On a hot day, Paul Jungquist loves grabbing a cold one.
“You can’t get this stuff anywhere else,” Jungquist, a Lakewood resident, said as he was spending his lunch at Buckeye Beer Engine. “The draft, 27 microbrews. You can’t go wrong.”
But soon, beer lovers like Jungquist may notice a change to their favorite draft.
Ohio lawmakers are proposing to increase the beer alcohol limit from 12 percent to 18 percent.
“The craft beer market has been extraordinarily growing in the past 10 years,” said Mike Frohlich, general manager of Buckeye Beer Engine. “They can do so much more and create so much better beer because the alcohol percentage is going to be higher and there will be more quality beers.”
Although increasing the beer alcohol content limit may benefit business, the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services worry how it’ll affect young people.
“Given that raising the alcohol content is planned primarily for specialty beers, we wouldn’t expect it to impact youth use,” the ODADAS said in a statement. “If parents are buying the higher alcohol content beers, we would urge them to monitor whats in the house — all beer and liquor — to ensure that it is not available to minors and their friends.”
Frohlich said he does not expect underage drinkers to be affected by a more potent brew.
“Another thing with minors is, with higher alcohol percentage, with better beer becomes more expensive beer,” he said.
Regardless of the risks, patrons said the change would be a new opportunity to support the local economy–and get a taste of a different kind of draft.
“That’s awesome,” said Lakewood resident Dana Barker. “I know that there are a lot of beers that I’ve seen in other places that I would like to get here in the state of Ohio.