Malt liquor

[citation needed] In common usage, it refers to beers of high alcohol content, generally above 6%, which are made with ingredients and processes resembling those for American-style lagers.

While traditional premium lager is made primarily from barley, water, and hops, malt liquors tend to make much greater use of inexpensive adjuncts such as corn, rice, or dextrose.

Higher-alcohol versions, sometimes called "high-gravity" or just "HG", may contain high levels of fusel alcohols, which give off solvent- or fuel-like aromas and flavors.

[2] The first mention of the term in North America appears in a patent issued by the Canadian government on July 6, 1842, to one G. Riley for "an improved method of brewing ale, beer, porter, and other maltliquors."

[3] The first widely successful malt liquor brand in America was Country Club, which was produced in the early 1950s by the M. K. Goetz Brewing Company in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Popular brands include Colt 45, St. Ides, Mickey's, Steel Reserve, King Cobra, Olde English 800, Country Club, Magnum, Schlitz Bull, Private Stock, Earthquake, Camo, Hurricane, Natty Daddy, and Icehouse Edge.

In light of such statistics, African-American community leaders and some health officials have concluded that targeting high-alcohol beverage ads at this segment of the population is unethical and socially irresponsible.

Surgeon General Antonia Novello criticized all alcoholic beverage companies for "unabashedly targeting teenagers" with "sexual imagery, cartoons, and rock and rap music" in television and print ads.

[5] In the American vernacular, a forty-ounce or simply a forty is a glass or plastic bottle that holds 40 US fluid ounces (1,200 millilitres; 2+1⁄2 US pints) of malt liquor.

Examples of malt liquors sold in forty-ounce bottles include Olde English 800, Colt 45, Mickey's, Camo 40, Earthquake, Black Fist, Country Club, Black Bull, Labatt Blue Dry 6.1/7.1/8.1/9.1/10.1, Labatt Max Ice, WildCat, Molson Dry 6.5/7.5/8.5/10.1, Molson XXX, Private Stock, Big Bear, St. Ides, Steel Reserve 211, B40 Bull Max, King Cobra, and Hurricane.

Forty-ounce bottles are not permitted in some U.S. states, including Florida, where the largest permissible container of retail malt beverage is 32 US fluid ounces (950 ml).