BeerMike : The Return of Table Beer

On 1st May this year, Harvey’s announced that they would be renaming the following beers Mild (3%) and IPA (3.4%) to Dark Mild (3%) and Sisters Table Beer (3.4%). The latter move was significant, as Harvey’s became the first major regional brewer to include a table beer in their range, which up to that point over the preceding decade was the preserve of microbreweries and small-scale independents. When pressed on the decision for the name change, the brewery’s marketing manager Zoe Prescott noted, “the decision to transition to the Table Beer style name is rooted in evolving consumer tastes. Table Beers offer a light, easy-drinking experience with an ABV ranging between 2.8% and 3.8%. This adjustment better aligns Sisters Table Beer with contemporary preferences, while our Wharf IPA continues to cater to those seeking bolder, hoppier flavours.”[1] This change in consumer tastes has facilitated the resurrection of Table Beers in recent years, yet the move by Harvey’s could widely be seen as a marketing strategy to encourage higher sales for their session level beers. When describing session beer, Martyn Cornell humorously quipped “it’s an important plank in British pub culture, the 4 per cent abv or less drink that enables the British pub goer to down multiple pints during the evening without falling over.”[2] Table Beers are not a specific beer style as such, they can range light blonde to dark with a gentle to moderate hoppy bitterness, traditionally they were brewed between 1%-2.5% ABV although there have been examples as high as 3.8%; indeed it could be argued that Table Beers are no different to the likes of Session IPA’s, Mild, AK, Bitter and Blonde Ales, which are generally brewed between 3-3.9% ABV, around the same level as your average Table Beer. Could the likes of beers like Hooky (3.4%), Trinity (3%), Lighthouse (3.4%), or Courage Light Ale (3.2%) be considered examples of Table Beers since they more or less fit into that category even-though they are not marketed a such, the recent marketing decision by Harvey’s has further diluted the chasm between Table Beer and other types of Session beers, are we on the precipice of a sudden rise of existing beers jumping onto the Table Beer bandwagon. Indeed it’s growing popularity could be seen as the next big thing to lure drinkers to beer, just like Golden Ales did back in the 1980’s, indeed, Taylor Laabs writing in 2017 just as the Table Beer craze was yet to take off in the UK, noted “table Beers are the next big variation of Session IPAs and Ales, as they provide all of the punch you’d expect from a hoppy session with an even lower alcohol content that borders on light beer status.”[3] To understand more Table Beer’s recent return to prominence, we need understand more about its history and how brewers produce such a low strength beer, without having to compromise on flavour.

The origins of the Table Beer are rather intriguing; indeed, it was another name for small beer which was generally brewed to a lower strength. It has been around since medieval times, and became quite popular in era before clean drinking water became commonplace in the population, as Table Beer was safter than drinking the unsanitary water that flowed through many towns and cities, often infected with all sorts of bugs and raw sewage. Brew Your Own notes “originally table beers were brewed to be consumed by the whole family with each meal (including breakfast). Beer was safer than water, but low alcohol was necessary to avoid both dehydration and perpetual drunkenness.”[4] This type of beer had a utilitarian aspect to it, as its low strength meant it could be drunk by a wider cast of the population, Ron Pattison notes “in the days before easy access to clean drinking water, Small Beer was the everyday drink of young and old. It was seen as a necessity, not a luxury.”[5] Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing noted “it was very much the drink of the working classes. Rustic table beers were sustenance for a life of toil, sweat, and tears. All were to partake, including servants when the upper classes later embraced table beer.”[6] Over time, table beers had become quite popular and became a mainstay in Europe and colloidal America, in the UK it had become so widespread that even well-known educational establishments like Eton College and Cambridge University were brewing their own table beers for their scholars, up until the 18th century small beer was the most commonly known drink in the general population, breweries generally developed Table Beer from a process was known as Parti-gyle, which consists of the second runnings from the brewing process, another method is to split the batch, dilute the first runnings, and the remaining mixture boil for longer, in order to produce a stronger beer, although sometimes other unscrupulous methods were used in the production of small/ Table Beer as a means of dodging tax such as brewing from unmalted barley. Its appeal was additionally helped by it’s low wholesale costs, in 1782 a barrel of table beer would only be taxed for 3 shillings per barrel, whilst a barrel of strong would be taxed at a comparatively high 8 shillings per barrel, so there was good economic sense for its prevalent usage. Yet by the 19th century, Table Beer was on the decline, as clean drinking water became increasingly available, the demand for small beer plummeted, and to make matters worse, Pattison notes “officially, the classification “Table Beer” disappeared in 1830, when the tax was shifted from finished beer to malt and hops. Though low-gravity beers continued to be brewed under the name of Table Beer, they gradually dwindled away in the second half of the 19th century.”[5] In the light of the tax changes, the big London brewers abandoned the production of table beers as there was no longer a tax incentive to brew weaker beer, although one intriguing outlier was Scotland, where table beer was brewed at a greater rate than their stronger equivalents and generally had a good reputation, brewers like William Younger and Maclay were still brewing table beers into the early 20th century. The reason for its demise, Pattison adds “ultimately, Table Beer was killed off by the rise of low-alcohol alternatives; first in the form of Dinner Ales and Light Bitters, beers of 4- to 4.5-percent ABV, which boomed in popularity from the 1860s on, and then by the drop in strength of standard beers after World War I.”[5] And what was once a popular and widespread beer style, it’s decline could either be seen as a tragic or an important stepping to stone to the development of latter-day beer styles like Bitter, Light Ale or Mild that were prevalent during the 20th century. The eventual resurrection of Table Beer would come from an unexpected source.

The Kernel Brewery was set up in Bermondsey by former cheesemonger turned brewer Evan O’Riordan in 2009, operating from railway-arches initially using a four-barrel kit, he utilized the skills he had gathered as a cheesemonger and transferred this knowledge to brewing beer. Innovation was key to this drive, with early releases including Imperial Brown Stout (10.1%) borrowed from an 1856 Barclay Perkins recipe, India Pale Ale Black (6.5%) that blurred the boundaries between IPA and Porter, and Pale Ale Citra (5.1%) the first of many experiments with different types of hops. The early rumblings of a revival for Table Beer came from across the pond, during a visit to the US, brewer Phil Lowry sampled a 3% version of American Pale Ale by 21st Amendment Brewery. Upon his return to England, he developed Trinity (3%) at Redemption Brewery, which at the time was marketed as a session IPA. Spurned on by their success, Riordan produced Table Beer (2.9%) later that same year, which they subsequently described as an attempt to brew a low alcohol beer that did not suffer from lack body or character, yet full of hoppy aromas and a balanced bitterness. Lily Waite noted “though not the first low-ABV pale ale to emerge in the London scene, it’s regarded as a lodestar: a beacon of refreshment, balance, and flavour, to which brewers have long aspired.”[7] Yet it’s eventual success was slow to take off, as Riordan later remarked “Pale Ale was our most popular beer, and it took a long, long time for Table Beer to even pass IPA. Like, five years.”[7] Today, the beer has become of their best-known and flagship releases, as part of their core range, yet its eventual success was attributed by a change in consumer tastes. However, during the 2010’s these beers were seldom to come by as breweries continued to elude this style, and any low ABV was always marketed as a different style; one exception was Little Lenny (2.7%) released by Brick Brewery in 2015, it was promoted at the time as a Table Beer. They built on this in early 2018, with Peck (3%) which debuted at the Deptford Craft Beer Festival that March. Going on general release the following month, it was described at the time as having a distinct hop character despite its low strength. By the late 2010’s, the fortunes for Table Beer were changing, as drinkers were moving to lower alcohol beers, indeed between 2018-2020, sales of lower ABV beers rose by 381% in the UK, Nicole Kobie noted “Siba's annual survey shows 41 per cent of retailers expect to see the no-alcohol and low-alcohol category grow this year (2020), and one in three 18-24 year olds opting for alternatives.”[8] The growing target audience, was also partly attributed to a growing trend for healthier lifestyles, which the brewers took to their advantage. In 2017 Small Beer Co. was established, they broke new ground at the time for being the first brewery to exclusively brew lower alcohol beer of up to 2.8%, with a remit to produce lower ABV beers that did not compromise on flavour. Up until that point, low alcohol beers were criticised for being thin, bland and lacking in taste, yet Small Beer’s founders James Grundy and Felix James sought to turn that around. Formerly working for distillers Sipsmith they utilized their experience and skills towards brewing, Phoebe French noted “with James’ experience in beer, the pair have “reworked the entire brew process” allowing them to naturally maximise flavour and minimise alcohol.”[9] They saw a gap in the market with potential for consumer demand which they subsequently took advantage of, and their growing success prompted other breweries across the UK to produce and market their own Table Beers.

The growing craze for Table Beer in the UK started around 2019, that year the newly launched Futtle Brewery released Organic Table Beer (3.2%), whilst the East London Brewing Co. produced Table Beer (3.4%) initially as a one-off green hop beer but proved popular enough that they subsequently re-released the following year as a regular part of their range, the same year Wildcard Brewery launched their Table Beer (2.7%), made with fresh Australian Enigma & Vic Secret hops that helps give it a unique flavour profile of citrus and tropical fruits, it was one of their first beers that helped put the brewery on the map for their innovations, it would also go onto win awards including Champion Beer at SIBA SE Keg Competition 2020. Towards the end of that year, Five Points Brewing Co. were in the process of developing their Micro Pale (2.8%), initially planned as a cask only release, due to onset of lockdown in Spring 2020, the brewery decided to sell in bottle instead and it was put onto general release in May that year. They boldly claimed in their promotions although it was micro in strength, it was not micro in taste; it was packed with Cascade, Chinook and Vic Secret hops along with a mixture of Oats, Caraphils, Munich and low colour Maris Otter Malt, for that distinct flavour profile. The reason for this uptake in production for Table Beers, the British Guild of Beer Writers mentioned at the time “low and no-alcohol beverages continue to be a growing trend in the UK, where last year an IWSR survey found that 65% of alcohol consumers aged 25-34 were making a conscious effort to cut back on their intake.”[10] Later the same year, Burning Sky released Tail Crush (3%) their first Table Beer, whilst Edinburgh based brewery Newbarns resurrected the Scottish tradition of Table Beers with their release Callister (3%), which they described as a modern take on the style, interestingly they used Golden Promise, a heritage barley grown in Scotland in order to replicate the traditional taste. Another example influenced by Scottish brewing heritage was Siphonaptera (3.8%), first released in July 2021 by Glasgow based nanobrewery Epochal operated solely by Gareth Young; generously hopped with Saaz hops it was on the stronger end of the scale for Table Beers, its aroma has said to contain hints of overripe lemon tea, honeysuckle, beeswax and violets, while the flavour is airy, light with a refreshing bitterness. One of the brewery’s first releases, uniquely made using his barrel ageing method which he does for all his beers, one writer noted “his beer is fermented with a multi-strain yeast, cleansed to rid them of excess yeast and then allowed to mature to completion in oak barrels with a handful of whole-cone hops. The finished product is naturally carbonated in the bottle.”[11] The same year saw the likes of Pango Table Beer (2.8%) by Fauna, which they named after the Pangolin, one of a number of animal themed beers from this Arundel based brewery; Table Beer (3.1%) by Brick Brewing, which utilized Simcoe hops, Rustic Table Beer (3%) by Burning Sky, matured in steel tanks then dry hopped with Kazbek hops for added flavour, subsequently an 8-month barrel aged version of the beer was also developed. The year ended with the release of Restoration Table Beer (2.8%), by Abbeydale, one of the first Northern brewers to release a Table Beer, finally putting to rest the suggestions that Table Beer was limited to breweries in London and the South. The year 2022 saw a flurry of releases, early on Black Iris debuted Cheese Riot (3%), inspired by Belgian style Saisons, a pale beer made with adjuncts of coriander and rye along with Talus and Citra Cryo hops that adds to the flavour profile. A light and sessionable beer, named after the Cheese Riot of 1766, incidentally the brewery stated that this beer goes well with cheese. In February, Brockley Brewery released Table Beer (2.8%) made with a combination of light malt with a mixture of Simcoe, Chinook and Citra hops. The mixture of flavours helped give the beer some added force despite its low ABV, imparting a bitter and citrussy flavour along with a creamy mouthfeel. In June, Whiplash produced Ephermeral (2.8%), it was made with Hersbucker Hops, noted for their subtle spice notes and fermented with Belgian yeast strains, basil and fresh lemon peel are added to the latter stages of the maturation process before canning. The same month, Fierce Beer in collaboration with Mash Gang produced Ocean Drive (1.9%) described as a fruited West Coast IPA, this features Citrus, Cascade and Chinook hops, blended with mango, pineapple, lime and grapefruit, blurring the lines between beer and fruit juice; other releases included Small Wonder (2.8%) by the Goodness Brewing Co, which was heavily influenced by East Coast IPA styles; Scoff (3.5%) by Drop Project, which the brewers claimed packed some serious flavour despite the low ABV, and A Comforting Embrace (3%) by Queer Brewing that blended a combination of Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka and Ekunot hops blended with oats and wheat for a smooth body. They followed this in 2023 with Softboi (3%) that uses US hops such as Chinook and Strata in the mix. Meanwhile in January, Brick Brewery added Table Beer (3.3%) to their roster, their first release of the year it used a combination of Enigma and Galaxy hops. The following month, long-established brewer Hook Norton jumped on the Table Beer bandwagon and released Lock Steady (2.5%), an easy drinking pale ale as part of their brewer's choice range, made in conjunction with their 175th anniversary celebrations. With the Summer months approaching, in August, Chiltern Brewery released Barely There (1.8%). Although not advertised as a Table Beer as such, uniquely for a beer in this class as its partly produced using the parti-gyle process, in this instance it is created by utilizing the second and third runnings of their much stronger beer Bodger's Barley Wine (8.4%), the residual worts were run through the copper boiler again, where a combination of hops including Goldings, Bulion, Cascade and Olicana were added to the mix before it was fermented. Meanwhile, later the same year, Manchester based brewer Cloudwater released Meadow (3%) that utilized highly aromatic hop varieties like Citra and Mouteka to compensate for the low ABV and give a flavour profile of tropical and citrussy tasting notes. Already in the first half of this year, there have been several releases, January saw the likes of Table Looper (3.8%) – Full Circle Brewing Co. come onto the scene, a collaboration with Wolf’s in Sheep’s Clothing, it’s a milder version of Looper (6.4%) which utilizes the same recipe yet brewed at a lower ABV, meanwhile the following month, Gravesend based brewer Iron Pier debuted Table Beer (2.9%) which utilizes a complicated setup featuring a quarom of hops, where Idahoe 7 and Vic Secret are used during the boiling process, whilst Mosaic and Simcoe are added later during the dry hop stage. This allows for more flavour to be extracted, giving it more depth despite its low ABV. Also released the same month was Table Beer (2.5%) by another Kent based brewer Brewing Brothers, noted for its high-level oat grist that gives the beverage more body and depth.

This brings us full circle to the recent release (or rebrand) of Sisters Table Beer (3.4%) by Harvey’s back in May. It’s release fully puts into context that many of the Table Beers released over the past decade are no more than Session IPA’s or Blonde Ales in disguise as they tend to be pale in colour and are heavily influenced by stronger beer styles like East Coast IPA, to the point some examples try to mimic the IPA flavours by adding a flurry of various hops into the mix. Rather noticeable all these beers are produced using the single-gyle process which means that they are produced from a single parent mash, whereas traditionally Table Beers were produced using the parti-gyle process from the second or occasionally third runnings. Such historic methods would be frowned upon and disowned by most commercial brewers nowadays, which explains why most modern Table Beers are disconnected to their historic counterparts. The modern production of Table Beer, is based on the remit on producing beers that although lack in strength, compensate with bushels of flavour. The home brewers organisation Brew Your Own state “in order to produce a table beer that resembles beer rather than malt-seltzer, a brewer must take the recipe and brewing techniques for session beer and push them further: Finding ways to extract the compounds that contribute body, aroma, and color while minimizing carbohydrates; or loading up on high-protein grains to boost protein and body, mashing at a remarkably hot temperature to create mostly unfermentable dextrins.”[4] They suggest using a flavoursome malt base like Maris Otter, Vienna, Munich, or dark wheat. Use high protein grains like oats or rye, a low-attenuating yeast strain or one that produces a high amount of glycerol, French saison strains are good example. Use calcium chloride rather the gypsum to help give it body, along with lactose for added body and sweetness. Potent and aromatic hops like Mosaic, Hallertau Blanc, Citra or the elusive Nelson Sauvin are useful adjuncts, as they add to a distinct and characterful flavour profile, occasionally they are also added to the dry hop for additional flavour, before dispensing. According to Brew Your Own, due to the low ABV, various technical problems can occur, there is little hop and malt character to hide flaws, the miniscule amount of malt can lead to a lack of backbone in its flavour, and produce a thin, watery and bland mixture. This is a problem that has afflicted brewers over the years when producing Table Beers, Lily Waite underpins this as “without particularly bold flavours or a high ABV, Table Beer has little to hide behind. Sweet malt flavours dodge and duck through bright, fresh hop character reminiscent of pine and citrus fruits, but with an intensity of flavour you'd expect from a beer a couple of percent stronger. It does have a fullness of body, achieved through high mash temperatures and oats in the grist, which greatly contributes to its characteristic balance of flavour and drinkability.”[7] It should be lauded that brewers up and down country have put in the effort over the past decade to produce Table Beers with high calibre of ingredients and production processes in order to make flavourful products, from the barrel ageing efforts with Siphonaptera (3.8%) to the continental influences of Cheese Riot (3%) which uses adjuncts of coriander and rye. Yet by sticking to the same IPA style formular they risk trapping themselves into a doom loop that would risk innovation and the ability of borrowing from a wide array of other beer styles like Porter, Bitter, AK or Mild. The Small Beer Co. is perhaps unique to this formula as it essentially produces Table Beers influenced by a whole range of beer styles, therefore brewers should be adapting from a number of styles not just IPA, just like the Table Beers of the distant past once did, otherwise one day Table Beer would just be another byword for Session IPA, which would be an opportunity lost.