Heineken is an alcoholic beverage produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken International. The company is known for its signature green bottle and red star, Heineken’s origins are dated back to a young Dutch entrepreneur who in 1894 acquired money from his wealthy mother in order to purchase and renovate an old brewery in the centre of Amsterdam. Since 1975, most Heineken brand beer has been brewed at their brewery in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands. In 2011, 2.74 billion litres of Heineken brand beer were produced worldwide, while the total beer production of all breweries fully owned by the Heineken Group over all brands was 16.46 billion litres globally. Nigerian Breweries brew the Heineken lager locally in Nigeria under a franchise agreement with Heineken & Co.
Blood alcohol levels
Most countries have adopted .08% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) as the legal limit for drivers ages 21 and older. Alcohol increasingly impairs drivers as the blood alcohol level increases:
.02% BAC
- Some loss of judgment and altered mood
- Decline in visual function and ability to perform two tasks at once
.05% BAC
- Exaggerated behavior and release of inhibition
- Loss of small-muscle control, such as eye focus
- Impaired judgment and lowered alertness
- Reduced coordination and ability to track moving objects
.08% BAC
- Muscle coordination (balance, speech, vision, reaction time, hearing) becomes poor
- Judgment, self-control, reasoning, and memory are impaired
- Short-term memory loss and impaired perception
- Reduced information processing capability
.10% BAC
- Clear deterioration of reaction time and control
- Slurred speech, poor coordination, and slowed thinking
- Reduced ability to maintain lane position and brake properly
.15% BAC
- Much less muscle control than normal
- Major loss of balance
- Substantial impairment in vehicle control, attention to driving, and necessary visual and auditory information processing
How Much Alcohol is in Heineken?
Heineken Lager Beer, or simply Heineken is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol Content. Heineken light has 3.3% alcohol by volume while the new Heineken 0.0 has zero alcohol per 33cl bottle. However, according to the Independent, Heineken is to cut the alcohol content of one of its major brands after signing up to a Government deal on public health. This Month, Heineken was also fined £2m for forcing publicans to sell “unreasonable” amounts of its own beers and ciders. The pubs code adjudicator (PCA), an official who oversees the relationship between pub-owning companies and their tenants, said Heineken had “seriously and repeatedly” breached laws that protect publicans from company behavior aimed at prohibiting pubs from selling competitor brands. After an investigation that lasted more than a year, the PCA said Heineken – via its pubs business, Star – had broken the rules despite the regulator’s repeated interventions.
Can you drink Heineken and Drive?
Every 53 minutes, a person in the United States dies in an alcohol-related traffic accident. That’s 28 lives lost each and every day. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that nearly 88 percent of those aged 18 and older have consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime, and about 57 percent have had an alcoholic beverage in the past month.
Drivers use their hands, eyes, and feet to control the car; but their hands, eyes, and feet must be controlled by their brains. Safe driving requires alertness and the ability to make quick decisions in rapidly changing situations. Drinking alcohol can have a profound effect on driving skills. For example, drinking can have a negative effect on any of these skills:
Reaction Time – Alcohol can slow reflexes, which can decrease the ability to react swiftly to changing situations.
Vision – Alcohol can slow eye muscle function, alter eye movement, and alter visual perception, possibly resulting in blurred vision. Night vision and color perception also can be impaired.
Tracking – Alcohol can decrease the ability to judge the car’s position on the road, or the location of other vehicles, center lines, or road signs.
Concentration – Alcohol may cause attention to driving to decrease and/or drowsiness to occur.
Comprehension – Alcohol can hinder the ability to make rational decisions.
Coordination – Reduced eye/hand/foot coordination can be caused by drinking too much alcohol.
It is estimated that more than 10,000 young people in the United States are killed and 40,000 are injured in auto accidents when alcohol is involved. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates more than 26,000 lives have been saved since the drinking age was increased to 21.
