The ABV Atlas

Move beyond the 2.0-2.9% category and a whole different world opens up. The Wisps barely existed and the Imps were little pesky spirits, but now the Goblins are proper little beers... wily, personality-filled and not fighting so much anymore with their own lack of heft. At last we have some alcohol to work with that will easily handle body and aromatics, and brewers don’t need to perform rescues, just create something tasty and low-alcohol.

The lightest "normal" beers

Now we reach the point when drinkers stop seeing "light beer" as "low alcohol beer." A good 2.5% mild or table beer isn't a compromise. It’s just a lighter version of a pint. The little extra percent over the Imps makes an enormous difference. The extra alcohol brings maltiness to play with, more body, and enough structure to balance out assertive hopping.

Home of the mild

Traditionally, this band is home to the English mild... for a long time the number one beer in the land, an unassuming dark, malty and sweet, low alcohol ale meant for working men to keep them refreshed during their back-breaking day. Milds got steadily stronger over the years and now you can find plenty of them in the higher bands of the Atlas, but the weaker, more traditional examples remain right here. It’s also the breeding ground for the modern low-ABV table beers and light session pales.

Small beer, big skill

The principle from the bands below remains valid: the less alcohol content your beer has, the more vulnerable it leaves you. But here, in the 2-point-something band, there is some breathing space. Goblins of high quality are a quiet demonstration of brewing skill, where one needs to create a good-tasting, balanced and drinkable beer out of very little, which may be even more difficult than brewing a potent beer.

Below is whatever Hop Horizons has logged in the 2.0–2.9% range, ranked and broken down strength by strength.