[Sca-cooks] Beverages, was Royal authenticity

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/29/2003 11:33:09 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu writes:

> So can one really serve even mild alcoholic drinks if they are being for 
>  by the feast or coming out of SCA monies?
> 

Alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer are even now still being donated by 
individuals for use at feast, so no SCA money is being used and no officer is 
serving it; the autocrat is not, for example, serving alchol as part of his 
office if Joe Schmo, acting on his own, brings in a keg of homebrew and puts it 
up at the back of the hall for people to drink as they like.  As least I 
don't think he is, although I'm not sure the legal authorities would see it that 
way.
Does anybody know what the lowest alcohol level required in a beverage is for 
it to be considered alcoholic?  Is even 0.01% alcohol an alcoholic beverage, 
or does it have to be, say, 2% alcohol or more?  If there is a legal cut-off, 
any small beer below that level would be fine.
I ask because, in England for instance, shandy can be sold to minors in a 
pub, and they sell cans of it next to the soda in stores, without checking age.  
Shandy, for those who don't know, is a mixture of beer and fizzy lemonade, and 
I believe is about 3% alcohol.  (My exchange mom used to put cans of it in my 
packed lunch when I was 15.)  Clearly, England has the concept of a cut-off 
line between when something is alcohol and when it's not based on the 
percentage.  Do we here in the US?

Brangwayna