Small beer


Small beer is a lager or ale that contains a lower amount of alcohol by volume than most others, usually between 0.5% to 2.8%. Sometimes unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favoured drink in Medieval Europe and colonial North America compared with more expensive beer containing higher alcohol. Small beer was also produced in households for consumption by children and by servants.

History

Before the 19th century, potable water had the potential to cause sickness because of poorer sanitation. Practical experience demonstrated that fermented beverages were less likely to bring on human illness. At mealtimes in the Middle Ages, all drank small beer, regardless of age, particularly while eating a meal at the table. Table beer was around this time typically less than 1% ABV.
It was common for workers such as sailors who engaged in laborious tasks to drink more than ten imperial pints of small beer a day to quench their thirst. Small beer was also consumed for its nutrition content. It might contain traces of wheat or bread suspended within it. In his A Plan for the Conduct of Female Education, in Boarding Schools published 1797, writer Erasmus Darwin agreed that "For the drink of the more robust children water is preferable, and for the weaker ones, small beer...". Larger educational establishments like Eton, Winchester, and Oxford University even ran their own breweries.
In 17th century England, it was an excise class which was determined by its wholesale price. Between the years 1782 and 1802, table beer was said to define that which cost between six and eleven shillings per barrel and the tax on this class was around three shillings. Cheaper beer was considered small beer while the more expensive brands were classed as strong beer. The differences between small beer and table beer were removed in 1802 because there was much fraudulent mixing of the types. Small beer was socially acceptable in 18th-century England because of its lower alcohol content, allowing people to drink several glasses without becoming drunk. William Hogarth's portrait Beer Street shows a group of happy workers going about their business after drinking table beer. It became increasingly popular during the 19th century, displacing malt liquor as the drink of choice for families and servants.

Contemporary usage

Small beer and small ale can also refer to beers made from the second runnings from the stronger beer. Such beers can be as strong as a mild ale, but it depends on the strength of the original mash. This was an economic measure in household brewing in England until the 18th century, and still produced by some homebrewers.

Europe

In Belgium, small or table beer is known as tafelbier and their many varieties are still brewed. Breweries that perpetuated in this type included De Es of Schalkhoven and Gigi of Gérouville in Luxembourg. In the US, a Vienna lager was a popular table beer before prohibition. Small beers are also produced in Germany and Switzerland albeit using local brewing methods. In Finland, new alternatives continue to be sought for the beverage.
In Sweden beer with an alcohol content of 2.25 per cent by volume, or less, sold as lättöl, is legally classified as a soft drink, exempt from alcohol tax and age restrictions, made by virtually all breweries, sold in all grocery stores and commonly served even in company lunch canteens.
One beverage exists in the United Kingdom which meets the criteria of "small beer" by combining traditional Czech Saaz hop with British barley to produce a drink with ABV 2.1%.

In art and history

Literature

Metaphorically, small beer means a trifle, or a thing of little importance.
In The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy the character Old Jolyon Forsyte describes his ancestors as small bere which meant not as successful or important as the current generation.

History