What a very good question. There's no need for it to be added to anything, in my opinion. I believe it is added as a sweetener in beer. Someone suggested to me that it is a by-product of the fermentation process, which I'm sure isn't true. It tends to be mass produced beers that take shortcuts with additives that play merry hell with my health.

"It's NOT a hangover, it must have been lactose."

It's called "brewing candy". It's a cheap way to create a beer with more alcohol, but without using "expensive" malt or even malt extract.

I can usually detect it cos of the high "bubblegum" pitch in the flavour, but that's cos I know what I'm looking for. When I do note it, I usually avoid that brewer's products thereafter as to me it is a sign of bad practice.

Some brewers use rice to achieve the same effect. Budweiser (US) is a rice beer, as are most beers from the Far East.

keep to the Fen Causeway