Something called 'table beer' is becoming very popular

The author of that article sometimes posts in these forums. There are a couple of things about this article that I really don't agree with:

1. Comparing Allagash Hoppy Table Beer to seltzer.

2. That today's table beers tend to be between 2 and 4 percent ABV. (In my experience, while there are some 2%ish beers out there, most seem to be between 4 and 5.)

3. The title of the article just isn't even in the ballpark of being true.

 

Kinda sorta. Locally Mystic brewing has had one for quite some time, but they tend to do more Belgian styles than anything else.

Exhibit A just came out with one, I want to say Notch has done some form of a table beer in the past. While they're not my favorite (table beers in general, not the one's listed above), I do enjoy them. And any flavorful beer that is also low ABV is always welcomed.

 

"Table Beer" YAHWDTBTD. (Yet another historically well defined term bites the dust.)

 

I've had a couple of these "types", but maybe we should formalize and document standards for the definitive "Sofa Beer.

 

I'm not so sure of the "historically well defined" part. At least not as a fair comparison to what brewers are making today. I'm guessing you're referring to their ABV.

"Table beer," as a named thing, existed historically in England and Scotland. Along with small beer, family ale, table ale, and dinner ale. It was a tax class rather than what we think of styles today. It could be pale ale, porter, or mild. A brewer even made an "imperial table beer" at one point. Spaten actually brewed something called a Tafelbier (table beer) that was 7% and in champagne bottles. Belgium and France had biere faible (weak beer), petite biere (small beer), and biere table (table beer). Most of everything I'm listing here was low alcohol.

In my experience, a majority of US craft table beers are modeled after Belgian styles. It's too bad that in our self-proclaimed age of "extreme" brewing, US craft brewers aren't as willing to explore the lower edges of ABV as something "extreme" - most of today's beers called "table beer" have an ABV stat like an AAL.

 

The comments in that article are pretty top-notch. Apparently this is all the fault of millenial women.

 

You make my point fairly well.

Table beer was indeed not a style but a category of ABV. It was well enough defined, as you say, in the U.K. by the laws under which it was taxed. Similarly in Belgium and France it was part of an ABV strength categorization.

In the examples given in the article it is not part of a well defined ABV categorization except in the loosest sense of High vs. Not High.

 

Yeah, but when it was no longer a tax category in the UK in the 1800s, brewers were still making "table beers" because of consumer demand. I think bottled "dinner ale" eventually contributed to "table beer" fading away. I honestly have no idea how well defined these things were.

 

Seems like a discussion that @patto1ro might want to chime in on.

I haven't seen much "table beer" around my area (Philadelphia burbs), but maybe I don't get out enough. Table beer might be a trend, but certainly in it's infancy [in the US]. I don't have any specific knowledge or references of table beer to add, but I'll be following this discussion to educate myself.

Unfortunately, I don't trust most American brewers to correctly apply a historical term, like table beer, to the beer they produce, instead of just using the term willy-nilly as marketing tool. [e.g. way too many American applications of session, kolsch, festbier, mild, etc.] Although, if what @zid says is correct, table beer definition may cover a very wide range of beer styles, ABV, and ingredients such that specific definitions might be impractical.

 

Responding to you twice - I was always curious why most craft "table beers" followed Belgian templates over UK ones by default.

 

I personally love the concept. I like the idea of having a light, well-made beer on hand that you can pair with anything. I pretty much consider most lagers as "table" beer. Locally, Narragansett comes to mind.

 

If you took that Narragansett and added an equal amount of water to it, you might have something approaching traditional Table Beer. It was really not made to pair with anything, but made to drink as a source of hydration in the days when the cleanliness and safety of water could not be spoken for.

 

"Table beer is whatever you (and the brewer) want it to be."

Probably the worst sentence that I've heard in a beer-related article in a LONG while. It's like saying "saison is whatever you (and the brewer) want it to be".

That's bullshit. Full stop.

Categorization is there for a reason. Mostly to inform the consumer of what they are buying. Calling your beer whatever you want to call it leads to bastardization and, more problematically, misinformation. In this day and age, we should be tightening up historical and stylistic definitions and getting rid of much of the rumors and old wives tales that are out there, because they're just plain wrong. This includes the want of many breweries to market a beer using a name (like IPA, for instance) that just isn't reflective of what the beverage in the container actually is. That's dishonest.

 

Tired Hands Fermentaria currently has a beer on tap called "Tabel Bier" (at 3.3% ABV) that they label as follows:

"Tabel Bier:
Tabel Saison 3.3% Brewed with Pilsner malt and raw wheat, and hopped with ample helpings of German grown Saaz and Mandarina Bavaria. Primary fermented in our of our large oak foudres with our Magickal saison yeast. Raw, simple, and meant for drinking."

 

Fieldwork Brewing brewed one.

"Hugo our brewery puppy is a spry little five month old named after Hugo Lloris the captain of Les Bleus, that has energy to no end. His namesake is our French Table Beer, a 4.8% ABV Table Beer using all French Malts, yeast, and hops. French Pilsner malt gives Hugo a nice grainy malt character that shines through this small beer much like your favorite German lager. Hops imported from France put off nice and subtle notes of orange blossom, fresh cut grass, and lemon zest. Finally our French Saison yeast strain dries the beer out to a degree that makes it incredibly dry, refreshing, and highly crushable; making this beer perfect for a dinner pairing or for drinking all day outside."

 

If I'm to take the initial description in the article (>1%, slightly carbonated, liquid bread, sweet) as the standard bearer, than what he described is pretty much a Kvass, which is still a thing and doesn't need further labeling. If that we're merely an example of times gone, than I don't necessarily understand the need to define anything today as a table beer as style, but rather use the term table beer as an adjective that could include several styles, so long as they fit into a category of lighter beers - "This Saison has a light body, hints of pear and pepper, and would serve as a great table beer for your salad".

Nah, that sounds stupid as hell too.

 

Jester King has had one of these for a few years, Le Petit Prince. I think its around 3% or so and is a good basic, goes well w/ just about anything beer. Not earthy shatteringly good, but quaffable.

 

Congratulations! They've brewed a saison, which, at least in this case, is decidely NOT a table beer.

 

Agreed.

However, I don't think anyone was suggesting that "table beer" become a style. Rather, that those beers labeled "table beer", were, in fact, table beers and not some 5% saison or some damned thing.