The Narrows Table Beer

Review Date 11/23/2022  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Table Beer   Brewery: Blaze   Country: USA   State: Maine   $ Per OZ: N/A   ABV: 3.8%

Let’s talk table beer! In Belgium, you would find this instead as “tafelbier”, which as you might guess means the same thing. Table beer is a rarely found style here in America and I myself through four decades of beer hunting have only come up with a few examples.

Table beer is much as it sounds, a low-strength beer intended to be enjoyed with a meal, at the table, often by a family-including children. The low alcohol content would be conducive to that end, while still lending some character and acting as a preservative. Table beers typically run from 1% to 3% alcohol by volume, a level rarely seen in today’s beer world.

Enter Blaze Brewing of Bidderford, Maine with The Narrows Table Beer. Their version of the style clocks in at 3.8% by volume, on the high side for the style but definitely lower than average all the same. I paid $3.49 for my pint can at Mink’s Package in Marietta, but did not see any six-packs. The can was stamped CANNED ON 03/11/21 when I bought it in December, but that did not deter me since Mink’s keeps all of its beer refrigerated.

Blaze The Narrows Table Beer pours to a pale-yellow color with a thick fluffy head of foam and a gently sour nose that hints at funky Belgian yeast. Taking a sip, the beer is oh so light in body, tart and refreshing, and slightly funky. It finishes balanced and delicious. Not quite as good as the Belgians perhaps, but one of the best of the (few) American versions of the style I have found.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??