The ABV Atlas

The Fauns · 3.0–3.9% ABV

Several fauns dancing and reclining in a warm sunlit forest glade, representing convivial session beers from 3.0% to 3.9% ABV.

The Fauns

Beers from 3.0–3.9% ABV

The convivial heart of English/British beer, where "just one more" was invented :)

The 3.0% to 3.9% band: session territory proper. Home of the ordinary bitter, lighter golden ales, and countless everyday pints brewed above all to be sociable. Beers you settle in with and not beers that settle you.

Fauns are the gentle wild folk of the forest, horned, goat-legged and forever piping, dancing and drinking in the dappled woods. Companions of Pan and revellers in the train of Dionysus. They are the least fearsome creatures in this whole bestiary and by far the best company, guarding the most convivial beers of all, and they guard them with a grin and a raised cup.
A gentle horned faun with goat legs standing in dappled woodland light. Emblem of Hop Horizons' 3.0–3.9% ABV session beer category, The Fauns.

A warmer spirit animates the Atlas. Those beneath the surface were tricky and diminutive — sprites, imps, and goblins, all of them a little sneaky. This group is unique, being half-wild inhabitants of the woodlands, with horns and goats legs, but friendly and musical. Traditionally, the faun and his close relative, the satyr, revelled along with the god Dionysus himself, the very god of mirth and alcohol. There is no better protector of this group because 3.0–3.9% is the most social kind of beer.

Home of the session

This is where the word session is earned. A session beer is one that you can enjoy more than one of during an afternoon or evening; just enough kick to get what you want and not too much to allow for coherent conversation. The English pub was founded quietly on this spectrum. The ordinary bitter exists here, along with golden ales and pale ales, and also milds that sneak into the band from the band down below.

Flavour without the fight

While the featherweight bands below do not have enough body, a beer with a percentage of 3-point-something has enough. This is because there is plenty of malt and alcohol content in the beer. You can find a little bit of biscuit and caramel from the grains, English hops giving their characteristic marmalade and hedgerow, and a crisp bitter aftertaste that gives your craving another bite. The best examples of 3-point-something beer manage to combine lightness and flavour into an excellent and unique beer.

Small in strength, generous in spirit

The Goblins are cunning, and the Imps are mischievous, while the Fauns are generous. These are beers that should be shared in order to lubricate an evening, rather than dominate it. These beers require nothing of you but give everything back. In an era when beers keep getting stronger, the humble session pint still has its value.

Below is whatever Hop Horizons has logged in the 3.0–3.9% range, ranked and broken down strength by strength.

This category at a glance

1650
Unique beers
1636
Scored
36.1%
Mean score
33.8%
Median score
79
Styles
751
Breweries
41
Countries

Score range 3.14%–81.98%, standard deviation 13.20 (population, over 1636 scored beers). Most common style: bitter (417). Most represented country: England.

Top beers across 3.0–3.9%

Unique beers by exact strength

76
3.0
21
3.1
65
3.2
31
3.3
117
3.4
231
3.5
153
3.6
173
3.7
479
3.8
304
3.9

Average score by exact strength

Bars are on a 0–100% scale; a missing bar (—) means no scored beers at that strength, not a score of zero.

34.4
3.0
45.3
3.1
40.2
3.2
34.6
3.3
32.0
3.4
40.9
3.5
34.7
3.6
35.1
3.7
35.4
3.8
35.3
3.9

Style distribution

bitter
417 (25.3%)
traditional pale ale
328 (19.9%)
dark mild
120 (7.3%)
New World pale ale
117 (7.1%)
session IPA
70 (4.2%)
fruit beer
68 (4.1%)
Berliner weisse
50 (3.0%)
sour beer
48 (2.9%)
pale mild
43 (2.6%)
low alcohol beer
42 (2.5%)
European pale lager
39 (2.4%)
herb/spice beer
27 (1.6%)
Other (67 styles)
281 (17.0%)

Every strength in this range

3.0% ABV

76 unique beers · average score 34.39% · 3 not yet scored

Show all 73 scored beers at 3.0%
3.1% ABV

21 unique beers · average score 45.28% · 1 not yet scored

Show all 20 scored beers at 3.1%
3.2% ABV

65 unique beers · average score 40.24%

Show all 65 scored beers at 3.2%
3.3% ABV

31 unique beers · average score 34.55%

Show all 31 scored beers at 3.3%
3.4% ABV

117 unique beers · average score 32.03% · 5 not yet scored

Show all 112 scored beers at 3.4%
3.5% ABV

231 unique beers · average score 40.94% · 2 not yet scored

Show all 229 scored beers at 3.5%
3.6% ABV

153 unique beers · average score 34.72%

Show all 153 scored beers at 3.6%
3.7% ABV

173 unique beers · average score 35.14% · 2 not yet scored

Show all 171 scored beers at 3.7%
3.8% ABV

479 unique beers · average score 35.39% · 1 not yet scored

Quintessential ordinary bitter strength, the everyday cask pint that built the British pub. If any single number defines the traditional session beer it's this one, and the collection tends to be well stocked right here.
Show all 478 scored beers at 3.8%
3.9% ABV

304 unique beers · average score 35.34%

Show all 304 scored beers at 3.9%
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