Firestone Walker - Easy Jack Summer Session IPA

When is this expected to hit shelves?

 

could use alittle summer right now.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that calling something a "session IPA" is as dumb as calling something a "golden amber lager?" Are craft beer drinkers really that unsophisticated that they can't find hoppy beers if they aren't labeled as an IPA? Or is this really a new style that promises us that every brewery will now start putting out pale ales as atrocious as All Day IPA?

 

not everyone wants super hop extract juice or quadruple IIIIPA's dude

 

well I'm looking forward to this

 

Looking forward to checking this out. Just hope they can get enough malt presence into this one to provide enough balance with the hops.

 

Are session IPA's going to be a new trend? Founders All Day IPA was a successful new item and this looks like FW's offering of the style.

 

I think it's been that way for a while. I hope the trend doesn't fizzle out. Love me a low abv high flavor hoppy session ale.

 

I'm not sure what of my post you are actually responding to, as I never said anything remotely like that. I'm just merely stating what I thought was obvious - we already have a style of hoppy beers that are lower in alcohol. It's called American Pale Ale, and many examples of the style are quite nice. "Session IPA" just strikes me as a gimmicky marketing ploy, although if more beers come out that are labeled like this and they are all a mess like All Day IPA is, then perhaps the name will have some value after all.

 

My personal take is that yes there were always a small amount of APAs hopped more like IPAs, but you had to really know what you were looking for to find them. Not all APAs are very hoppy and as a less-informed consumer, it can be difficult to know if the APA you are buying is a hop bomb are a mildly hoppy example. IPA is now associated with big hop aroma and putting it on a label instantly tells you what to expect. Couple that with "session" and most people expect a lighter, easier-drinking hoppy beer. You see "session IPA" and you know exactly what you are getting. Sure, it's a sub-style of APA but I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

On another note, this beer is going to blow people's minds. Lots of cool hops that few people have even heard of going into it.

 

"Session" IPA's seem to all be around the 4.5% ABV mark or lower from what I have noticed. APA's generally seem to be 5% abv or higher.

 

Very well said.

Also worth noting is that most of these "session IPAs" are below 5%, which most pales (and especially the hoppier ones) are above 5%.

APAs
Drake's 1500 5.5%
Row 2 / Hill 56 5.8%
Alpha King 6.6%
Red Chair 6.2%
SNPA 5.6%
Lagunitas Dogtown 6.2% (same as their IPA)
(ZD 7%)
(Citra Extra Pale Ale 7%)

"Session IPAs"
Lagunitas Daytime 4.65%
Evil Twin Bikini 2.7%
Lawson's Spring Fever 3.8%
Citra Session 4.5%
FW Easy Jack 4.5%
Founders All Day 4.7%

Finally, while APAs might have a stronger malt presence, that has yet to be the case with the "Session IPA".

There's more than a slight nuance between the styles: ABV typically below 5, loudly hopped, little malt presence. That's not how any of would describe APAs as a whole, so why people need to shit bricks about the newer term's emergence is beyond me. Probably the same folks that get upset about the abundance of terms for musical genres and sub-genres.

 

This. With the exception of Schlafly and Founders distinctive label of "dry-hopped APA", and the slightly less obvious Red Chair NWPA, I can't think of any other APAs that tell you what you're in for by just glancing at the label/style.

 

two things I take from this thread:
1. someone described a session IPA as a sessionable IPA.
2. the Firestone bear has abs.

creative on both counts.

 

Until very recently this bugged the ever loving shit out of me. It's ridiculous that hoppy Pale Ales are now IPAs, too. But then, I realized craft beer is eating itself with shitty pun names and the rebranding of anything remotely hoppy as an IPA in order to skate over to where the puck is, not where it will be. OK, whatever. It's one of the many things that will seem silly in retrospect and over time, but there's no stopping it, now, and no use getting upset about it unless you really like being upset all the time.

This too, shall pass.

 

The bear has abs b/c he's been drinking this lower carb beer.

Speaking of trends, when are craft beer brewers going to just admit that they are making an attempt to enter the lower carb beer market w/o being super upfront? I mean Jeppe definitely makes that 2.7% beast known as Bikini Beer (I LOVE that beer) and he's been the ONLY brewer that's been somewhat upfront about what he's attempting to achieve with said beer.

 

Will it be available in draft for next summer? I would love to get that in at my work, we sell the hell out of Union Jack & Double Jack.

 

Simple Jack?