A Recycled Beer?

A friend who read last week’s column on Stone Levitation Ale posed the query and response: “why is low-gravity beer desirable again? Gimmie Stone’s Ruination or Arrogant Bastard or the Smoked Porter any day.” To which I responded something to the effect that brewing low-gravity yet tasty beer is not easy to do; just look at any American macro light beer. I further intoned that if one wants to have several beers, especially in the Charleston heat and humidity (my buddy lives in SoCal), you have to go low ABV (alcohol by volume).
The response followed about just what is the lowest gravity beer that still tastes good, tastes like a beer and not like typical mass-produced yellow fizzy water. My first guess was bitter, the classic British pub drink, a low alcohol but moderate to well-flavored ale.
In England, historically, bitter is actually the very broad category of pale ales, and in some cases, IPAs. Ranging from low strength and flavor standard or ordinary bitter, to mid strength special or best bitter (more malt, hovers around 4 percent ABV), to Extra Special or Extra Strong Bitter (ESB), which was the hoppier version of the three, as well as the strongest in flavor and alcohol.
Now, obviously we’re on the low end of the ABV spectrum. However, there’s a style of beer, Light Bitter, which is an even lower ABV (sub 3.5 percent ) version of Bitter, and ale that was often bottled and sold. And if you go even further back, the likely precursor to this beer would have been small beer or small ale.
Prior to the 18^th century, most if not all water was unfit to consume to do contamination. Enter small beer; a low alcohol version of standard bitter that could be drank throughout the day, even by youth. But the twist here is that small beer was actually the little brother of big beer, usually barleywine. Much like brewing a strong cup of tea, and then brewing a second cup using the same tea bag, small beer is a re-brewing of sorts. The only example of small beer widely available in this country is from Anchor Brewing Company.
“A unique brew reminiscent of an English bitter, with a light amber color and lots of hop character, Anchor Small Beer is certainly not small on flavor.” Made from the second runnings of Anchor’s Old Foghorn mash, Anchor Small revives the ancient brewing tradition of creating two distinct beers from one mash – a sweeter, stronger and more expensive barleywine made for sipping and a more plentiful drinking beer. They sprinkle warm water over the Old Foghorn mash after the first “wort” has run off, creating a second, lighter brew. Technically, both beers are “ales” because they are made with top-fermenting yeast.
For hundreds of years, the term “small beer” was used in English to describe the lighter, less expensive counterpart to barleywine. As the Anchor website states: “In our revival of this ancient tradition, Anchor Small Beer is resourcefulness at its best – beer begets beer.”
Having only had Small Beer once, I can honestly say it’s not the most memorable ale in the world. It offers more flavor than an American light beer, it is very low gravity (3.3 percent ABV), and it’s light-bodied, dry-ish and well carbonated; this is the epitome of an easy drinking beer. Yet, if you don’t think about the beer, it’s quickly gone. Small Beer is brewed with 2-row pale and caramel malts and English Goldings hops. It imparts a clean, grain taste and finish, with a touch of grassy, bitter hops throughout. No flavor really stands out and the taste is gone almost immediately after the swallow. Hey, they don’t call it Small Beer for nothing. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
 
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. While they don’t have every beer the Beer Snob writes about, they probably have most. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net