Beer Q&A: What are beer drinkers talking about when they say 'crushable'?

Jan. 31, 2019 3:40 PM PT

Q. Some beer geeks use the term “crushable.” What are they talking about?

A. A crushable beer has low alcohol, light body and plenty of flavor. Examples: Green Flash’s Sea to Sea Lager (4% alcohol by volume); Firestone Walker’s 805 Blonde Ale (4.7%); Coronado’s Orange Ave. Wit (5.2%); and AleSmith X (5.25%).

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Peter Rowe

Peter is a freelance writer who writes about beer in his bimonthly column Brewery Rowe for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He worked as a reporter and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1984 to 2020. A native Californian who grew up in Encinitas, Rowe is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He is past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former Fulbright scholar. He has won a few journalism awards, but would trade them all for a chance to avenge his 1994 “Jeopardy!” loss. Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons.