Low alcohol beer

Hoppy, a low alcohol beer

Low alcohol beer (also, non-alcoholic beer, small beer, or small ale or near-beer) is beer with very low or no alcohol content. The vast majority of low alcohol beers are lagers, but there are to a lesser extent some ales.

In the United States, beverages containing up to 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) can be legally called non-alcoholic according to the Volstead Act.

In the UK the following descriptions apply by law (correct at May 2007):

No alcohol/alcohol free: not more than 0.05% ABV
Dealcoholised: over 0.05% but not more than 0.5% ABV
Low alcohol: not more than 1.2% ABV

In the rest of the European Union, it must be not more than 0.5% ABV to be described as alcohol free.

Although labelled as non-alcoholic, some products may still contain small amounts of alcohol as seen above and as a result some US states prohibit their sale to minors. In Massachusetts you have to be 18, while in Pennsylvania and Illinois you have to be 21. In 1997, the U.S. military ruled that the 12-hour required wait after drinking beer before piloting a plane would also be applied to non-alcoholic beer.

In countries where alcohol advertising is forbidden or limited, non-alcoholic versions of many popular brands of alcoholic beverage are created for the purpose of advertisement.

Near beer

Cutter, a near beer made by the Coors Brewing Company

Near beer was originally a term for malt beverages containing little or no alcohol (one half of one percent or less by volume), which were mass-marketed during Prohibition in the United States. Near beer could not legally be labeled as "beer" and was officially classified as cereal beverage. The public, however, almost universally called them "near beer."

The most popular "near beer" was Bevo, brewed by the Anheuser-Busch company. The Pabst company brewed "Pablo", Miller brewed "Vivo", and Schlitz brewed "Famo". Many local and regional breweries stayed in business by marketing their own near-beers. By 1921 production of near beer had reached over 300 million US gallons (1 billion L) a year (360 L/s).

A popular illegal practice was to add alcohol to near beer. The resulting beverage was known as spiked beer or needle beer, so called because a needle was used to inject alcohol through the cork of the bottle or keg.

Food critic and writer Waverley Root described the common American near beer as "such a wishy-washy, thin, ill-tasting, discouraging sort of slop that it might have been dreamed up by a Puritan Machiavelli with the intent of disgusting drinkers with genuine beer forever."

Today the term "near beer" has been revived by some people to refer to modern versions of non-alcoholic beer.

Light beer

Light beer refers to beer which is reduced in alcohol content, or in calories, compared to "regular" beers. Light beers may be chosen by beer drinkers who wish to manage their alcohol consumption or their calorie intake; however, they are sometimes criticised for being less flavourful than full-strength beers, being (in perception or in fact) "watered down".

Reduced alcohol

Beer is a generic name for beverages made by fermentation of extracts of cereal grain, particularly barley, or other starchy material. Beer is a beverage known since antiquity and next to wine is probably the oldest of prepared food drinks. In modern times the countries of northern Europe set the style of beer as it appears today. In fact, the words "brewing," "ale," and "lager" are all of Germanic origin. Consumption of beer in the United States is about 33 gallons per person per year based on persons over 18 years of age. In all, over six billion gallons of beer are produced each year in the United States. About 2-3 percent of beer sales are now of a light type.

Light beers with significantly lower alcohol content allow consumers to drink more beers in a shorter period without becoming intoxicated. Low alcohol content can also mean a less expensive beer.This is the primary definition of the term in countries such as Australia and Scotland. In Australia, regular beers have approximately 5% alcohol by volume; light beers alcohol content may have 2.2%–3.2%. "Light" customarily means a beer with less than 3.5% alcohol by volume.

In some jurisdictions (Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah, for example), beer sold in establishments such as supermarket chains and convenience stores must be less than 3.2% alcohol by weight (4% ABV). This low alcohol beer is also referred to as Low-point beer or 3.2 ("three-two") beer.

Minnesota has a full-service alcohol license available to retailers, permitting sales of beers up to the normal alcohol level, but 3.2 licenses are easier to obtain.

Reduced calories

Reducing the energy content of beer is accomplished by a large reduction in the carbohydrate content and a small reduction in the alcohol content, since both carbohydrates and alcohol contribute to the energy intake of beer. (Unlike reduced-alcohol light beers, the alcohol reduction is not primarily intended to produce a less intoxicating beverage.)

This is the primary definition in the United States, where the spelling Lite beer is also encountered, and where popular light beers include Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Coors Light.

Small beer

Small beer (also, small ale) is a beer/ale that contains very little alcohol. Sometimes unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favoured drink in Medieval Europe and colonial North America where George Washington had a recipe involving bran and molasses. It was sometimes had with breakfast, as attested in Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Before public sanitation, cholera and other water-transmitted diseases were a significant cause of death. Because alcohol is toxic to most water-borne pathogens, and because the process of brewing any beer from malt involves boiling the water, which also kills them, drinking small beer instead of water was one way to escape infection. Small beer was also produced in households for consumption by children and servants.

Small beer/small ale can also refer to a beer made of the "second runnings" from a very strong beer (e.g., scotch ale) mash. These beers can be as strong as a mild ale, depending on the strength of the original mash. This was done as an economy measure in household brewing in England up to the 18th century and is still done by some homebrewers.

Metaphorically, small beer means a trifle, a thing of little importance. The term is also used derisively for commercially produced beers which are thought to taste too weak.

Small ale in literature

Besides Franklin's autobiography, small ale turns up in the writings of William Shakespeare, William Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, The Aubrey-Maturin series, in Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series and in Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602. Thomas Thetcher's tombstone at Winchester Cathedral features a poem that blames his death on drinking small beer while hot. Graham Greene used the phrase 'small beer' in the metaphorical sense in The Honorary Consul. The pub tradition of Swearing on the Horns includes a pledge not to drink small beer when strong beer is available.

Small beer today

Few commercial breweries bother to make small beer today. However, one of these rarities is produced by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco, California. It is made from the "second runnings" of the malt from the brewer's Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale.

Religious prohibitions

Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol in any quantities, including the low-alcohol content in most "non-alcoholic" drinks. Due to this prohibition, alcohol-free (0%) beers such as Laziza and Almaza are often available in stores and restaurants that cater to a Muslim customer base.

There is disagreement among Islamic scholars about this ruling.

See also

• Prohibition
• Beer
• Non-alcoholic beverages