The gang of those sober-curious is growing every day. Consumers are looking for healthy and convenient drinks that help them unwind from their stressful lives. And low-alcohol beer suits perfect for that purpose as it contains fewer alcohol, and calories while maintaining the delightful taste and flavor. Hence, the beer producers shift in making small beers and 0% ABV beer, trying to cater to our tastes and preferences.
The history of small beer dates back for centuries. In medieval times, small beer was a cheap beverage, made from the third runnings of the mash from brewing ales with the strong and common ales first, then the small beer last. When sanitation was bad, and water dangerous to drink, servants, field workers, the poor, and even children consumed small beer instead of water.
But some people say that this is a myth, and people didn’t drink small beer to stay healthy — they drank small beer to give them energy. Poor people couldn’t afford to purchase a good ale, but they still needed energy and calories to do hard work in the fields, so they drank small beer. As it happens, small beer was quite effective at delivering both calories and fluids.
So, what was the role of small beer back then: a substitute for the polluted water, or simply, the Red Bull of the time? We don’t know for sure, but the fact is, their small beer was much worse than we have now.
