When it Comes to ABV, How Low Can We Go?

Olympic Range Brewing aimed to specialize in low ABV beers (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45032/).

I have no idea if they're still around, or even got off the ground. The 'IPA' I tried from them was sub 3%.

 

I try to drink local but I have a deepening admiration of Boulevard's Frequent Flier Session IPA @ 4.2% abv. Really good stuff.

 

Here's a good example of when low ABV beers are highly desirable. On a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago I took a fifteen mile bike ride to a brewpub I had never visited. I knew that I could only handle two session beers before the ride home. So I ordered beers simply by looking at the ABV. I had an English mild and a Saison. I am not a good note taker but I believe the mild was under 4% ABV and the Saison was under 5% ABV. I stayed for about an hour relaxed and watched some baseball. If the alcohol had any effect on me, it was quickly worn off as I pedaled home. There's no way I can take a 30 mile bike ride and drink high gravity beers. I usually save those for later in the evening when I might have a Tripel, a Quad or Imperial (fill in the blank).

 

Lately, my wife has developed an intolerance to high-alcohol beers. This is unfortunate given that we live in San Diego County, where IPAs are aplenty. We rely on the likes of Ballast's Even Keel, Golden Road's Wolf Pup, Firestone's Easy Jack, Founders' All Day, Lagunitas' DayTime and Mission's Conquistador. Without said beers, and their ilk, my wife would be forced to drink pilsners and lagers, and we can't have that.

 

I would love to see less "imperial" everything, stouts, porters, etc... I don't need 9-10% ABV in almost every new release. There are so many great beers out there, but it seems like most of the new dark beers are imperials, which taste good, but limit the amount I want to drink at one sitting.

 

Its also a really great beer in my book. I only recently tried it (picked up a tall boy) and was amazed how much it tastes like a regular non-session IPA. In fact, I daresay I have had full IPA's that were nowhere near as good as Founder's AD IPA. Of course it is Founders--I've never had a bad beer from them, but All Day really amazed me in how robust it was. It does have a slightly diminished mouthfeel than a regular IPA due to lower malt content, but its only slightly noticeable. Really great beer in my book. And as you say, the price is good. Now that I have had it, I will definitely be buying more of it

 

Many of the lower ABV beers are lower in calories.

 

DFH Sea Quench Ale. 4.9% ABV. I am not usually a fan of their beers but this low ABV beer is awesome. A sour at 4.9 as a summer beer will put Saisons out of business. I like them but who wants to be hammered at 3 pm on a summer afternoon?

 

Coincidence

 

Having gone through chemo for cancer, it seems my tolerance for alcohol is less. It's easier to get hungover, not a good thing at 60 years old. Further, one of my docs says I should abstain from alcohol, as some science says it helps to promote the cancer. Easy for her to say, she's not the one with cancer. One of my favorite pizza haunts has a small, but high grade beer list, constantly changing. But, half or more are 8-12%, which makes it hard to try several (before the kegs blow) and not be home wretching the next day, never mind being able to drive there first. So, tasty beer with low ABV would be ideal for me. The act of drinking good beer is a delight for me, being hammered not so much.

I had a new med that forced me off alcohol for a bit, and I tried O'Doul's Amber. I was pleasantly surprised. Surely not my new favorite, but it actually had some flavor. I was dismayed to learn that i had just helped swell the A-B coffers, but thought that beer was much easier to drink than their Bud Blight.

Incidentally, I'm not the huge fan of Founder's AD that many above are. It strikes me as all hops without enough malt to balance. But, this is almost contradictory, as more malt would likely feed the yeast for a higher ABV. To be sure, brewing a low-alcohol beer with lots of flavor must be a helluva challenge.

 

Schaefer: The Original Session Beer. It has a 4.60% ABV, though people of the generation of Schaefer's heyday wouldn't know ABV from shinola.



The idea that Americans historically have "a beer or two with friends" is risible, as is the beer-hipster euphemism "sessionable." Esquire hit it on the head a couple of years ago:

http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/a30663/session-beer-is-dumb/

Just this past weekend, I had Lake Placid Brewery's very nice "Golden Ale." It probably tasted better than Schaefer (ABV 4.8%). The label on the bottle neck said it was "sessionable." My wife asked me, "what does that mean?" I said, "I think it means the ABV is under 5%, so you can have a few without getting too shitfaced." In other words, it's a beer to have if you're having more than one.

https://www.ubuale.com/beer/ubus-golden-ale

 

To me it would be ideal if lower ABV beers were also noticeably lower in cost. i mean they are to some extent- like the article exemplifies, Founders AD IPA. But that's almost where it stops. its hard to pay the same price for half the amount of alcohol. and i get that brewing a low ABV beer involves that same amount of work - maybe slightly less ingredients - but still just as labor-intensive as a "normal" ABV beer.

Maybe the answer is in the packaging. 15-packs of cans. heck, make some 30-packs. I'd love to see more breweries adopt this format. it may keep the price down just enough to get more folks on board as regular purchasers. i know i'd certainly be one of them.

 

A soccer (football) club I sort of follow in the UK is having their beer festival this weekend. A couple beers are over 5%, but nothing over 5.9%. https://www.glossopnorthendafc.co.uk/club-news/glossop-north-end-beer-festival-2017/
Usually, I'll look at ABV when I'm out for dinner, because I like to have 2-3 beers with dinner, which means I'll have a 5% or something instead of one 8-9% beer.

 

---The Story of Quality - All About Schaefer Beer
© 1974 (when Schaefer was #6 in US, 5.7m bbl/yr)

Most US beers were under 5% ABV at the time (even those, like Budweiser and Coors, that are now 5% ABV).

From California wholesalers' records, circa 1975 (ABW first, then ABV equivalent in brackets):

Bud, Mich, Busch - "3.7 to 3.9" [4.625% to 4.875%]
Schlitz - "3.8 - 3.9%" [4.75% to 4.875%]
Pabst - "3.8%" [4.625% to 4.875%]
Coors - "3.6-3.7%" [4.5% to 4.625%]

 

I also agree cost is a big factor, and I was brainstorming why it matters to me and here's what I came up with. Its not that I think i'm getting more bang for my buck based on ABV if two beers are the same price and one is 4% and the other is 8%. The cost factor comes into play with the session part, where I'm drinking 3-4 of the 4% beer, and only drinking 1 or 2 of the 8% beer which means I'm getting more periods of drinking with the higher alcohol beer for the same cost. I think this is what prohibits me. I love low alcohol flavorful beers but the good ones just go down so damn easy and all of a sudden I drank $10 away in a night and its not economical for me to do that multiple times a week.

 

I can't remember the last time that a whole afternion was available to just knick back a few. At best theres 3 to 4 hours an evening to have a beer but also cook,clean,walk dog,deal with prepping for the next work day. So to have one or two higher abv beers works well for someone such as myself. I'm just way to busy for a session of anything nonetheless drinking. I envy anyone with that much time

 

Sometimes I check ABV, sometimes I don't. It certainly is not a major criteria in selecting a beer for me. Reviews are useful. I mainly try beer to experiment with different tastes. If there was a really low ABV brew with solid taste, I would buy it.

 

Surely coincidental I am sure, but I've noted that I've steadily gained weight since getting into craft a couple of years ago. I tend to like beers such as BA stouts which unfortunately brewers seem to feel have to be high ABV to appeal to consumers. Think I'm going to have to start favoring some lower ABV beers such as Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier, Surly Coffee Bender, Sam Smith Chocolate Stout, Odell 90 Schilling, Founders Rübæus, Sierra Nevada Stout, etc. Actually a lot of choices for non-BA. Good BA choices seem to start at 8%; Empyrean Carpe Diem Barrel Aged Baltic Porter and several Central Waters BA brews.

How do we send a message to breweries that not everyone wants high ABV? Do they feel that higher ABV makes consumers feel better about the high price?

 

Just to point out that sub 4% ABV beer is not necessarily session beer. The whole point about a session beer is that it is constructed to be drunk in volume,in such a way that each pint tastes better than the one before.

 

One of my favorites:
Table Beer | The Kernel Brewery