I know the trend seems to be to push the alcohol content of beers higher and higher, but I'm wondering if it's possible to make a extremely flavorfull low alcohol beer. I know that Anchor makes a small beer from their grains used to make barleywine, and I like the taste of it. It comes out at around 3% ABV or so. Their process is to do a second sparging of their grains. Is it possible though to just brew a flavorful low alcohol rye or red without having to do multiple runnings of the grain?

Funny you should mention that...

I just brewed a brown ale that I had intended to be around 5%. Well, I ended up with only 4 gallons and a little bit higher ending gravity than I would have liked. So I did the "unthinkable" : I diluted it with one gallon of pre-boiled water. I kegged it, carbed it, and I have a delicious low-alcohol session beer. All the dark malts keep it tasting great even diluted!

You might check out a recipe from Charlie Papazain in "Homebrewer's Companion". It's called "Quarter-Bock". He actually brews a 1 gallon batch of very strong Bock, and then dilutes it to 4 gallons leaving it at about 2.5%. It's for all your "football" friends! I'll see if I can find the full recipe.

when I want a lower alc. beer I just add more water after brewing. Instead of having a 5 gallon batch I do 6. That way the extra water contributes to the flavor (I think lol) and I still get a lower alc. %.