented,
“There
is no easy way to tell how much you can drink and stay under the legal blood
alcohol limit. Blood alcohol levels are affected by many things, such as gender,
weight and how much you’ve eaten. Just because you are under the legal limit
doesn’t mean that your reactions and judgement are not impaired. This survey
shows that even drinking shandy can pose a risk. The only sure way is to stick
to soft drinks.”
For
further information contact:
Graham
Hebblethwaite, Divisional Manager/General Media Contact Tel: 0113 2898218
Steven
Kaye, Principal Officer 0113 2898229
Andrew
Bibby, Principal Officer 0113 2898237
NOTES
FOR EDITORS:
The
results for each authority, which took part in the survey are detailed below:
|
Yorkshire
and The Humber Trading Standards Group |
|
|
|||
|
Quality
Standards Technical Group |
|
|
|
||
|
Shandy
Survey |
|
|
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||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Authority |
Brand |
Declared |
Actual |
Shandy
|
%
Beer in |
|
|
|
ABV
(% vol) |
ABV
(%vol) |
ABV
(% vol) |
Shandy |
|
Barnsley |
J
Smith Cask |
3.8 |
3.8 |
2.0 |
53 |
|
Barnsley |
Carling
Black Label |
4.1 |
4.1 |
1.8 |
44 |
|
Barnsley |
Bass
Cask Ale |
4.4 |
4.2 |
2.2 |
52 |
|
Barnsley |
J
Smith Smooth |
3.5 |
3.8 |
1.5 |
39 |
|
Barnsley |
Foster's
Lager |
4.0 |
4.0 |
1.8 |
45 |
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
47 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N
E Lincs |
Carling
Lager |
4.1 |
4.2 |
2.5 |
60 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Smoothflow
Tetley's Bitter |
3.6 |
3.8 |
2.7 |
71 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Stella
Artois Lager |
5.1 |
5.3 |
3.2 |
60 |
|
N
E Lincs |
J
Smith extra Smooth Bitter |
3.8 |
3.9 |
2.3 |
59 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Carling
lager |
4.1 |
4.1 |
2.9 |
71 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Boddingtons
Bitter |
3.8 |
3.8 |
2.4 |
63 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Carlsberg |
4.1 |
4.0 |
2.2 |
55 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Castlemaine
XXXX |
3.9 |
4.0 |
2.1 |
53 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Bass |
4.4 |
4.6 |
3.7 |
80 |
|
N
E Lincs |
Stones |
|
4.0 |
2.6 |
65 |
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
57 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rotherham |
Trophy
Bitter |
3.6 |
3.6 |
2.0 |
56 |
|
Rotherham |
Lemonale
Bitter |
4.0 |
4.3 |
2.2 |
51 |
|
Rotherham |
Tetley
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.7 |
2.0 |
54 |
|
Rotherham |
Stones
Bitter |
3.8 |
3.6 |
1.6 |
44 |
|
Rotherham |
Bass
Bitter |
4.3 |
4.3 |
2.4 |
56 |
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
52 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sheffield |
Theakston's
Bitter |
3.8 |
3.5 |
2.1 |
60 |
|
Sheffield |
Stones
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.5 |
2.3 |
66 |
|
Sheffield |
Boddington's
Bitter |
3.8 |
3.5 |
2.1 |
60 |
|
Sheffield |
Big
Break Bitter |
4.4 |
4.4 |
2.9 |
66 |
|
Sheffield |
Hares
Breath Bitter |
4.2 |
4.3 |
2.6 |
60 |
|
Sheffield |
Boddington's
Bitter |
3.8 |
3.5 |
1.9 |
54 |
|
Sheffield |
Boddingtons
Bitter |
3.8 |
3.7 |
1.9 |
51 |
|
Sheffield |
Teley
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.5 |
2.3 |
66 |
|
Sheffield |
Stones
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.5 |
2.2 |
63 |
|
Sheffield |
Tetley
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.7 |
2.1 |
57 |
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
60 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W
Yorks |
Tetley
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.9 |
2.3 |
59 |
|
W
Yorks |
Abbot
Ale |
5.0 |
5.1 |
3.2 |
63 |
|
W
Yorks |
Carling
Lager |
4.1 |
4.2 |
2.1 |
50 |
|
W
Yorks |
Theakstone
Milk |
3.5 |
3.8 |
2.9 |
76 |
|
W
Yorks |
J
Smith Cask Bittter |
3.8 |
4.0 |
1.9 |
48 |
|
W
Yorks |
J
Smith Extra Smooth |
4.2 |
4.0 |
3.7 |
93 |
|
W
Yorks |
S
Smith Soverein |
4.1 |
4.2 |
2.6 |
62 |
|
W
Yorks |
Fosters
Lager |
4.0 |
4.2 |
3.0 |
71 |
|
W
Yorks |
S
Smith Old Brewery |
4.0 |
4.2 |
2.5 |
60 |
|
W
Yorks |
Tetley
Bitter |
3.7 |
3.6 |
2.4 |
67 |
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
65 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall
Average |
56 |