What does "abv"mean?

Alcohol by volume, expressed as a percentage, and as opposed to alcohol by weight, also expressed as a percentage.

Got Google?

I thought Canadian beer HAD to have more alcohol in it, so that it didn't freeze at night in those igloos they all live in.

For many years, most US beer sold in most US states didn't (actually couldn't), by law, list alcohol content. (Some states had laws that made certain beer labels claim to have "less than" or "more than" a certain amount of alcohol for legal reasons). So, I never understood how the Canadian ABV vs. USA ABW story really got started, but I believe it anyway .

Most US beer labels that now list alcohol use ABV, right? (I can only check what's in my beer frig., and that's all micro's). Do US mega-brews even list alcohol? I sort of thought that ABW is dead.

You mean like the Wigwams Americans live in ?

I'm not entirely sure, either, but for the hell of it, I'm going to blame it on Minneosta.

Why? Because Minnesota, like Oklahoma, is a "3.2" (pronounced three-two locally) state. Any beer above 3.2 percent abw had to be sold in a licensed bar or liquor store. Three-two beer can be sold in groceries, convenience stores, and restaurants that don't have a full liquor license. I believe that's still what's on the books, although from what I've seen in trips back to visit the family since I moved away a dozen years ago, the stuff doesn't exist anymore. I don't really recall seeing it anywhere since the early '80s.

Minnesota borders Canada. So it must be true. Just look at a map (old rfdb inside joke, if you have no idea what that last sentence was about).

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that other states that have had similar sorts of restrictions (like the "ale" label in Texas or various states' prohibitions of beers above x percent) were defined as abw. It's more of a legal distinction than a brewery one, and one dating to the repeal of the Volstead Act.

-Steve