more on 3.2 beer

What is the purpose of 3.2 beer?

Near beer, or 3.2 beer, is a remnant of prohibition. During the years that alcohol was banned, people started drinking more hard liquor than beer, which was too difficult to transport and hide to be a viable option for bootleggers. In March 1933, just before prohibition ended, Congress attempted to encourage the consumption of less potent alcoholic beverages by passing the "non-intoxicating beverage act," which capped booze's legal limit at 3.2 percent. "It was a way of reintroducing beer to the public," says Carole Basil, director of public affairs at the Minnesota Beer Wholesalers Association. When the 21st Amendment went into effect later that year, however, the measure essentially became meaningless. States were left to make their own choices about what kinds of alcohol to permit. Minnesota is one of just six states that continues to employ a separate regulatory framework for 3.2 beer, chiefly because it allows convenience and grocery stores a cut of booze dollars. "I think that it was sort of a bone thrown at them," says Farrell, of the MLBA. Basil remembers that a legislative attempt to eliminate the 3.2 beer classification was quickly abandoned because of opposition. "Some people like it," she claims.

For more information on Minnesota's weird alcohol laws I found this site pretty amusing: