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

Well like I said for me personally, since I essentially never get to go out with friends for beers I want to make the most of it. This does not mean I need to down 6-8 beers to have a good time but if ABV means I can have 3 beers vs 1 then I will go with the lower ABV option. Before I even became a parent I literally took up homebrewing 3 years ago because I love beer and I wanted to make a low ABV alternative to an IPA before session IPAs were all the craze. Many times I can go to a beer bar and out of the 20 options available, less than 25% are below 6% ABV. Sure you can drink slower, but I'm not a huge fan of room temperature IPAs. I think someone mentioned about drinking 5 beers over the course of 6 hours but unless I'm drinking a high ABV beer, I wouldn't want to drink the beer at room temperature as it would be decently warm by after an hour and even then I have no interest in drinking that many high ABV beers.

If I'm going to watch football all day Sunday with friends I'd rather drink a 3-4 beers than 2 DIPAs and water for the rest of the day. It comes down to preference. High ABV does not equate to better flavor, it just typically means bolder flavors.

 

I enjoy founders all day ipa or stone go to ipa when im going to the beach or something with some surfing so im not completely wacked! But I also always bring a few better beers with higher alcohol to throw in the mix! Especially if im not driving! So I don't mind session beers with some good flavor!

 

I enjoyed the article. I like the idea of the session beer and am on board. Being in Florida, me and my buds go to the beach all afternoon, and a few sessions is perfect. If I am going to be drinking for a few hours, I can mix a couple in with the preferred higher ABV beers.

 

I see where you're coming from but c'mon.. is that 2-3% increase in alcohol for one drink really going to put you over the edge? Live a little

 

being a parent means being responsible for multiple lives. When your spouse and child put their lives in your hands, the answer is "it's not worth the risk".

 

I disagree with your opinion and have a different opinion, but that is why they are called opinions.

 

Also, for those of you dogging on session beers, just try FFF Yum Yum and that will change your mind about session beers. It's perfect to have after two Zombie Dust's. Like I said, session beers have their place. Then again if I'm being honest with everyone, the ABV on FFF Yum Yum is slightly higher than most session beers I have seen and had. it's around 5 percent.

 

Clearly someone who has never spent a whole day drinking Mild.

 

Decaf coffee tastes more astringent. There is a difference in taste. However, beer tastes versus beer ABVs are all over the place. You could really only believe low ABV beers cannot taste strong and complex if you haven't experienced UK pubs.

Exactly. Properly done, a session beer is not a fall back. It is a great beer. And it can be enjoyed. A few times. And you can still drive. Legally.

 

people who have experienced drinking session casks in a British pub = see green flag.

People who have not experienced drinking session casks in a British pub = colour blind. "What's green?"

 

I think a good portion of it would have evaporated in that time.

 

That sounds like an extremely condescending attitude and not remotely accurate. I have experienced session casks in the UK, I have taken part in "sessions" in Germany, America, and other locations as well and I am still not seeing the green flag.

I think it is completely a preference issue here and one being highly influenced by a cultural narrative.

If I walk into a bar, and they have 5 beers on tap, all of which I am familiar with, and they are as follows:

2 of a high ABV that I love
1 I like that is of a moderate ABV
2 that are of a lower ABV that I think are mediocre

I will drink whatever one I think tastes the best and pass on the lower ABV beers. That is NOT to say that if there is a low ABV option that I love (they do exist for me) that I won't choose that instead. All I am saying is that for some people there is not a need to pass on something of higher ABV just to enjoy more of something else. This does not imply that lower ABV or session beers cannot also be good, only that the idea of choosing something simply because it is for a session (rather than taste), is not appealing to many. This preference need not stem from a place of ignorance as you imply but can legitimately be a matter of opinion.

 

I mean on second thoughts, it was the almighty KBBS (I didn't notice the humble brag first time round)- perhaps he didn't savour it enough?

 

Who here (who is on the pro side of session-strength beer) said they would purposefully drink a beer they considered mediocre, over one they love? Seems like you're putting words in people's mouths.

Using your five beer example, but let's say the person hasn't tried any of them before, and knows nothing about them -

1 x DIPA
1 x RIS

1 x IPA

1 x Bitter
1 x Dark Mild

Based on the responses on here:

1. Some people would not touch the bottom two full stop, and would have trouble hiding the trouser tent at the prospect of an untried DIPA.
2. Some people would only "settle" for one of the bottom two if some kind of commitment / constraint forced them into the low-ABV option (which they graciously concede is better than Bud Light)
3. Some people (me, Stuart Carter etc) would choose one of the bottom two because they love the style, and can appreciate it without there having to be some other reason for taking the low ABV option.

Let's say you and I go to the bar together and spend three hours drinking together. You may have 1 x DIPA, 1 x IPA and 2 x RIS. I may have 7-8 x Bitters. Assuming we have similar alcohol tolerance, we're probably going to be at a similar level of intoxication. It's just that based on my preferences, that would be the way I prefer to drink. Nobody is saying people can't exercise personal choice. It's simply that you and so many in this thread don't seem to understand the other side of the coin.

 

I guess a strawman is better than condescention!

+1. You can add me to that list. British pub ale is delicious; I prefer bitter over mild, though.

 

Maybe I'm weird or just getting old/grumpy. But I literally do not care at all about ABV. Even here on BA, the first thing listed after the beer's name is ABV. Why?

I know guys that buy a specific beer and say, "yeah man, it's like 7% alcohol." Who cares? If you want to get wasted, just buy a handle of grain alcohol. I would honestly drink the same amount of beer if it was all 0 ABV and tasted just as good. I may not have gotten into beer in the first place but I digress . . .

Then again, I'm a big fellow who can hold my liquor. That is the only reason I can see "session beers." A small woman can have one or two and can still drive home.

/rant.

 

I've not said that one would choose a mediocre beer over one they love, what I am saying is that there is the implication that if you haven't had session beer in X place or X type or in X atmosphere then your opinion is not valid which seems unfair.

I totally understand the other side of the coin here, as long as you are drinking what you love it matters not at all if it is 15% or .15%. However I think there is something implied by the term "session beer" and I would really like to discuss that aspect.

It seems to me that if someone sets out to create or buy a session beer the intent is that they want to be able to drink many of them, since the term is derived from the concept of a drinking session, would you agree? If the intent implied is that you wish to drink many then you have added a variable that is competing with flavor. For instance if I invent a beer that tastes great at 4% alcohol but then find it could taste AMAZING at 8% but keep it at that 4% level to maintain the session title then flavor is obviously not the lone goal here....now number able to be consumed is. That is what I am getting at here, not that you cannot have great tasting session beers, just that the term by its very nature must be in some competition with the lone venture of achieving good flavor.

 

Not a strawman, it is an important example leading to the point I made about the name session beer and what it carries with it due to the term from which it derived.

 

Perhaps (just perhaps), you are missing part of the point trying to be made. The idea is not to drink lots of beer in a "session." The idea is to have a long evening at a pub socializing and drinking beer... good beer. The development of the British pub ale was directed at that social culture. The American "session IPA" is another matter entirely, IMO. Lumping them all together (along with Bud Light, etc.) as "session beers" does a vast disservice to the British bitters and milds.

 

Yeah, it kinda was in that you were setting up an argument that was easier to refute than the argument actually being made. No one would go for "Less filling. Tastes mediocre."