Weak Beer, Strong Flavour

When it comes to choosing a pint I tend to head to the middle range of the spectrum, 4.3% to 5.3% say, as it allows a few to go down with decent character and flavour. It also avoids the often insipid beers found at 4% and below. The ubiquitous GK IPA springs to mind.

I have found a number of beers recently though at 4% and below which really pack in the flavour and character. A testament to the bewers art, these beers are, to the non-brewing expert, clever, welcome and very drinkable.

Three top beers which I've tried recently are Marble W90 at 3.9%, Black Hole Brewery Asteroid and Blue Monkey Evolution both at 4%. All breweries producing top quality ales in my experience.

Is this a new trend as I can't remember drinking many great beers at the lower end of the strength spectrum, how do the brewers do it and are there any more good examples of lower strength beers punching well above their weight for flavour?

Harveys (Sussex) is 'just' 4.0%, and that works for me (although I wouldn't really call it a weak beer).

And Cwrw Glaslyn from Bragdy Mŵs Piws (OK, it's the Glaslyn Ale from the Purple Moose Brewery) at 4.2% would be well into the 'medium' category in my opinion.

However, these are probably both "full of flavour" rather "strong flavour" (which is probably no bad thing, given the ghastly efforts from some brewers who stick ginger, liquorice, chocolate and goodness knows what into their beer in an attempt to make them stand out).

(I was going to finish this by making a cheap jibe about Greene King IPA, but...).

A couple of beers of similar style (and both coming in at 3.8%) are Oakham JHB and Dark Star Hophead, both also, as Thuck mentions, quality breweries. These have both been around for a good many years (though neither as long as Harvey's Sussex Best!) and are fairly common in discerning free houses.

I'm hoping to get hold of some King Brighton Best shortly - this is 4% and I've been hearing good things, so it's time to form my own opinion, I think.

That's the glory of English beer. I cut my teeth on Brakespear's ordinary bitter, all of 3.5% and Morland's, which must have been around the same. Both were packed with flavour and you could have quite a few pints without risk of talking nonsense. Young's ordinary is about the same strength, and Harvey's Pale (ala Hadlow) though a little watery in comparison to Best has vastly more flavour than any comparable strength lager - Carling, Carlsberg etc - will ever manage to deliver. To achieve any sort of flavour at all they need the sweetness from a high alcohol content, hence 1664, Grolsh, 'beater and the rest are all over 5% and you're a dribbling mess by the fifth pint.

And how about Hobsons Mild at just 3.2%? The following blurb is taken from the brewery website, but isn't wide of the mark:

"CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain 2007, Hobsons Mild has a smooth character and taste notes of chocolate malt which gives this beer plenty of flavour and aroma that belies its strength. A British classic crafted to Hobsons special recipe makes this a nutty mild and despite being only 3.2% abv it's packed full of flavour."

Brewdog Edge (3.2%) & Brodies' Citra (3.1%) are very different examples of packing flavour into lower abv beers.

As well as the great Mild , Hobsons Twisted Spire (3.6%) is a cracking pint , from the historic All Nations , Shires Dabley Ale (3.8%) another cracker and two from Purple Moose , Snowdonia Ale (3.6%) and Madogs Ale (3.7%) both gorgeous

E&S or the Elland Brewery used to do a lightish mild called First Light which was 3.5% and very tasty and quaffable.

Not sure if it is still brewed as "Oops! This link appears to be broken" came up when trying to Google.

I like a drink of Batemans Dark Mild its only 3% but its got a lot of taste to it.

One i forgot and its pretty rare up here is Donnington BB (3.6%) its a great session beer

Years ago when I was briefly in the Northeast, Cameron's produced a "Malt Ale"-it wasn't particularily sucessful, but I liked it. Malty (naturally), with bags more flavour than anything produced by Scottish and Newcastle (with the honourable exception of , I think, Youngers'No 3, which was almost unobtainable). ABV couldn't have been more than 3.2 on a good day with the wind behind it.I had alot of time for Cameron's in those days, and enjoyed a visit to the brewery in probably 1976.Never see them on my ventures North nowdays.

Brewdog Nanny State (1.1%) anyone?

"Nanny State is an extraordinary little beer. It contains more hops than any other beer we have ever brewed. There is over 60 kilos used in our tiny 20HL batch. It contains more hops than any other beer ever brewed in the UK. It has a theoretical IBU of 225. It is jam packed with our favourite hops and already tastes amazing. Nanny State picks up where How to Disappear Completely left off and takes the low ABV hop-bomb concept to the next level and cranks the BrewDog craziness up a few notches."

A fair amount of crossover in my choices. The four that immediately sprang to mind were Hobson's Mild, BrewDog Edge, Dark Star Hophead and Marble Three Point Nine. I'm sure there are plenty of others though.

Nanny State didn't do anything for us at all. Must admit I have found some lower ABV beers around the 3.8 mark full of flavour, and I don't mean by using fruit and ginger additives which I am not struck on. Been a few pleasant suprises this last 12 months or so.

A couple of low strength beer with good flavour that I have enjoyed are Triple fff Alton Pride and Castle Rock Harvest Pale ,both 3.8% and worthy of a session.Paul of Horsham's and aleandhearty's call of Dark Star Hophead is also a great suggestion,another 3.8% quality ale.

I have to agree that in recent years the quality of some lower strength beers has greatly improved ,not sure what the brewers are doing differently but no complaints from me.Always useful to have these logged in the back of the mind ,in case you find yourself on a crawl with some "professional drinkers" ,mentioning no names ;)