# Beer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357 "2002-05-05T03:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lizzydad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Lizzydad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizzydad)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/1 "2002-05-05T03:49:15Z")
Other than Rolling Rock Beer, is there any other beer that is made with corn? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/2 "2002-05-05T05:24:56Z")
Sure, lots. Schaffer is a corn beer, as is Corona…some beer experts claim most people couldn’t tell the difference between Corona and Schaffer in a blind taste test. Budweiser brags they never make their beer with corn, only with “choicest rice grains”…which is a little like bragging that you only make your beer with finest horse pee, never pig pee. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/3 "2002-05-05T15:24:33Z")
I believe that Miller’s products involve corn as the chief adjunct, while like **Pravnik** said, Budweiser and most of Anheuser Busch’s products use rice. All these beers are still primarily made from malted barley though. They just use corn or rice to lighten the color, flavor and raise the alcohol level. Plus corn and rice are cheaper than malted barley. ---
**Author:** ![Waldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Waldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waldo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/4 "2002-05-05T21:25:57Z")
I’ve read that the difference between American beers and European beers, and the reason that Sam Adams could claim that it was the only (?) American beer legal in Germany, is that Americans keep using rice. A. Do Americans all use rice? B. Is this noticeable to as many people as who claim to not like “common” American beer? C. Is it actually illegal to make beer with rice in Germany? D. Do other European brews ever use rice? ---
**Author:** ![bmerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/34f0e0/32.png) [@bmerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmerton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/5 "2002-05-06T05:57:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve read that the difference between American beers and European beers, and the reason that Sam Adams could claim that it was the only (?) American beer legal in Germany, is that Americans keep using rice. What’s the similarity between American beer and making love in a canoe? Fu\*\*ing close to water. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/6 "2002-05-06T07:21:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Waldo \* > \*\*C. Is it actually illegal to make beer with rice in Germany? > \*\* Yes, according to the [Reinheitsgebot (The German Purity Law)](http://members.aol.com/carlaac1/private/victor/viti4.html), adopted in 1516: > [@](#): > > “…nothing is to be added to or used in beer other than barley, hops and water. Whosoever knowingly disobeys this decree will be severely punished by the court having jurisdiction over him by having his barrel of beer confiscated whenever this offense occurs.” This was expanded by the German Beer Tax Law to include all malted grains, which would exclude rice and corn. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer/107357/7 "2002-05-06T10:38:58Z")
Corn sugar is also fairly common to use in homebrewing to prime the beer before bottling. The extra sugar is consumed by the yeast inside the sealed bottle, and that creates the carbonation.