A ‘Forty’ is a glass or plastic bottle that holds 40 US fluid ounces (1,200 millilitres) of malt liquor. Malt liquor, is beer with a high alcohol content, generally above 6%.
The origin of malt liquor dates back to the 1930s when brewers didn’t have enough malt to make beer (driven by the Great Depression and rationing during World War II). While typical beer is made primarily from barley, water and hops, malt liquors tend to use more inexpensive adjuncts such as corn, rice, or dextrose resulting in a higher alcohol content than an average beer.
Malt liquor has a place in the history of hip-hop culture where it has been celebrated by hip-hop stars such as 2Pac, Ice Cube, N.W.A, Cypress Hill, Eazy-E, Snoop, Wu-Tang Clan, Warren G, Nate Dogg, and Eminem for being cheap and strong but admittedly, of low quality.
Through the mid 1960s, malt liquor companies began marketing towards an African-American market and by the late ’80s, 40s were showing up in many rap songs and Eazy-E had an entire song dedicated to Olde English, called “8 Ball,” on N.W.A.’s first album.
Arguably, malt liquors were most popular in the early 90s and some of the most influential rappers of the day including Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Ice Cube, the Geto Boyz and Wu-Tang Clan appeared in commercials celebrating the the most popular of the 40oz – St Ides.
Malt liquor became so synonymous with hip hop culture during the 90s that it found it’s way in the popular hip hop parody movies of the time. St Dies and Menace Ice that parodied St Ides and Ole English 800 appeared in ‘Don’t Be a Menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the Hood’.
Sales for malt liquor are lower in recent years and rappers seem to have refined their taste somewhat, instead rapping about drinking Courvoisier for example…
Nonetheless, Forties remain an important part of hip hop lore.
Forties do not seem to be freely available throughout the World and although similar types of alcoholic beverages are available in the UK, for example Super Strength, they do not seem to come in 40-Ounce bottles.
I had my eyes set on a trip I had planned to the United States of America in 2020 but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The same trip is now likely to take place in 2022 so outside the original period of performance but as soon as practicable.
Therefore, I will update this post when I finally get my hands on a ‘Forty’!
I’ve looked in lots of countries since starting #40s440 and writing this blog post but it seems ‘Forties’ are only available in the USA and having spoken to a number of locals (including liquor stores and wine merchants) they assured me the most likely place to find one was in fact a Gas station!
So, at long last and as advised, I found my first ‘Forty’ in a Gas station outside Boston, USA on the 21st of September 2022 – more than two years after I set out to find one 🍺.
