Why the Light IPAs?

This is America. Bigger is better. Right?


But really, though, there do need to be more session ales.

 

I've had Wandering Star Mild at Heart and Brooklyn's Mild. If these are representatives of the style, I doubt they'll go over well with the modern American craft palate. I know I found them underwhelming.

 

Anchor used to make a great small beer in big bottles. Not sure if they still make it, but I really enjoyed it.

 

Yards Brawler? Love this beer - Don't think the distribution range is too great though...

 

+1 yards brawler

 

Victory's Uncle Teddy's bitter is great. Also, Victory currently has 11 beers on tap that are under 5% and at least 2 of those are below 4%

 

Do you mean pale ales?

 

I get the whole "it should be priced accordingly" when it comes to lower abv, but unless a brewery is dedicated to brewing only low gravity beers, it's not realistic. The ingredients of a single beer in a line-up are a small cost when it comes to a brewery. It takes the same amount of water, energy to heat, energy to cool, fermenters and storage tanks, same amount of employees to run the place (overhead), etc etc etc to make a low gravity beer as a higher gravity beer of the same batch size.

Now, if a brewery were dedicated to ONLY brewing low gravity beers (or at least most of the time), you may see a price reduction because using consistently lower amounts of malt, hops (assuming lower hopping rates), and yeast (lower gravity requires less yeast) will eventually add up to a big cost savings.

 

It's still out there but just really limited (it's made from the second runnings of their Old Foghorn barleywine). Pretty much only see it at Whole Foods in the Bay Area these days for some reason.

 

Session IPA is a recent marketing tactic applied to American Pale Ale's, not a different style.

There is a large group of craft drinkers, that are into IPA's almost exclusively. I had a family friend of mine comment that he really likes IPA's, but not so much the alcohol content in certain situations. I told him I'll brew an IPA with lower alcohol for our upcoming camping trip. Yup, I'm gonna brew a hoppy Pale Ale.

 

I'm always impressed by the 3.5% British ales, like Bishops Finger, Spitfire and Hobgoblin sold in the grocery stores here, the British sure seem to know how to put in alot of good flavors in a low abv beer. It would definitely be interesting to see what an American craft brewery could produce with a similar abv constraint (and perhaps see some of them on grocery store shelves over here one day).

 

I suppose, but even most American pale ales are well over 5%. Sierra Nevada's is 5.6% for example. Dale's "Pale ale" is 6.5% and the Stone Pale Ale is 5.4% I believe.

 

I keep waiting for a DFH 45 minute IPA I could crush all summer.

 

Uinta makes some pretty fantastic beers for being only 4%. Necessity is the mother of invention after all...

 

From talking to industry and brewery people, it's definitely a marketring tool, but....

Many breweries feel that the current 20-something generation that is being wheened on craft beer will want session IPAs and the like instead of macro lagers as they age and move away from binge drinking towards habitual usage.

 

Yards Brewing is local to me. They had a Real Ale Festival last weekend which was excellent; 33 beers on cask including a couple from the UK. Their year round session beer is Brawler (see below) which is very tasty. For the Festival they also had Yards “Philly Best Bitter” available on cask; it was very, very tasty.

Yards “Philly Best Bitter” – an Ordinary English style Bitter. Copper in color with caramel maltiness. The malty body is balanced by the earthy and floral British hops. Predominant hop is UK Progress. Low carbonation level, designed to be served by cask, in the tradition of serving English Bitters. 4.1% ABV.

Brawler

Pugilist Style Ale

Boasting superior taste and champion flavor, Brawler is crafted in the style of English session ales. This malt-forward, ruby colored ale features flavors of freshly baked bread and caramel that dominate the aroma and palate.

ABV 4.2%

Available year-round.

Cheers!

 

It's a simple equation. IPAs are the most popular style amongst craft drinkers. Light lagers are the most popular style amongst the rest of the population. Why not bring them together to make a lot of money?