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

I like having the option of a "tasty" beer that I can easily have several of without getting overwhelmed and bombed vs stronger beers that you sip slowly savoring its richness.

 

And the author is correct on that one. While "session" is a useless term in my personal lexicon, it refers to ABV only, not any specific style. I think the confusion is coming from the fact that most craft beers being marketed as session are Pale Ales and IPAs.

 

This is interesting to home brewers and beer geeks (of which I am both). To the public, however, the terms session and light are interchangeable. Also, I'm not sure how diminished attenuation of a pale ale, however, would help the finished product. Seems to me you'd end up with a beer much less dry than desirable for the style perhaps?

 

10 years ago I was managing a bottle shop with 500+ beers. I'm not saying there was as much choice as we have now, but there were still thousands of options to choose from, many of which were under 5%abv. I'll admit I can't think of any low abv coffee stouts available back then, but there were plenty of hoppy pale ales (aka session IPA) available, along with excellent lagers, hefeweizens, brown ales, porters, etc.

Also, if you couldn't find an IPA in a restaurant in 2004 you were living in the wrong place...

 

I want my pale ales to be dry as well, but there are obviously people who want a lower abv beer, say a "session IPA", which is fuller bodied/sweeter since they think that the body is too thin. In those cases a lower degree of attenuation might allow a brewer to deliver both hoppiness and a balancing maltiness.

 

Indeed I was living in the wrong place. It was Los Angeles. And the beer scene sucked. My point isn't that there was NO beer to be found. It's that it was much harder to find it. And you almost never stumbled onto it. And it was that way for much of the country. Now those same places almost always carry at least a few token craft offerings. I now live an hour north of LA and even that beer scene in Ventura county has taken off with multiple breweries and bottle shops and taprooms.

I have no doubt that your (Oregon I presume?) bottle shop had a nice selection of beers. No shock there.

But the craft industry has increased so much that kids of legal drinking age now don't even have to cut their teeth on swill or be limited to English and German beers if they want something decent. They have access to bazillions of beers and this somewhat crotchety middle-aged dude finds it funny when they complain. That's all.

 

Not necessarily hop-forward beers in general, I'm just not a fan of adding hops in places that don't suit my tastes (many hoppy lagers for example). I love IPAs. Two weeks I went to Trillium to pick up their Galaxy Dry Hopped Pale Ale and Congress Street IPA. And my fridge had a six pack of Celebration Ale last weekend, and right now I have Troegs New Winter IPA. Is it my favorite style? No, but I think they're tasty.

Do you have any metrics to prove that "many of the top selling brands from craft breweries are their lowest ABV offering"?

I get your point, and it's not far-fetched, but there isn't much data to suggest that those drinking craft beer are drinking low ABV offerings. I gave you some numbers to suggest otherwise. You mentioned Founders, and while All Day is their best selling, it's a bit unfair as their higher rated offerings on this website are seasonal (Breakfast Stout) or are brewed in limited quantities (Kentucky Breakfast Stout). In fact, here's a quotation from them in a 2012 article, "If Breakfast Stout were available throughout the year, that would be our #1 selling beer." To be fair, this was before All Day IPA came out, and during that time their Centennial IPA was their best selling beer.

What about another large brewery, like Harpoon? Their best selling is their IPA (5.9% abv). I imagine Stone's best selling is their IPA (6.9%), Dogfish Head's is their 60 minute (6%)...etc.

Southern Tier's 2X IPA is their best selling at 8.2% abv (from 2012 though), and my local Smuttynose's Finest Kind IPA (6.9%) is their best seller even though they brew a session IPA, their Bouncy House.

And here's a list of the American Homebrewers Association's favorite beers from 2013. All high abv beers.

"This is the 11th year that AHA members voted for up to 20 of their favorite beers in an online poll. Members were able to choose any commercial beer available for purchase in the United States. As in recent years, flavorful IPAs and double IPAs continue to outshine the rest and comprised eight of the top 10 beers.

The top-ranked beers include:

1. Russian River Pliny the Elder
2. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
3. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
4. Bell’s Hopslam Ale
5. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
6. Founders Breakfast Stout
7. Stone Brewing Co. Arrogant Bastard Ale
8. Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA
T9. Lagunitas Sucks
T9. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
T9. Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA
(T indicates tie)"

I agree with your point, yes, SOME popular breweries' best selling offerings are lower abv, such as Sam Adams Boston Lager and Allagash White for example. But I also don't think it's so far fetched (and the data suggests this) that full strength IPAs and high abv beers are what many are purchasing. Like Pliny the Elder at 8% abv.

 

Glad to have helped in your education. PM me and I'll give you my bank account details so you can recompense me accordingly.

 

Actually, Ron you can begin to appreciate a decent mild after only seven pints or so
Actually you can appreciate it with the first gulp but a decent session beer just keeps on getting better and better with each successive pint reaching the summit at a gallon.

 

IMO in the USA "session " beers from craft breweries are the new "lite" beers. Everything you always wanted in a beer(hops) and less (body/malts.

 

Or "Why these articles, make zero sense?"...shit stirring, slow day having, no good ideas @ the weekly round table meeting & all involved are exhausted so they go with whatever & move on...seriously

 

I'm a big fan of many lower ABV beers, but doesn't the very use of the word 'Session' imply the intent is to produce a beer you can easily drink several of?

There's a big difference between the average beer drinker who likes lower ABV beers and the frat boy who drinks 20 Buds in a night in order to prove he is, indeed, manly.

 

Yeah...forgive me for questioning the accuracy of the palate of a guy on his 7th pint, much less gallon, of any beer, "session" or not.

 

Do you similarly question the accuracy of the palates of those who consume massive amounts of different beers over multiple rounds of judging at, say, national and international beer competitions?

 

Except it does when beers on the other side of the spectrum are sold as 4pks.

I generally agree with you, but I think the perception that session beer should cost less is rooted in part in A) it does cost less in the UK [because of taxes] and B) strong beer does cost more.

 

Albeit a non-sequitor, I'll humor you. Absolutely.

 

Well, there have been times after the fourth or fifth hoisting, that I THOUGHT they tasted better. Probably the same dynamic that says, "I can drive, no problem". Inebriation and indoctrination work nicely in tandem.

 

If by non-sequitur you mean that tasting multiple takes on a particular beer style is actually much more taxing on the palate than continuing to explore the complexities of a single version over the course of a session, then I'd agree.

 

Sorry to disappoint, but we'll (shocker of shockers!) have to remain in disagreement, as I meant no such thing. Getting into the why is unnecesssary, since your dogmatic responses prevent any real conversation on the topic. Sad, though not entirely surprising.

 

Ever tried it yourself? If not, then I'll politely say that you are in no position to comment.