Session IPAs. I don't get it

Founders All Day IPA, and Firestone Easy Jack

 

I've had good beers that are less than 4% ABV; none were hoppy, but they weren't watery either. I feel like session ipas are just an offshoot of that mindset that values hoppiness over all else. Personally, if I want to drink a whole six pack of something without getting fall-down drunk, I'll have an English mild or a small beer.

 

Greene King IPA , at 3.6% ABV.
https://www.greeneking.co.uk/our-beers/greene-king-ipa/

OUR FLAGSHIP BEER: THE FASTEST SELLING CASK ALE IN THE UK
Greene King IPA is our flagship beer – born and brewed in our hometown, Bury St Edmunds.

It is easy to fall into the trap that more is better. Take music, it varies from deafening down to the beauty and purity of a single human voice.Should a DVD of a singer be cheaper than one of a band because you get less sound?
Flavour levels do vary, though the palate is astonishingly capable of adjusting so you don't notice as much difference as expected.
One of my favourite beers seems watery at first but partway down the glass I start to notice things happening, lots of delicate and exquisite tastes dancing on my tongue.It, like all session beers, is designed for drinking end on end , pint after pint until it is time to go home.And without debilitating effects.
That's why it is utter nonsense to regard 5% ABV as session stuff. Most of us would struggle after only 6 or 7 Imperial pints , and most of the evening still to came..........

 

Have you tried Rising Tide's MITA? It's my favorite...

 

Marquis I believe you could've made your point without including a quote from me. If you choose to repeat my words in the future please allow me the courtesy of giving them their plain meaning. I questioned pricing based on ingredients and did not make the claim that higher ABV is, by virtue of that alone, inherently better.

From your example I note that Greene King make a number of beers and ales, Suffolk Porter Rich Stout, St Edmund's Golden Beer, Strong Suffolk Dark Ale, Yardbird Pale Ale, Noble English Craft Lager, Double Hop Monster IPA, St Edmund's Anniversary Ale as well as a range of others. Does Greene King consider these to be better examples of their brewing skill, and, more to the point, does Greene King price these the same as their bog standard 3.6% IPA?

 

They regard IPA as their flagship as they say. It is the height of the brewers' art to brew a consistent tasty low ABV beer, there is nowhere to hide any faults.It is the beer through which Greene King becomes known.
I am in fact not a great fan of GK though they are good brewers in the technical sense. But they wring a lot of taste from a low ABV beer and session beers are what sell in the UK when on draught.In particular, stronger beers are difficult to sell in villages because people have to drive there.
One highly regarded GK beer is Strong Suffolk but in 55 years of drinking I have yet to see any!
One major difference between our beer scenes is taxation. Beer tax (properly called beer duty) is high and is also based on ABV.
Tax is around a dollar a pint here and low ABV beers are generally, and justifiably, cheaper both to brew and for customers to buy.
Duty is a levy based on the ABV. A 6% beer carries double the duty of a 3% one.
VAT is a 20% tax placed on the whole package so you pay VAT on the duty!

 

I don't drink session IPAs much, but if memory serves, Lagunitas Daytime is the one I have enjoyed the most.

 

I guess I'm not opposed to the premise of it, but generally don't care for most of them. I don't mind All Day IPA, but I can't think of many others that I'd really want to drink again.

I really don't care about the ABV or Calories or anything in my beer, just taste.

 

Not a fan of recent beer trends.

Would much rather have a well balanced pale ale than a session IPA. The "hop water" description is accurate for pretty much all of them. I'm glad it appears many folks here feel the same way. But I don't think the style will ever go away at this point.

The current fruit beer trend (thanks Ballast Point) bugs me as well, but fortunately we can all drink what we want.

 

No you've got it spot on. The whole point is that they have extra alcohol. That's also why they're worth the money at all.

 

Lagunitas DayTime, forgot about that one. If someone had asked me this morning what I thought of it I wouldn't have had an immediate thought. Having just now reread my review I remember I like it and why.

 

I think I'm about to say "no thank you" when offered a session IPA. I've never hated them or anything but they never got me riled up either. I had one from Burial last week because they're new to my area and I was curious. Of the 4 different cans I drank, the session placed last.

I think I'll continue drinking pilsners if I want something on the lighter side.

 

I enjoy

Slow ride
Go to 16oz cans
Over easy
Pinner is hit or miss for some reason
Daytime from a bottle is good, not a fan in a glass

Not a fan of all day, way to butter on the finish


Enjoy

 

Carton Boat is the perfect summer beer for me. Better than any session IPA , and better than a lot of IPA's period, IMO.

 

That should say bitter .

 

The only actual difference between brewing a sparge arm scraping DIPA and a session beer is using a couple hundred pounds less grain, which literally translates into about an hours more work on brew day, and possibly a few more minutes while cleaning the fermentation vessel. I can and would use just as many hops making a session beer as I would a DIPA. Those costs are firm. But, I will want the beer to be drinkable, and not watery, which is why I can drive the price to produce it by quite a bit because I can, and would use a far more expensive grain, and probably would because I want the grain to have a chance to include a riff or two in the overall make up of it to rival nearly anything you consider the antithesis of a session beer. And, if I'm using 5 to 6 different grains. It's going to get pricey at a production scale because chances are I don't use that grain in anything else. Outside of that. The work required to finish it for consumption is the exact same and takes the same amount of time to do. Your argument falls flat for me.

 

Same for me too. If I want something lighter I would rather have a gose or a sour or a wheat beer. Most session ipas just taste like bitter hop water.

 

Not an argument, a question, which you answered by saying you use "a couple hundred pounds less grain" in your session brew.

 

Maybe I am missing something here but.., it sounds to what you would consider doing if you were to brew a Session IPA. Have you actually brewed a commercial Session IPA?

Cheers!

 

Have not had the opportunity to, yet. I have test batched several to very good review that are scaled up and just waiting the opening on the schedule to brew the one we think would work best, and that we can find the hops for. Since they are smaller and want to pack more flavor in. That's also the direct challenge to work from in not making them taste like fizzy hop water.
In a musical metaphor. It can't all be quitar solo all the time. In fact guitar solo's and extended vamps are lame in this context. It's a 3 minute pop song you're making, not a 3 minute edit of the 12 minute album length cut, and you want to reach for the third and fifth beer and still enjoy what's happening with it after repeated listenings. That takes time in recipe development and also tasting a lot of different grains to develop a finished idea. So, again the notion of it being a diminished thing simply because there's less physical weight involved, is not entirely convincing.