What is a "session"?

You hit on the important part to me. A session is hanging out with friends having a good time.

 

"LAST CALL!"

If you hear that, then it was a session.

 

If you didn't want to fall over.

An exhibition-standard session is a minimum of 8 imperial pints in no longer than two hours. When I was sessioning semi-professionally, I always aimed to average less than 15 minutes per pint.

 

As far as I'm concerned, "session" a cutesy word for drinking alot of beer. Just like "craft" is a cutesy word that replaced microbrew.

 

"Session" is in the eye of the beholder

 

I consider a "session beer" as any beer i can drink 3 of during the day and continue what Im doing without fallling asleep on the couch or being unable to drive , while a "session" in beer lifestyle talk to me is the time I start drinking beers until I fall asleep.

 

I just drink beer, I never time it. Drink and enjoy, and stop thinking so much....

besides you killing brain cells anyway. Might as well have fun.

I start when I want to and finish when I want to.

Now in the UK where these terms started folks could walk to the pub and many still can.
The the states you either drink at home or drive to the bar. (sure there are exceptions)

I recommend if your going to drink 6 of almost any USA beer in 2 hours, you have a driver.

 

For me, a session involves more than one person and each session has a life of its own. Some are longer, some are shorter. The beer I drink varies on what's available. Some sessions are rather mundane, while others are epic and get re-lived in stories.

 

When I was in my competitive prime (those days are long gone), I could put away sub-4% ABV imperial pints at the rate of one every 11 mins. My record maximum was 35 pints in just under six and a half hours. And being session beer, I was able to go into the office afterwards with a clear-ish head (this was on a Saturday), to catch up on some work.

 

I love all the replies here that start with 'for me...' or 'in my opinion...'.

Session in terms of pub drinking has always had a definition, and this is it:

 

yea I been in many of them and when your on shore leave it sucks to be told the place is closing at 2 or 2:30pm and come back at 5-5:30pm. and of course every 1 goes back to work or has tea....
of course we were doing shots and stronger beers and no 1 told us to take it easy.....

really sucked you had to "know" some 1 or be a member to drink after 10:30pm in a bar/pub.

they did not like us buying from package store and drinking in the park much, lol

squids, what you going to do.

bad Americans, lol

 

I didn't live in Britain between 1916 and 1988, so I have my own definition. I have heard many, many people call a gathering that involves drinking a "session" and they have no idea about English pints, pubs or 4% beers. Most BA's probably know the true definition of the word, but if my buddy invites me over for what he calls a "session", I am not going to correct him.

 

In general a word where people decide their own definition is meaningless.But if "session" relates to a period of time set aside for drinking , which is a fair description , it can be of any reasonable length.
I distinguish this from "session beer" which is a compound noun like "baseball cap" ie describing a particular form of the article.
I'm interested to see Wiki's wisdom ;
"Session drinking is a chiefly British term that refers to drinking a large quantity of beer during a "session" (i.e. a specific period of time) without becoming intoxicated.[3] A session is generally a social occasion.


A “session beer”, such as a session bitter, is a beer that has a moderate or relative low alcohol content.

In the United States, a recent session beer definition has been proposed by beer writer Lew Bryson. His Session Beer Project blog includes a definition of 4.5% ABV or less for session beer. Followers of this definition include Notch Brewing, a session only beer brand. The Brewer Association has adopted a new category within their Great American Beer Fest competition which states a "session beer" is from 4.0%-5.1% ABV."

So according to the BA a typical British session beer (around 3.8%) doesn't qualify as a session beer.The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

 

All beer is sessionable - the only variable is the length of the session.