small beer

1. (countable, uncountable) Beer with a low alcoholic content.
2. (uncountable, chiefly, British) Something that is of relatively little importance.

   The income from standard widgets is small beer compared to the income from the gold-plated ones.

   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     to suckle fools, and chronicle small beer

3. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see small, beer

• (something of little importance) peanuts, small potatoes

• Spanish: el chocolate del loro (colloquial)