How do you define a session beer?

Maybe "American Session Beer" could be used to describe anything 4% ABV and up, and Brewers Association can advocate for this vital, new Craft Beer* designation -- BJCP, too.

* Just as long as there are no "lightening adjuncts" involved in the brewing process, American Session Beer would be a totally legit term!

 

Below 4% ABV.

 

I've always defined it as what the definition is. A beer that is 4% or lower in abv.

I've been a staunch advocate of this, however in a recent thread it did come to light that there doesn't appear to be solid historical evidence that this is the case. Maybe Jesskidden or Marquis could assist with some evidence.

There was a study that a fellow Beeradvocate sent to me which seemed to indicate there is a tipping point in abv in which the water ceases to be hydrating. 4% or lower was stated to be that threshold. Remember, beer is mostly water, so at some point if the alcohol percentage is low enough you're still completely, or partially hydrating. Over the years I've lost the e-mail with the study unfortunately.

 

Yes, but as you note, physiology and impact are far from a consistent standard across all people. I don't particularly have a problem with people going by the "under 4%" definition, but part of the reason I use 5% of my personal cutoff is because 1) there are not a lot of available beers out there--especially at bars, as rollom notes--that are under 4%, and 2) my body tends to notice the increase from 5 to 6% far more than it does from 4 to 5%.

As it happens 5% is also the standard by which rate of consumption is usually measured. A moderate pace is typically considered to be one "serving" of alcohol per hour, and that is traditionally expressed as either a 1.5 oz of hard liquor, 12 oz of 5% beer or 5 oz of wine (typically in the 12.5-14.5% range)

I guess all I'm getting at is this--sometimes tradition must be updated or modified to fit with the changing times. Given the seemingly lack of attention paid to sub-4% beers by modern-day brewers, it seems appropriate to modify the meaning of "session" to expand the options available for "sessioning"

 

I follow Lew Bryson's definition of 4.5% and below.

 

This is what I take most issue with. Just because no one is making them and right around 5% is the lower end these days doesn't mean the physiological impacts are any different. I want to say the traditional definition of a session is 5 beers consumed at a rate of 1 every 30 minutes - but Marquis or Ron will probably correct me. But if we go with the 5-beer estimate, 5 5% beers is almost equal to in alcohol content to 6 4% beers. Which, if consumed in the same amount of time, is almost certainly noticeable.

That's fine for you and your body. But that's you. To be fair, I'm on the smaller side of average (well, let's be really fair, I'm smaller than average), so any difference is probably more noticeable to me than it is to you. But that's the issue - session beers are kind of like finding the lowest common denominator. You can have a technical session (duration/spacing) with 5% beers. I cannot. Ergo, we step it down and all us 5'6" 125lb folks can drink 5 4% beers in 2 hours and you bigger people can drink 8 in two hours or make the session longer.

It seems like I'm complaining that it's not fair that you can drink more than me. I'm not. It just how rules work (at one time, at least in the UK, there were legal implications to this). You have to settle on the lowest common denominator.

 

I consider any beer sessionable when it is distributed by the 6 pack and isn't something that I had to trade for.

ABV does not come in to play at all in this theory.

 

Session and sessionable. Yes I do believe there is a difference, at least for me. For me, a session is when I drink beer, whether low ABV, high ABV, etc. It's just that the higher the ABV, the more time between beers or the shorter the session.
Sessionable, on the the other hand is what I drink when I'm having more than 6.

 

If I'm gonna drink more than 1 of the same beer (or very similar beer in the interest of sticking to that style), then its a session. And that beer is therefor a session beer.

For example, one time, my brother and I went through 6 Plinys while hanging out in the backyard. Was a good session with good session beer. Time before that, we did similar with Enjoy By.

 

My point is that we're already working in something that's wishy-washy--i.e., the physiological impacts are far from a rigid line in the sand. So why limit ourselves to an unflinchingly rigid standard on the ABV based on ammo production line workers from the 1940s in Great Britain? Especially when there is a very real functional reason to consider an increase in the standard ABV.

Also worth noting--human beings are not the same physiologically in 2013 as they were in 1940. On average, humans are larger, and this is most observable when you look at some of the structures--especially homes--that were built in and before the 40s with the way everything is on a slightly smaller scale than modern-built homes.

So even though physiological tolerance doesn't necessarily change (although it might--I'm not a biologist or physician, so while I would guess that it does, I don't *know* if metabolism evolves in that way), our actual average physiology does.

 

"Sessionable" beers to me are beers less than 5%. I don't hold to the English term because frankly there are too few true "session" beers in the US to allow us to use that term (save the endless berliner weiss examples from the brewpub on yer corner) in it's true meaning.

I loathe people who get upset over this topic.

 

Lots of interesting personal interpretations, as always. No need to try and nail down what a session actually is though in terms of number of hours, beers per hour, personal tolerance, whether you can drive afterward or not. "Session" as a term comes from times that pubs were/are open--traditionally there were a couple hours in the afternoon when the pub was closed. The time before that was one session, the time after they opened back up for the evening was another session. Session beers were those that could be consumed continuously until they ran you out.

 

It is clear that the American IPA/DIPA is the definition of a balanced, session beer. It is also the most popular, innovative, flavorful, best beer in the world. It represents a major evolution in the history of brewing.

 

Anything under 5% is a session beer to me.