Every ABV: 2.5 to 4.4%

What with me being a sad beer geek since long before it was even slightly cool, I've been keeping records of the cask beers I've been drinking for over 25 years. That's a whole lot of beer, that is. Over 10,000 different ones. At a whole lot of different strengths too.

Which leads me to an arguably pointless but nevertheless interesting question: What is the best cask beer I've had at every different ABV? 

 

Some cask beer yesterday (photo taken years ago)

It turns out that I've had at least one beer at every ABV from 2.5% up to 10.5% (with one rather frustrating exception!) so why not do a series of posts exploring my favourites and - where I can actually remember the beer in question - why they were so fucking good.

Obviously this list is massively subjective, and less common ABVs will have an advantage over beers that are 4.2 or 4.5, of which I've drunk literally thousands. And it's far from an exact science - beers are allowed some variance a few points either way from the advertised strength, so it might be that all hell broke loose and that 6.9% beer I loved was actually only 6.7%. Oh the humanity.

But I don't really care, and it's potentially all part of the fun anyway. So, here we go, kicking off with the weakest end of the spectrum...

 

2.5% - Weird Beard Dark Hopfler 

I've only actually had nine beers weaker than 2.5, so this appears the logical place to start - and what a beer to start with! This is a miniature Milk Stout, made from the ''second runnings' of a stronger beer; an ingenious by-product that more brewers should consider doing. Hoppiness and sweetness are nicely balanced, and combined with the low strength make it insanely sessionable.

 

 

2.6% - Magic Rock Simpleton

A highly-hopped Table Beer with spicy notes. I later had a beefed-up version at a mighty 3.0% which gave me a massive hangover after just a half. OK, that bit was a lie. 

2.7% - Magic Rock Nanosecond

A second beer from Magic Rock and it's another hoppy pale ale in the Table Beer/Boys Bitter style. Many argue that 'The Rock' are now a shadow of their former selves, having sold out to the Lion group, but just a few short years ago the Huddersfield brewery were turning out some amazing stuff on a regular basis.

 

2.8% - Marble Lagonda at 2.8

An interesting idea - brewing a special version of a regular 5.0% IPA at a low strength - and one that, for me, worked very well. With plenty of juicy citrus character, it's quite possibly better than the original.

 

2.9% - Brodie's Brainwave

Very few beers get brewed at 2.9%, particularly since the change to Alcholol Duty rules that encourage 2.8% or weaker. This golden ale appeared at several different ABVs around the 3% mark, until the Leyton brewpub sadly ceased brewing. Interestingly, they also brewed the strongest cask beer I've ever had - at 22% their Elizabethan was over seven times the strength of this!

 

3.0% - Redemption Trinity DDH

The first standard, widely-available beer on this list. Sort of. Redemption Trinity is a very good beer for 3.0 full of hops and eminently sessionable. However, the limited Double Dry Hopped version took it to another level with huge aromas and uncompromising bitterness. 

 

3.1% - Wild Weather Beta Rebel 

Another fairly rare ABV, but in the not-uncommon Table Beer style, this is a standard weak-but-well-hopped offering in the Trinity mould.

3.2% - Aeronaut Passionfruit Sour Planet

The first Berlinerweisse on my list, and a beer that is unlikely to appear in cask very often if you're looking to work your own way through all of these! A massively refreshing fruit sour from Massachusetts that I'd very much like to have at least once more while I live.

 

3.3% - Earl Soham Gannet

A traditional English Mild, but an absolutely stonking example thereof. In the mid-2000s, this was the house beer at my local in Ipswich. That's right, in the mid-2000s in East Anglia, not 1950s Manchester, we were all drinking more Mild than anything else. 

 

3.4% - Pitfield CV Dark Mild

Another Mild, but very much a non-traditional one, with the addition of Cinnamon and Vanilla. One has to be careful with Cinnamon as too much can completely destroy any kind of food or drink. Equally, not enough Vanilla will leave everyone asking 'where's the Vanilla, you clown? I wanted Vanilla'. Happily this effort from Pitfield got the balance absolutely perfect.        

 

 

3.5% - Hellhound Twisted Sister

Hellhound of Bramford are no longer around, which is a shame as this Pale Ale was stunning, combining generous amounts of US hops and a sprinkling of Champagne yeast.

 

3.6% - Lee's Chocoholic

JW Lees is one of those long-established breweries I don't generally get particularly excited about, so it's perhaps surprising to find them occupying a place on this list. But occupying it they are, and it's with a rich chocolate Mild that appeared at a Wetherfestival a few years ago. Which probably makes the surprise even more surprising.

3.7% - Beavertown Phantom Passionfruit Sour

We're now entering the overpopulated but narrowly-defined territory of 'mainstream' ABVs where beers need to be really good to stand out. I've had over 250 different cask ales at this 'ordinary' strength, and the best turns out to be a batshit-insane one-off fruit sour from a brewery that hardly do any cask beer at all. What gives?!?

3.8% - Hopcraft/Pixie Spring Golden Pixie

If you expect me to recall all the beers I drank at my 40th birthday party in great detail, you may have drunk more than I did then. That said, a Hopcraft tap takeover set me on my way into Lower-Middle-Age and this Lower-Middle-Strength was apparently my favourite part of it.

Carefully considering the merits of a 4.0% beer...

3.9% - Rooster's Ale & Spicy

Yes, I'm now well into my 40s, but Rooster's of Harrogate have been making decent beers since before I was old enough to legally drink them. This was from a while ago and I've consequently no idea what spices made this so special, but apparently it was.

4.0% - Oakham The Lions

With almost a thousand different 4% beers to pick from it was never going to be easy to pick a winner. What is surprising is that this was a Rugby-themed beer, brewed for the 2017 Lions tour. Rugger seasonals are often about 4%, but they tend to be exceptionally bland and uninteresting brews, making up for their distinct lack of hoppiness with copious quantities of caramel and crystal malt. This was an exception to the rule, brewed with New Zealand hops and lots and lots of them. 

4.1% - Moor Beer Northern Star

Quite why Moor stopped brewing this I really don't know. It was a very pale, very hoppy APA-style beer and they're mad not keeping it as part of their regular portfolio. I'm not sure Moor ever brewed a better beer than this.

4.2% - Tiny Rebel Mango Milkshake IPA

Tiny Rebel have been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, but I'm not going to retroactively cancel or mark down their beer. This was a fruity, creamy delight, and as 4.2% is the third most common ABV around - second only to 4.0 and 4.5 - it has beaten off some serious competition.

4.3% - Mallinson's Shift

Mallinson's go quietly about their business showcasing different hop combinations in effortlessly drinkable pale ales. They've put out an imperial tonne of shit-hot beers over the past few years and this showed off the dry, floral character of the Mandarina, Ekuanot and Centennial hops.

4.4% - Oakham The Experimentals vol. 2

We finish the first leg of our journey through ABVland with another Oakham, another pale, and another sessionable hopmonster. This was one of the last beers I drank in a pub before the first lockdown in March 2020, and may have tasted bittersweet because of it, but it was wonderfully drinkable and showcased some new hop varieties (Cashmere, Moutere and CF182) to sublime effect. (Yes I know Draught Bass is 4.4%. This was a substantially better beer - get back in your box. Or triangle.)

Tune in for the next installment where I reveal the greatest casks from 4.5% up to 6.4% and why beers at these strengths are still sessionable...