Last month in my Beer 101 column, I started a conversation about the joys of small beer (read the first part here). Despite their rarity these days, I believe quite strongly they can still play an important role in the beer world. Flavourful, light-alcohol beer – especially in this era of neo-prohibitionist law-making – should be on every beer drinker’s dance card.

In the first column I introduced the topic and looked a mixture of small beer styles. In the second part I hone in on the country that continues to “get” small beer better than anyone else. England. Unlike North America, the English never abandoned the idea of a low alcohol beer that wasn’t just this side of water (right, Coors Light?), and today still maintain a tradition of smaller session beer that are worthy of a couple (or more) pints.

There are the three classic English small beer styles – Mild, Bitter and Southern Brown. I walk through each and do my best to provide suggestions for examples available in western Canada. Which is a much harder task than you might think. There are NO Southern English Browns available – so we can only theorize on that point. As for Mild, I reminisced longingly about Alley Kat’s long departed Fireside Mild, and directed those currently curious to Fyne Ales’ Vital Spark, which does the style proud.

As for bitter, I selected Moor Revival (it seems like it is Moor-week at onbeer.org, given my last post). It has all I ask for in a Bitter – a noted floral hop, delicate malt accents and light enough to allow for the consumption of multiple pints.

Small beer are challenging to brew. Infusing flavour without resorting to big hops, excessive unfermentables or tons of alcohol is not an easy task. It speaks volumes about the quality of a brewer if they can pull off a small beer. So, try the small beer I have suggested in the last two columns, and as you sip, give them a hat-tip for their skill and bravery to brew something that breaks the 5% rule.

Long live the small beer!