Suggestions for low ABV beers for company function

Greetings!

My CEO asked me to brew a couple batches for a Oktoberfest / Family Day at the company. I have 2 months. The CEO said to make sure it wasn't too high ABV, so we don;t have to worry too much about tipsy folks.

I have a great American Amber, dry hopped and amazingly floral. It is at 6.5%, so might be a little too strong.

Any suggestions? I can't lager, and don't keg if that makes any difference to the suggestions. Looking for the 5.5% ABV area.

Thanks for any thoughts!

I like a Mild as a session beer.

Why not just back down the amber ale a bit? Pull back the recipe so that it's in the 5% - 5.5% range, cut back on the hops more-or-less proportionately so it doesn't get too far out of balance. American-ambers are great crowd-pleasers, a don't have to be high alcohol at all.

Orfy's mild-mannered ale will set you free.

Is this more an Oktoberfest, or a family day function? If there's a vaguely German theme to it perhaps you could do an Altbier aiming for a SG right around 1.046 (hell, lower if you want this to be as family friendly as possible). Obviously not a traditional Oktoberfestbier but a Marzen is out of the question and I doubt anyone would complain anyway.

Modifying your amber ale to be one or two percent lower would probably be a-ok too.

More of a family day function, but as it is Oct 29th and we were recently purchased by a German company it seemed fitting.

I think I will lighten the Amber I have, because it is damned tasty. Will look into Altbier or a Mild.

It would probably be wise to go with a modified version of a recipe you're familiar with. Still, being brave and experimenting is always good.

Dunno how I forgot to mention it originally but you could also consider brewing some sort of Weizen - whether that be Hefe, Dunkel, oder Krystal - if you're interesting in going with a non-lager German style. Very easy beers to make too. Again, just aim for being low on the SG (about 1.044 in this case).

Not quite German, but I recently did this blue moon clone which I think will be pretty good (I'm impatiently waiting for it to finish carbonating.) ABV is about 4.8% and is one of those easy to drink beers.

Crustovsky, I was thinking about that too. I have Dunkel that is awaiting bottling, if it turns out good then I will go with that. Probably mod the Amber as well.

Copyright1997, I may look into that recipe. Looks tasty, and would be well received!

Tall_Yotie said:

Crustovsky, I was thinking about that too. I have Dunkel that is awaiting bottling, if it turns out good then I will go with that. Probably mod the Amber as well.

Copyright1997, I may look into that recipe. Looks tasty, and would be well received!

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Just tried the first one and it is Zeer goed (very good). [Do they speak Dutch or German in the beer producing region of Belgium?]

Here's a not so great picture (I had a sip and also let it sit a minute or so, at pouring the head was just right). The color is darker than a Blue Moon because I used liquid extract from a True Brew Wheat Kit that I had laying around. (If you did this as All Grain the color should be spot on.) All I can say is it went down nice and easy and I wish that I had more chilled (I did some in bottles, some in keg but only put one bottle in the refrigerator to test if it was ready.) I brewed this on August 4th.

The bird has the right idea, take whatever beer styles you like, and decrees the grainbill to lower the overall abv. You can do it with most software now, pretty easily.

Plan is to do the Blue Moon clone as it does look tasty, and the dunkel is looking awesome and I will do that.

Copyright, thanks for the pic and the info! What was your OG? The recipe says 1.038, but my software and calculations say 1.048.

Revvy, I was considering making a lighter version of my American Amber, but I would say doing three batches is a bit much for a group of about 70. Plus a lot of brewing that I might not have time for, I can get 2 batches done especially if one is a wheat and thus can be young. Concern was that I like the beer at 6.5%, but cutting it down to 5% may change the flavors that I love so much.

I'd prefer to brew something designed around a low ABV rather than dial back a bigger recipe. The Porter I just brewed came in at 3.4%, and it's already clear and tasty after just two weeks. It's basically the AHS Session Series recipe adapted for the grains I can get locally.

Just brewed an AG CreamAle. 4.5. Mid light body ni e golden color and superb tast. 4 wks

Revvy said:

The bird has the right idea, take whatever beer styles you like, and decrees the grainbill to lower the overall abv. You can do it with most software now, pretty easily.

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Lowering the grainbill is one way achieving a lower ABV, but then you also cut pretty much everything else.
You might want to mash at a slightly lower (or higher temperature, I don't remember right now) temperature, as it will convert more of the starch to unfermentables. So instead of a thinner beer, you will get a richer beer, which can be altered with an increased hop addition in the 60+ minute wort boil.

You could make a tasty saison with 3711 French Saison. It'll get done in plenty of time. Just strap a sessionable saison recipe to it and let it ride. Great mouthfeel and not too spicy aka likely a crowd pleaser.

beerandloathinginaustin said:

You could make a tasty saison with 3711 French Saison. It'll get done in plenty of time. Just strap a sessionable saison recipe to it and let it ride. Great mouthfeel and not too spicy aka likely a crowd pleaser.

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A saison I would want to age at least 3 months, my recipe took that long to start to truly develop.

Asrial, it would be a higher mash temperature. I would still have to lower the grain bill to make the difference I need to drop the ABV from 6.5% to 5%.

Tall_Yotie said:

A saison I would want to age at least 3 months, my recipe took that long to start to truly develop.

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My last brew with 3711 was on a tripel recipe with Nelson Sauvin & Citra and it was absolutely delicious straight from the bottling bucket!

For a company function, I wouldn't brew a mild or any other "dark" beer, unless you wanted to alienate as many people as possible. Not that I don't like them (I love them!), but you're probably trying to please a crowd that is probably overrun by BMC lovers.

An amber ale with noble hops would probably be your best bet. Keep the color and hoping rate low and ferment clean.

jfr1111 said:

For a company function, I wouldn't brew a mild or any other "dark" beer, unless you wanted to alienate as many people as possible. Not that I don't like them (I love them!), but you're probably trying to please a crowd that is probably overrun by BMC lovers.

An amber ale with noble hops would probably be your best bet. Keep the color and hoping rate low and ferment clean.

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I am, unfortunately, going to agree with this. Most people will call that amber a "dark beer" because it is darker than BMC. I would go with a cream ale and/or a low hopped amber/altbier.

I recently took an APA that was a blend of EdWort's and Yooper's recipes to a company get together and it was a bit hit...

Just to throw another idea out there, you could brew a kolsch- low ABV, clean, light and popular.