"To chronicle small beer"

According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the expression "to chronicle small beer" is "to note down events of no importance whatsoever." It derives from Shakespeare's Othello:

“He was a wight, if ever such wight were …
To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.”

Metaphorically, "small beer" always means something of little importance, as small beer is literally a weakened beer brewed from a used mash.

Brewer's provides another example of "small beer" used metaphorically in a quote from DeQuincy's Historical Essays:

“To express her self-esteem [it might be said] that she did not think small beer of herself.”