Category for "American Session IPA"?

I would call it "Drainpour"




No, actually I was thinking about this the other day, I think it may come down to how long the affection for the style really lasts. I don't care much for the style overall myself, but there are a few beers that shine well enough that I can see it sticking around for a while.

 

I feel like they have their time and place. Don't get me wrong, I'll enjoy Dreadnaught or 120 any day. But when I'm mowing the lawn or working in the garage, and it's 90 degrees outside, I enjoy an alternative to Bud Light.

Tough to establish a specific criteria. I feel like you're on the right track, though.

 

I love Daisy Cutter. 5.2% and a perfect representation of the style.

 

Nope, too many "styles" already. In fact, IPA is used as a flavor descriptor so often now that even that has less meaning.

 

No, too many styles as it is with no real definition, and anything around 5.5 is not a "session" beer, I don't care if you are using English terminology or not.

 

I saw a session DIPA from He'brew today...8% ABV

 

One - you have the information you need with the ABV and "American IPA" - no really need for another category.

Two - I do not measure my session IPAs by a different standard than my IPAs. I am still looking for the big hop kick, with mild to moderate malt backbone. With the lower ABV, this is a harder trick, but there are enough brewers that have mastered it that there's really nothing that distinguishes the style for me.

So, in my view, no.

 

In general, the argument that there are too many styles already is bogus. If there is a distinct difference between versions of a current style, then a new style is needed. The current number of styles is irrelevant.

I don't like the idea of a session IPA style because I think most of them are crap but if BA has a style for light lagers, then it is hard to argue against a session IPA style.

 

People will say "No," but they will probably have a specific idea in their head of what a "session IPA" is as they say "No," so I'm not sure if we're being honest with ourselves.

 

kind of a classification can of worms / nightmare if you think about all the APAs that would then be session IPAs.

(p.s. a session IPA is just a highly hopped APA)

 

I don't think so because I consider a session ale to be any low abv ale that you can drink a few of without getting intoxicated, as if you were drinking it during a session. There are a several styles that would qualify as session-able beers, but "session beer" itself is not a style - it is any beer that is session-able - it's more about the abv than anything else...

...But I can totally see it happening lol and I attribute that to successful marketing more than anything else.