Just recently I'm noticing that the alcohol content of beers can vary by a lot. Do you prefer lower or higher alcohol content?

I have never been able to tolerate the smell or taste of beer. But if I was forced to drink it and I had a choice of alcohol content it world have 0% alcohol.

5–7% is good for me.

It’s not something I focus on when choosing a drink, but my favorites tend to be higher.

I’m a big fan of a Canadian brewery called Unibroue. Their ales-on-lees like Don de Dieu hover in the 8 to 9 percent range. I think Tres Pistoles might even be 9.5%, but don’t quote me on that.

I prefer dark beers, ales over lagers, nothing with too much citrus, like most of your IPAs.

I definitely don’t like purposely high-alcohol beer. I call them stunt beers. They taste like brandy.

I agree with @Michael_Huntington. 5–7%.

I prefer around 5%.

I am with @Seek_Kolinahr in my love of Unibroue products. Don de Dieu is my personal favorite, though it’s hard to find so I often must settle for a La Fin du Monde. being in Seattle, I can also get Pike Brewing’s Monk’s Uncle. All are 9.0%.

I have found very few beers under 8% that have any real taste at all, the exceptions mostly tasting like something that comes out of the urinary tract of some form of wild animal (sometimes skunk, sometimes horse, never pleasant). I usually drink for flavor, and much of what separates beer from water is stuff that ferments and raises it’s alcohol content, thus there is a bit of a link between taste and ABV. In fact, I really don’t drink beers; most of what I drink are considered ales. I just have to watch it as one of what I normally drink is equal to two normal servings of diluted horse piss.

Seriously, Don de Dieu is like eating a sandwich. I have one or two and go to bed.

I don’t care what the abv is, as long as it is balanced well. I’m not a big fan of overly malty beers, which higher alcohol beers tend to be.

Most yeast strains aren’t very efficient above 9%, so brewers tend to load up on the grains to make the simpler sugar molecules more abundant for the yeast to eat. However this leaves a lot of unfermetable sugars in the beer (malt flavor). To balance that out, sometimes more hops is used. So you might have a 12%, but chances are its going to be very malty and/or hoppy.

Usually the only time I actually enjoy anything above 9% is when extra wild yeast strains are added after the original yeast has eaten up all the sugar/malt it can eat. These wild yeast can survive in much higher abv, and will eat up the previously unfermetable sugars to create more alcohol, but also add a bit if tart/funkiness to the beer. So you can have a 14% beer that doesn’t need extra hops to cover up the malt, as most of the malt has been replaced by a tart/sour flavor (much like wine).

tl;dr
I like most beer up until around 9%, anything higher would either need to be a sour beer or lambic style. Barley wine? No way, Jose.

@Silence04 Yes, I’ve rarely had a good beer >9%, and except for a few reds, never a good wine. Most of the stuff I’ve liked has been 7–9%. Higher gets nasty, lower is watery.

In Kansas we have 3.2% beer you can buy at convenience stores. You could buy it when you were 18. The 6% though you could only buy in liquor stores, and you had to be 21.

Three-two just makes me have to pee a lot. It’s just nasty.

I think I’m a light weight, lol. I thought 4.6% was strong. I tried a stronger beer (8.8%!), and didn’t really care for it. I think there is a whole world out there that I need to learn about. IPA’s? Lagers? Hops, yeast – yikes. I thought wine was complicated…

I don’t drink much and don’t like most alcohol, but I like high percentage red wine’s best. One or two glasses and I’m a blast! :)

Oklahoma has low percentage beer and every time we go to concerts or something, I’m always amazed that I never catch a buzz, then I remember the percentage. You spend the same amount of money though, of course.

@GoldieAV16

Most of your popular American beers – Budwieser and its ilk – are lagers. The term “Lager” and “Ale” refer to the fermentation method. Ales are made with warm-fermenting yeast, lagers are cold-fermented. Ales tend to be stronger and more potent, lagers more crisp and less fruity. More info here

IPA is short for India Pale Ale. It’s got a ton of hops, and is made with a pale malt.

(And lest anyone think I only drink high ABV beers, another favourite is Newcastle Werewolf – an Irish Red ale with a 4.5% ABV)

I love them all equally and without prejudice.

and in great quantitiy

5% is generally my upper limit but I will make an exception for an exceptionally good craft ale. I love beer but I hate being drunk.