Has anyone else noticed that not all bottled beers have the same amount of beer in the bottle?

It could have something to do with how thick the glass is in different beers’ bottles. Also the shape.You need to get a beaker and accurately check a few. There may be fluctuations withing the same brewery. Looks like a good project to get into.

Then what to do with the test samples…..hmm

Whatever the bottle looks like or how relatively thick or heavy the glass may be, the beer is marketed as 12 oz of beer, not 12 oz of beer and glass.
but, @woodcutter, enjoy your research!

Perhaps the amount of carbonation makes a difference.

No I rather not look into it, lol I thought you were checking. I drink beer once a year maybe and never felt the need to quibble over an extra sip in the bottle. I’m guessing the neck length as well as bottle diameter or the many combinations of all beer bottles will make them look filled to different levels. I cant say I have noticed this within the same package of suds.

@woodcutter has nothing to do with when it is in the bottle. Has everything to do when emptied into a specific glass and either fills that glass or doesn’t.
@johnpowell, you may be right. And the only way to test that would be to let the beer go flat. A dismal idea.

Guinness draft sells a bottle that is 11.3 oz. The bottle “appears” to be the same size as a regular 12 oz longneck. They say it is so that you have enough room to get the rich, frothy head in a 12 oz beer glass.

Budweiser changed the shape of their cans to the new “bowtie” shape. The neglected to mention that they reduced the amount of beer in it to 11.3 oz at the same time. They also increased the gauge of the aluminum so that the entire can feels like it weighs the same as the old 12 oz can. You get fewer calories that way I guess.

Yes, I notice things like this. probably something to do with that OCD thing

If someone is using more thickness in their cans then that would interest me more than the beer. That has to up costs to some degree but I suppose less filling would offset.

Mass produced beers are machine filled. There is variation in the fill amount.

@Rarebear Yes, they would be machine-filled. But I thought the machine filling would be more accurate.
If one company [or several] is/are consistently over-filling then they would be losing money. Conversely a company that under-fills would be ripping us off.
If Budweiser [which I don’t drink] cut back on its amount of beer in bottle without making the change very clear [like, in large type on the carton during a “changeover” period], then they are ripping us off. I am glad I don’t drink Budweiser.

It’s not a terrible thing to admit Budweiser is not your cup of tea. There is probably a tolerance of some unintentional fluctuation with the bottling machines. It’s pretty close is it not? We might hope for an overage if there is an error.

In the UK we get beer in all sorts of sizes. 250ml, 275ml, 330ml, 440ml, 500ml. Makes it nearly impossible to work out which is cheapest when you’re standing in the supermarket.

But if it says 12oz on the bottle, and it contains less than that, you have grounds for complaint. Is there an equivalent in the US to our trading standards office?

@downtide maybe the Better Business Bureau. I am not sure. Good point.

Sounds a lot like the “½ gallons” of ice cream that are now about 1.5 quarts. Ice cream makers certainly didn’t advertise it and it took a while for people to notice. Keeping the price the same helped the change stay under the radar. Fluctuations in price, up or down, cause consumers to take notice.