Are "session IPAs" improving?

As far as the commonly available ones in my area, they are getting better. Still not something I pick up regularly, but they have their time and place (and thats not outdoors for this city dweller! No "lawnmower beers" when your lawn is concrete )

For commonly seen stuff, I'll choose Go To > Easy Jack > Bouncy House > All Day. Founders is one of my favorite breweries but All Day is about the weakest session IPA out there IMO, despite being one of the first widely available versions.

 

Go-To has probably the best nose of all the session beers, but to me it falls completely flat on flavor... to me, it's the epitome of everything that people here on BA complain about when it comes to session IPA's... "Hop Water." It's just straight up bitter hop water, no body to back up the hops... I am baffled as to why it receives so much praise, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and has different taste buds

 

Co-signed.

 

Session IPAs are definitely improving, with the most shining recent examples being Stone Go To for a widely distributed brand, and less available I've had Lawson's Super Session Citra (Citra, Amarillo released this week), Russian River Dribble Belt, Alpine Baby Face, all excellent beers.

 

Dribble belt is an APA, although I feel there is sometimes little distinction between APA and Session IPA. It is definitely tasty, though.

 

Most of the ones I've had just taste like pale ales to me.

 

How the hell is a beer with 4.2% abv considered an IPA? That's like saying Guinness is an Imperial Stout! I thought I was annoyed at this "style" before, but now I am completely perturbed.

 

Totally agree with the "HopWater" description. This change from mostly Two Hearted's and Dirtwolf's to Session IPAs has not been kind. All these sessions are really missing the mark and are extremely thin but hey, I'm still enjoying an IPA and not getting "as" fat

 

IPA is traditionally a low-to-medium-strength beer.

 

Fat Slim from Oskar Blues is my favorite so far.
Beats Go-To, Union Jack (even though the nose on this is great),nooner..and others I can't recall.

 

Because the terms "style" and "marketing descriptor" get used interchangeably, even if they're not very similar. It hurts less if you don't try to shoehorn marketing terms into the BJCP or other style guides. "Session IPA" is used to sell beer on shelves, that's all.

 

Defending the "purity" of the IPA style is an interesting position given the wide variations out there. The American IPA has endless variations which bear only passing resemblance to the original IPA style (English). BTW, the English IPA is lower ABV than American, generally.

The real question in this thread () should be is 4.9-5% ABV a session beer?

 

I just recently tried Two Raods Lil Heaven. Quite tasty for a session IPA

 

I hope no one gets upset at me for saying this, but that Lawson's beer is probably rated that high because anything Lawson's and anything with a bunch of citra gets inflated ratings.

 

Agree completely. I used to think the "hop tea" comments about session IPAs were uncalled for, then I had Stone Go To and understood where some people were coming from.

 

I received a few cans of Ponto in a trade and really enjoyed them. Thanks for the heads up on Sunshine Daydream, can't wait to check it out.

 

While I also despise the term "session IPA" (or anything else that ends in "IPA" needlessly), I do think these beers deviate pretty from from APA's, too. They're their own style, unfortunately.

Before it's too late, maybe we should start calling them "American Session Ale" or even just "Mild Hoppy Ale" before it's too late. Give it a year and we'll have "Imperial Session IPA" - mark it down.

 

Remember that these labels we assign beers are always changing. Greene King IPA is 3.6% and has been brewed for over 100 years.

 

I'll take my favorite session IPAs over almost any higher alcohol IPA almost all the time these days. They're different styles of beer, plain and simple. You've got to want to drink a lighter beer to like them. I generally like lighter beers, and I like hops. Not everyone wants to drink 6%+ beer all the time and the market is clearly reflecting that.

 

I never knew they weren't any good to start? Improving? No. Becoming more popular and others brewing them-yes. I like them....