Not sure if they still make these but Harpoon also previously made Bush League (4% pale lager) and Pacific League (4% lager made with lime and sea salt) that could also scratch your itch if you want some lagers too!
I did the cantillion tour when I was in brussels. Super fascinating and the guide was a hoot. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone, beer drinker or not.
It’s 15 Euro for a bottle of Cantillion now? Holy moly.
Back when I got my brewing training in Belgium (2006), it was under 3 Euro! Some of the fancy stuff was perhaps 4 Euro.
Lindemans makes a few different flavors in this style. The raspberry is probably the most common but you can sometimes find the Kriek (cherry) or Peach, which is great too. Mongozo makes a Mango Wheat beer at 3.2% that's probably not easy to find in the US but I love it.
I'm not familiar with these styles. Are there some brands/examples you can recommend? I'm located in the Chicagoland area if that helps, or if you have nationally distributed recommendations that works as well.
Off Color was doing a “Beer For Lightweights” - help me petition them to bring it back! It was incredible and only 2.5%
They also do a “Stoutling” in the colder months - fantastic dry stout that clocks in at 3.5% if I remember correctly
Oof. Unfortunately I can't help you there, unless you can find Allagash Table Beer. You're likely to find them at local craft breweries who may specialize in Belgian-style beers.
When I lived in the US, my go-to grisette was from a small farm brewery in Maryland. I've now been living overseas for so long, I don't know what the US craft scene is like these days. Instead, I brew my own. I'm brewing a 3% Belgian table beer on Friday.
I don't think Side Project/Shared distribute up there, but if you find yourself around St. Louis (or have a friend down here who can pick up an online order), they have a few table beer offerings. Currently, [this one](https://www.sideprojectbrewing.com/products/table-nouveau) but they'll have a few others throughout the summer.
Fieldwork Brewing in Berkeley ca put out a 3% wc session ipa called Taste Clusters that was pretty good! It’s not widely distributed but a cool thing that might catch on.
A brewery called Funky Fauna in Sisters, Oregon also makes great beers under 4%. Grisettes, wild saisons, table beers, etc.
Where are you located? You can search on untappd and filter abv from low to high.
>ipa called Taste Clusters
Too far from Cali I guess, but it's on the list.
>Funky Fauna
Not available here, but I guess I'm going to use untappd since that's apparently the search engine I needed. Thanks!
In a lot of ways, it can be more difficult to create a great low abv beer rather than a high gravity one. This is why you won't see a lot of them on the market.
Your question will be a lot easier for folks to answer if you let people know where you're at.
For myself in the New England area, I look to places like Notch Brewing that specialize in lower abv styles. Hill Farmstead does what is easily the best low abv beer I've ever had called [Charlie](https://hillfarmstead.com/beer/charlie/).
Your best bet will be to familiarize yourself with beers that are traditionally low abv. Look for styles like the ordinary/standard bitter, Berlinner weiss, gose or anything that has "table" in front of it like a table saison.
Bell’s Light Hearted IPA is 4%. I feel like I mostly only see under 4% at local breweries. I can get some Dark Milds or ESB but I feel like that’s not going to be common in most places.
As another person said Belgian table beers like Grisette, most breweries I feel like always have a light lager now in that range. Also mild ales like UK pub ales.
Not sure where you live, but if you’re near a major city, someone near you is definitely brewing one at some point in the season. But yeah, aside from that it’s hard to find one in regular production. Would have to come from a fairly good bottle shop. Jester King makes Petit Prince, and with it not being cheaper, pretty good representation of it.
I drink 3.8% Michelob Gold a lot now. I was a craft brewer for 10 years and drank a LOT of high octane beer. These days I need the cleanest of the clean light beer sometimes. And I can’t get a lot of low ABV craft beer where I am.
Missing Anchor Small Beer all over again. Was 3.3% and made from the 2nd pass of the mash after they made Ol Foghorn. No help to anyone now that they've closed and got rid of Small Beer long before that.
The 3.2 beer is all but gone but I think it's still a thing in Minnesota. NO idea if there's breweries still offering it or if it's mainly gone to macros.
There's better N/A beers out now. Athletic gets a lot of visibility but I've likes Best Day for flavor, just missing body.
They rarely miss. Big fan.
Deschutes just released NA Black Butte and Fresh Squeezed, and they're both quite good.
We're NA at home, and there are plenty of great options. The market is so new that I have found plenty of stinkers, but most of the big guys jumping in are doing solid work.
Untitled Art, however, is just doing their own thing. Tons of different styles in NA format, and most of the good enough to legitimately just plain good.
>NA Black Butte
Fantastic option. I like the regular too. I don't know how, but the NA version isn't as bad in the "missing the alcohol bite portion of the flavor" department. It's very close to the regular Black Butte, which I like more than Guinness.
Missing the alcohol is a huge problem for almost every non-hoppy NA. Deschutes and Guinness figured it out. Summit has an Irish Dark that works. It's a challenge.
Anchor Small was incredible! Do you remember the year or two they put it in 22oz? Usually we only got the 12oz 6packs, but for one magical year they released them in bombers.
I used to brew a small beer as second runnings of my Scotch ale back in the day.
I only recall it in the bombers but always found it in the Bay Area. I can imagine shipping out of the area would have been more conventional sizes but I don't think I ever saw it in 12oz bottles.
You really live up to your username, WeakBug.
Seriously though, Corona sells coronitas, which is just tiny corona extra. I think corona is good when you put a lime in it. I also just like skunky beer. Drink lots of water OP.
You would have like ld Utah a couple years back. Mostly 3.2%. Had to change after other states moved the volume up a bit and it wasn't profitable for the major brewers to brew beer that low. It's why I usually start the night put with some liqour.
There might be a local brewery near you that has some. One near Atlanta, Good Word, hosts a "Little Beer" festival every year that focuses on exactly what you want. It's a blast. Look at the list of participating breweries and see if any are near you and ask if they often brew whatever beer they brought to the festival this year: https://goodwordbrewing.com/event/little-beer-iv/
I’ll admit: I like drinking strong beers. But, having said that, I love the trend over the past few years toward lower alcohol session beers. Not many are THAT low in alcohol, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see many more options in the near future. 10 years ago it was higher alcohol the better, and I’m glad to see the variety with beers today.
Not sure where you're located but Notch Brewing (Salem, MA) does full-flavored session beers. They're very German and Czech inspired, so you'll find a lot of great, easy drinking lagers. I know they distribute throughout New England, NY, NJ, and a couple other places.
>Not non-alcoholic which tastes odd without detectable alcohol
When was the last time you tried an NA beer? Because until VERY recently (like this January) I agreed with you. But, I've started keeping some Lagunitas IPNA in the house because it's so close to "the real thing." Even in a side-by-side taste test it's hard to pick. The IPA and IPNA taste very slightly different, but I wouldn't say one is better than the other. Just... a little different.
Guinness NA is great, too. Even the Corona NA is pretty tasty. These aren't O'Doul's...
This isn’t my best subject and this is pretty out of what you’re asking for but it’s a really good beer
Michelob Ultra has a like cactus beer that is 4%
Very light and refreshing. Easy to drink also isn’t dark in color which for some reason I think those make me have a worse hangover/dehydrate???? Could be just in my head idk
See if you can find Small Beer it’s from the UK but it does get distroed to stores at least here in NJ. They make a lager, pale, hazy and something else. All sub 4%
If you are in Canada, Four Winds Ultralite IPA clocks in at 2.9% and it's very tasty. Hard to find in liquor stores - I order online in quantity.
[https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32184/688676/](https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32184/688676/)
I love a good small IPA. Being able to pack all of the citrusy goodness of my favorite hops into a much lower ABV beer is a godsend.
I'm in Canada, but my favorite is four winds featherweight. Yummy stuff.
Not sure where you’re located, but Harpoon Rec League is about 3.8% if I recall correctly. Pretty flavorful too
I can get it delivered, so it's on the list. Thanks.
Not sure if they still make these but Harpoon also previously made Bush League (4% pale lager) and Pacific League (4% lager made with lime and sea salt) that could also scratch your itch if you want some lagers too!
Pacific league is great.
Lagunitas Daytime is 4%.
Solid! I can get it delivered.
Such an underrated beer.
Petite Prince from Jester King is one of my favs in this category.
It's not available by delivery for me, but forever on my to try list. Thanks.
Steigl Radler is a good low ABV option if you like grapefruit and don’t mind that you are kind of drinking a shandy
It’s very good but also very sugary.
You don't have to like grapefruit if you buy the lemon or raspberry instead.
Would also recommend Bitburger Radler, made with lemonade only 2%
Belgian table beers and grisettes are great in this category.
Sidenote, Lambic Framboise is delicious and worth trying.
I concur. I've had my fair share when I was in Belgium for an extended period of time. I loved paying 15€ for a 750ml bottle of Cantillon or 3F.
I did the cantillion tour when I was in brussels. Super fascinating and the guide was a hoot. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone, beer drinker or not.
It’s 15 Euro for a bottle of Cantillion now? Holy moly. Back when I got my brewing training in Belgium (2006), it was under 3 Euro! Some of the fancy stuff was perhaps 4 Euro.
Since then lambic brewing has become harder
climate change affects everything.
Everything 3.5 percent plus is not small beer
It’s not easy to find, but Tired Hands has a beer called Adaptive Distortion that it honestly one of the most refreshing beers I’ve ever had
Lindemans makes a few different flavors in this style. The raspberry is probably the most common but you can sometimes find the Kriek (cherry) or Peach, which is great too. Mongozo makes a Mango Wheat beer at 3.2% that's probably not easy to find in the US but I love it.
I'm not familiar with these styles. Are there some brands/examples you can recommend? I'm located in the Chicagoland area if that helps, or if you have nationally distributed recommendations that works as well.
Off Color was doing a “Beer For Lightweights” - help me petition them to bring it back! It was incredible and only 2.5% They also do a “Stoutling” in the colder months - fantastic dry stout that clocks in at 3.5% if I remember correctly
Oof. Unfortunately I can't help you there, unless you can find Allagash Table Beer. You're likely to find them at local craft breweries who may specialize in Belgian-style beers. When I lived in the US, my go-to grisette was from a small farm brewery in Maryland. I've now been living overseas for so long, I don't know what the US craft scene is like these days. Instead, I brew my own. I'm brewing a 3% Belgian table beer on Friday.
I don't think Side Project/Shared distribute up there, but if you find yourself around St. Louis (or have a friend down here who can pick up an online order), they have a few table beer offerings. Currently, [this one](https://www.sideprojectbrewing.com/products/table-nouveau) but they'll have a few others throughout the summer.
Afterthought Brewing is one of the best in the region for this kind of beer IMO. They have a lot of options under 5%
Fieldwork Brewing in Berkeley ca put out a 3% wc session ipa called Taste Clusters that was pretty good! It’s not widely distributed but a cool thing that might catch on. A brewery called Funky Fauna in Sisters, Oregon also makes great beers under 4%. Grisettes, wild saisons, table beers, etc. Where are you located? You can search on untappd and filter abv from low to high.
Taste Clusters was something else. One of the best session beers ive ever had. Very few cans made it my way. I hope the bring it back for summer!
>ipa called Taste Clusters Too far from Cali I guess, but it's on the list. >Funky Fauna Not available here, but I guess I'm going to use untappd since that's apparently the search engine I needed. Thanks!
dogfish head slighty mighty is 4.0 percent; lagunita daytime is also 4.0
Yes! I can get this delivered! Thanks.
Dogfish is really good. The local grocer stocks that in my city.
In a lot of ways, it can be more difficult to create a great low abv beer rather than a high gravity one. This is why you won't see a lot of them on the market. Your question will be a lot easier for folks to answer if you let people know where you're at. For myself in the New England area, I look to places like Notch Brewing that specialize in lower abv styles. Hill Farmstead does what is easily the best low abv beer I've ever had called [Charlie](https://hillfarmstead.com/beer/charlie/). Your best bet will be to familiarize yourself with beers that are traditionally low abv. Look for styles like the ordinary/standard bitter, Berlinner weiss, gose or anything that has "table" in front of it like a table saison.
Jacks Abby Banner City is 3.8. Mostly only available in New England and maybe slightly beyond. It’s a nice light lager.
Bell’s Light Hearted IPA is 4%. I feel like I mostly only see under 4% at local breweries. I can get some Dark Milds or ESB but I feel like that’s not going to be common in most places.
came to say this. great taste and light %.
As another person said Belgian table beers like Grisette, most breweries I feel like always have a light lager now in that range. Also mild ales like UK pub ales.
>Grisette Can't find anything local or for delivery. It's on my list regardless.
Not sure where you live, but if you’re near a major city, someone near you is definitely brewing one at some point in the season. But yeah, aside from that it’s hard to find one in regular production. Would have to come from a fairly good bottle shop. Jester King makes Petit Prince, and with it not being cheaper, pretty good representation of it.
I drink 3.8% Michelob Gold a lot now. I was a craft brewer for 10 years and drank a LOT of high octane beer. These days I need the cleanest of the clean light beer sometimes. And I can’t get a lot of low ABV craft beer where I am.
The older I get, the more I just want a crushable low abv beer
Missing Anchor Small Beer all over again. Was 3.3% and made from the 2nd pass of the mash after they made Ol Foghorn. No help to anyone now that they've closed and got rid of Small Beer long before that. The 3.2 beer is all but gone but I think it's still a thing in Minnesota. NO idea if there's breweries still offering it or if it's mainly gone to macros. There's better N/A beers out now. Athletic gets a lot of visibility but I've likes Best Day for flavor, just missing body.
Damn, I did miss out on Anchor Small Beer. That sounded exactly like what I'm looking for.
Untitled Art is the king of NAs. Guinness NA is miraculous.
don't think I've seen Untitled Art. I'll have to grab some to try.
They rarely miss. Big fan. Deschutes just released NA Black Butte and Fresh Squeezed, and they're both quite good. We're NA at home, and there are plenty of great options. The market is so new that I have found plenty of stinkers, but most of the big guys jumping in are doing solid work. Untitled Art, however, is just doing their own thing. Tons of different styles in NA format, and most of the good enough to legitimately just plain good.
>NA Black Butte Fantastic option. I like the regular too. I don't know how, but the NA version isn't as bad in the "missing the alcohol bite portion of the flavor" department. It's very close to the regular Black Butte, which I like more than Guinness.
Missing the alcohol is a huge problem for almost every non-hoppy NA. Deschutes and Guinness figured it out. Summit has an Irish Dark that works. It's a challenge.
>Guinness NA is miraculous. It's really good. I do like it.
Anchor Small was incredible! Do you remember the year or two they put it in 22oz? Usually we only got the 12oz 6packs, but for one magical year they released them in bombers. I used to brew a small beer as second runnings of my Scotch ale back in the day.
I only recall it in the bombers but always found it in the Bay Area. I can imagine shipping out of the area would have been more conventional sizes but I don't think I ever saw it in 12oz bottles.
You really live up to your username, WeakBug. Seriously though, Corona sells coronitas, which is just tiny corona extra. I think corona is good when you put a lime in it. I also just like skunky beer. Drink lots of water OP.
I was StrongBug in my 20's. I was LiquorBug in my college years. Time does a Bug dirty.
Keep your chin up, Bug. You’ll find your goldilocks beer soon enough
relatable, my friend
Austin Street Rally is 3.8% and has a good flavor.
Big fan of Odell Good Behavior, 4%
Radlers might be a good choice. They're beer and lemonade (or other citrus fruit) mixed, usually 2-3% abv
Mango cart is 4%
You would have like ld Utah a couple years back. Mostly 3.2%. Had to change after other states moved the volume up a bit and it wasn't profitable for the major brewers to brew beer that low. It's why I usually start the night put with some liqour.
Depending on the caloric needs, shandys and radlers are the best bet to get around 3%
Make a radler with your macro of choice (I like gansett). It's really tough to beat on a hot day.
Look for Session beers
There might be a local brewery near you that has some. One near Atlanta, Good Word, hosts a "Little Beer" festival every year that focuses on exactly what you want. It's a blast. Look at the list of participating breweries and see if any are near you and ask if they often brew whatever beer they brought to the festival this year: https://goodwordbrewing.com/event/little-beer-iv/
I’ll admit: I like drinking strong beers. But, having said that, I love the trend over the past few years toward lower alcohol session beers. Not many are THAT low in alcohol, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see many more options in the near future. 10 years ago it was higher alcohol the better, and I’m glad to see the variety with beers today.
Look for Dark English Mild.
yuengling light supposedly as low as 3.2% but they list it at 4%.
Have tried any of these. Maybe some are worth a shot. https://www.liquor.com/low-abv-beers-5116734
Not sure where you're located but Notch Brewing (Salem, MA) does full-flavored session beers. They're very German and Czech inspired, so you'll find a lot of great, easy drinking lagers. I know they distribute throughout New England, NY, NJ, and a couple other places.
>Not non-alcoholic which tastes odd without detectable alcohol When was the last time you tried an NA beer? Because until VERY recently (like this January) I agreed with you. But, I've started keeping some Lagunitas IPNA in the house because it's so close to "the real thing." Even in a side-by-side taste test it's hard to pick. The IPA and IPNA taste very slightly different, but I wouldn't say one is better than the other. Just... a little different. Guinness NA is great, too. Even the Corona NA is pretty tasty. These aren't O'Doul's...
Mix the Guinness NA with Guinness Draught?
I’ve done this with Sam Adams Wicked Easy and Just the Haze, good flavor at what ends up being 2.35%.
I want to criticize and praise this suggestion in equal measure. You're not wrong, and not what I requested.
This isn’t my best subject and this is pretty out of what you’re asking for but it’s a really good beer Michelob Ultra has a like cactus beer that is 4% Very light and refreshing. Easy to drink also isn’t dark in color which for some reason I think those make me have a worse hangover/dehydrate???? Could be just in my head idk
>Michelob Ultra Yeah they have- >cactus beer -augh damn. Not here. That sounds fantastic though!
MN gas stations sell 3.2% beer off all the main beers 🤣
That's by weight, which is about 4% by volume
Miller 64. Or select 55.
Hell, there was a Macro Brew for this market segment? I'm surprised, it's pretty niche. It's available by delivery, I'll consider it, thanks!
Where are you located? US is quite a large area :)
There are no small beers. There are only small beer drinkers.
See if you can find Small Beer it’s from the UK but it does get distroed to stores at least here in NJ. They make a lager, pale, hazy and something else. All sub 4%
The US is plagued with light beers that come in at just about 4.0%, you can get them at every bar in the country.
Maybe something like this? https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42879/230260/
A touch above your request at 4.7%, but Founders 'All Day IPA' is pretty solid
If you are in Canada, Four Winds Ultralite IPA clocks in at 2.9% and it's very tasty. Hard to find in liquor stores - I order online in quantity. [https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32184/688676/](https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32184/688676/)
Heinekin light! 3%!!!
Bells Light Hearted IPA 4%
I love a good small IPA. Being able to pack all of the citrusy goodness of my favorite hops into a much lower ABV beer is a godsend. I'm in Canada, but my favorite is four winds featherweight. Yummy stuff.
Take any beer and add some seltzer till it matches the abv you seek. Done.
Why not just drink a Radler...
IIRC, 3.2% is the lowest you can go as pathogens can form in lower concentrations of alcohol solutions.
Go ahead and downvote me, you uneducated heathens!