What's your use for a session beer?

Yard work just goes so much smoother with a can or two (or three...) of Yuengling light lager. I figure I'm moving around enough to burn the calories, and at 3.4% abv, I don't feel any impairment or the dry mouth that I sometimes get with higher abv beers.

 

None of the above.

Refreshment and enjoyment. And sometimes its just fun to guzzle a lot of beer.

 

The only use I find for them is if I'm at a bar and have had a few already but don't want to leave yet. Other than that, I think they only taste alright and are usually priced too close to the high gravity beers. I like the flavor of the higher gravity beers a lot more than session beers. Seems I get mostly just high pine in the session beers... If more of them tasted like Daisy Cutter, I think I would buy more of them.

 

Very easy to go over the limit on lower abv brews, because you just don't feel them as much, so you (well, me anyway) drink them faster and more of them and then they seem to catch up with you all at once. Reminds me of that quote that's credited to George Burns : It only takes one drink to get me drunk, the trouble is, I can't remember if its the 13th or 14th.

 

But I think that's just the point of session beers in general, no? Hence why it covers all the other options.

That said, the only time I intentionally go for lower-ABV beers is for certain kinds of parties; I sometimes wind up getting them for general drinking at home, but in that case the ABV is incidental.

 

I use them for when I want to socially drink over an extended period of time, but don't want to get drunk. Like playing poker for 4+ hours. If I were to drink bombers of 9% beer I'd be toast. But grab some All Day IPAs and I am golden.

 

Well, not really. Do you know how they make Miller 64 and other super-low calorie beers? By making them low in alcohol. I believe that Miller 64 and Michelob Ultra both clock in at well below 4% ABV. Even your standard light beers are typically around 4% ABV, which is how they get them to be lower in calories as well.

It's not a strictly linear formula, but lower alcohol means lower calories. So where your 6% ABV IPA might have 180 calories, your 3% Berliner Weiss will have about 90. So even if you down an entire growler of BW, you're only out about 500 calories. That may sound like a lot, but if you're out on the porch on a hot day and take down 2 glasses of lemonade, you probably drank that many calories, if not more. And Berliner Weiss is fucking awesome, so, totally worth the calories!

 

Golf or not falling asleep at 9pm.

 

I brush my teeth with session beer

 

They are all session beers to me. Some sessions are shorter than others. I have no desire to drink a sub 5% beer all day or night. I rarely drink more than 4-6 beers per session.

 

I vow to call small beers by their correct name from this moment forward. The only possible debate would be that smalls are typically brewed with the lautered or sparged grains which wouldn't always be the case, but since session is a more time-oriented annotation, I suppose it would make more sense to just refer to a small as a low ABV event drink which is essentially what it is and why the style was created. In theory, you can technically make anything into a "session" if you just take your time, so "session" doesn't really mean low ABV moreso enjoying over a lengthy frame.

 

Really its mostly fishing and poker nights for me. I like being able to enjoy quite a few beers for several hours without getting loaded during either activity.

 

Yea, but not a single option in the poll really answers the OP question for me. I live my life in the outdoors; skiing, hiking, climbing, etc... but I don't necessarily go for session beers because either way I'm only having one or two while I'm out. There's not one specific thing I do that makes me seek out low-ABV beer, but I sure do drink my fair share of them to accompany all sorts of activities in all sorts of settings.

 

I use a session beer as a base for an Everclear cocktail.

 

I usually don't "session" session beers. I use them as nightcaps if I don't want something too heavy before I go to bed. Ballantine XXX Ale, Tsingtao, Guinness are perfect examples.

 

Drink boone's farm then lightweight! You ******* and your "session" beer... I didn't know this was "whineabouthighalcoholbeeradvocate.com"

 

Thirst quencher

 

I answered "outdoor activities" in the poll but in reality, I wish there was an "all of the above" choice. Those are all the precise reasons I enjoy session beers

 

I'm not sure that I've ever had a beer that wasn't at least 4%. Not because I wouldn't want one, I just haven't seen any offered I don't think. So by "session beers," I'm referring to 4.5-4.8%-ish. I know that's high for true session beers...

I'd typically rather have one higher grav beer and sip it for an hour than three session beers. Most of the beers I tend to gravitate towards are higher alcohol. I don't have anything against lower ABV beers; one of my favorite local beers is a 4.7% brown ale. I'm not typically a brown ale fan, but this one has a subtle complexity. Drinkable while still interesting, flavorful while still refreshing.

If I do specifically seek out sessionable beers, it's because I plan on drinking for a long time frame for whatever reason. As opposed to an hour or two out with friends or one beer in the evening. And that can be for any number of reasons.

Also, I'm a 125lb gal, and I HATE eating large meals (a full stomach is one of the worst feelings, in my opinion), so even a 6% beer can have a relatively significant effect on me.

 

Founders all day ipa calls itself a session beer and at 4.7% it is definitely drinkable