More States Raise Beer's Strength

State laws boosting the maximum allowance of alcohol in beer are becoming a trend. Alabama and West Virginia have raised the cap to 13.9 percent from 6 percent, according to USA Today. Mississippi and Iowa are considering similar measures.

It's not totally clear what's behind the trend, but it seems to have particular momentum in the Southern states.

The average alcohol content of beer is 4.65 percent. A 14 percent level is nowhere near the 40 percent that is typical of many types of hard liquor. On the other hand, imagine filling up a pint glass with Jack Daniels and chugging it down. (OK, some of us don't have to imagine it.) Wine contains an average 11.45 percent alcohol.

There are plenty of critics of the trend, of course. David Rosenbloom, president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse told USA Today that the higher the alcohol volume, "the faster you get drunk and the longer you stay drunk."

Which is true, all other things being equal. But are all other things equal? The big brewers probably won't boost the alcohol content of their major brands (since it would alter the taste, and also possibly draw loud criticism). Such laws mostly affect craft brewers, by allowing them much more freedom on the kinds of beers they can produce. For instance, they can add more malt, which generally yields more alcohol.

Drinkers of craft brews, in very general terms, aren't out to get as wasted as they can, as drinkers of Bud or Miller High Life often are. And anyway, given all the high-alcohol hooch out there, if somebody wants to get drunk fast, they have many better options than relatively expensive craft brews.