Esquire: Why the "Session" Beer Trend Makes Zero Sense

Spending a day in the back yard, brewing and BBQing, its a great feel to be somewhat functional by sunset. Founders All Day, Stone Go To, or Firestones Easy Jack will give you the flavor of a hoppy beer, but wont cause you to question your whole lifes choices up to the point of putting down a 12% bomber as your pre game

 

<whisper> if you are drinking 4 10%abv beers in a session you, by definition, have an alcohol problem. </whisper>

 

I get to go out with the wife and away from the kids and I have time for maybe 3 beers with the meal and after and then I have to drive home and be a parent again. I could do a couple DIPAs and an then a RIS and have problems driving home and parenting, so that is not an option. I could have one DIPA and then drink water for the rest of the time, nope booring; or I could have 3 'session' beers that taste good, pair with the meal and still drive home and parent.

 

You mean by repeating the phrase "I can actually see some instances in which I could justify it, but no one here is actually talking about the right parts of the topic." in bold, without any elaboration? I guess you just know more than everyone else.

 

what a complete waste of time this thread is. As someone who grew up in a session beer drinking culture (Scotland), it is so painfully obvious that the US based commenters here have zero, zip,zilch, nada, idea what they are talking about.

"It's just pale ale". Sheesh.

 

I'm not completely against a sessions beer, they have their place.

I like to do all the work on my truck and my girl's car myself. I'm pretty good under the hood, but... As soon as I pull that hood release lever, the redneck in me kicks in and I know it's time for beer...can't wrench on a vehicle without one.

That being said, if I'm doing ball-joints or screwing with a rear end or something and I'm drinking a 9 or 11 or higher ABV beer.......well..... how much you wanna bet I have an extra nut or shim ring in my hand when I'm done, and I don't know where it goes.


......but for the most part I will agree, I tend to stay away from the sessions beers.

 

That was ONE plausible scenario, I went on to explain the cultural aspect as well. I don't see many reasons to always need a beer in hand but as I said that is not for everyone.

I have done business in cultures where heavy drinking was expected, particularly in some dynamics of Japanese business and I wish I could have had some lower gravity drink to down as opposed to whatever else was available.

Sorry man, but outside cultural relevance and maybe some long meals I see very few cases in which I wools take something with worse flavor over something with more. And if the flavor IS the driving factor then you aren't looking for a session beer at all, you are simply deciding based on the flavor like you do with anything else so this is a non-conversation really.

 

I have supplied elaboration throughout the conversation explaining what I feel are the cultural aspects. What I saying is that people yelling "session beers can taste good too!" Are ignoring the core idea of a session beer which is not taste alone. The idea is to have something to down over and over, and over an extended period of time which is just not my thing. Why would one sacrifice flavor for just more of something mediocre? Doesn't make sense to me. Why not instead just drink whatever tastes best and if moderation is required then exercise restraint? I simply don't see many scenarios in which I need a beer in hand all the time.

 

You seem to be assuming that session beer = "boring"?

Please correct me if I am wrong, but that seems to be your over-arching consideration - that session beer is no better than "mass brand light beer". The truth is that session beer is as far from "mass brand light beer" as a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout, just in the other direction. I would go so far as to say that those saying "session beer can taste good" (my emphasis) are comically missing the point as well - the whole point of session beer is to be "low in alcohol, high in flavour, high in enjoyability". There are no sacrifices involved in drinking session beer - here's you cake, and it'll still be here for you later after you finish this piece!

 

There is no sacrifice, and the beer is not mediocre (when done right. And I am far from convinced that Session IPAs fit the bill).

And a big part of the core idea is also that the lower gravity will allow other aspects of what beer can be come to the fore, given the time.

 

I wanted to like session beers, especially the IPA's when they come in a can, but they are just watered down beers. Really lack a full body taste when there are many traditional low abv beers available that really taste good. Plenty of extra pale ales to buy with just enough hops for flavor that are under 5%, no more need for me to look at anything "session". The marketing hype has failed with me, and while I am ranting - stop calling every freaking beer "*.IPA", I am not going to be fooled anymore!

 

So your definition is that drinking only one beer won't give you the flavor that the 5th one will? Just trying to clarify. I am not saying session beers are mediocre - some are quite good. But by definition when seeking a session beer flavor has to compete with another factor which is the number you can drink and that seems odd to me. Why not just drink the best tasting thing you can and do so in moderation?

 

Does it seem like every mainstream article about beer is written by (or for) college freshmen? This one seems to be more about snarky remarks about old, fat guys than session beer.

I don't think this guy understands that there are situations where drinking barley wine or IIPA isn't the best choice. We can debate how many "session IPAs" really are session ales, but not too many people break out a keg of imperial stout for a day at the beach. Writing for a "men's" magazine, I'm sure the author is intimately familiar with calorie counting, but doesn't seem to grasp that alcohol content might be more important to gauge than the grams of fat in his falafel. Maybe when he moves out of the dorm, he'll witness people drinking in situations that don't involve bongs, or keg stands and learn that not everyone's goal is to drink 'til they pass out.

Lets talk about flavor, too. Intensity of flavor does not equal quality of flavor. I love IPA and imperial stout, but that doesn't mean everything without that strength of flavor is somehow inferior. There are weak, boring beers out there, but there are some damn tasty bitters and milds, too.

 

I am typing the same thing to you and TongoRad here

I am not saying session beers are mediocre - some are quite good. But by definition when seeking a session beer flavor has to compete with another factor which is the number you can drink and that seems odd to me. Why not just drink the best tasting thing you can and do so in moderation?

We really need to identify what session means, because my understanding is that it means you can drink many of them. In my mind it just makes sense to go with whatever tastes best be it a session or a barleywine and just use common sense when consuming.

 

If you automatically correlate lower ABV with less flavor or inferior beer, you need to expand your horizons on what beer is and what it can be. In other words, please never become in charge of a bar's beer list.

 

Also, just so everyone knows, "sessionable" is not a word. Please don't say it or type it as if it is.

 

I have some really profound thoughts (?) after one or two high abv brews, but they are fleeting, like hummingbirds. If I'm raking, hoeing, gardening in general, I like a buzz. If I'm writing and communicating a few easy drinkers works way better! It really isn't one way or the other all of the time.

 

There are beer drinkers, and there are beer tasters. You seem to fall into the latter category. Perhaps that is one reason why you seem to be having trouble understanding the appeal of session beers.

 

I agree that abv doesn't mean flavor, but in my recent experience - anything with the label "session" on it has come to mean watered down bland beer regardless of the claimed abv number,.... I'm just sayin', it is a massively moving trend right now and a lot of what's offered is c&&&.

 

That very well may be, I nearly always finish my full glass of beer and there are many times I have multiple in a night, but I would hazard a guess that I also don't drink as much as many on here. Interesting idea of differentiating the two though, I've never considered that.