[driveway]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

6.5% and up is not beer is called malt liquor 6.5-8%. 8% and up is called barley wine. It always has been . So beer is not stonger . You had been drinkin Malt liquor and barley wine which you have just been calling it beer.

Despite its name, a Barleywine (or Barley Wine) is very much a beer, albeit a very strong and often intense beer!

source: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/19/

But make no mistake: Barleywines are beers. Very strong beers (usually in the 9-to-12 percent ABV range) that challenge the brewer and reward the drinker. ... The goal with a barleywine is to make a very strong beer that can potentially be cellared. In order to do that, brewers need to use more malt—sometimes three or four times as much as a lower-gravity beer such as a pale ale—to increase the fermentable sugars in the wort, so that the yeast have plenty to convert into alcohol.

source: http://imbibemagazine.com/Barleywines

For the most part, Malt Liquor beers are sold in the infamous 40 oz sized bottles. Straw to pale amber in color, most use excessive amounts of adjuncts, such as corn, rice, refined brewers sugar (dextrose) and as a result there are very few "all malt" brewed malt liquors. Hops are barely used, just enough is added to balance off any cloyingness.

source: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/42/

100+ years ago the term “malt liquor” was basically synonymous with “beer”. Let’s now move on to learn what “malt liquor” means in today’s world ... Malt liquor IS beer, just like spaghetti is pasta. It’s one of the 70+ different styles of beer. ... What differentiates malt liquor from other styles of lager? Well, to put it bluntly, the malt liquor that we all know and love is cheap, sweet, and strong. The basic American style of malt liquor is brewed using inexpensive ingredients (usually corn) with more sugar in the fermentation, which is what gives it a higher alcohol content than other cheap go-to lagers like Bud Light, Old Milwaukee, or Schlitz.

source: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com/blog/what-is-malt-liquor/