Why Session Beer?

Wow, you seem to have a lot of anger around the idea of session IPA's. If they piss you off that much, the solution is simple, don't buy them.

Variety is the spice of life. While I love big, bold, high abv beers, sometimes I like things a bit less intense. I prefer beer to wine, cocktails and soda, I am not a lover of wheats (with a few exceptions), but find some so called session ipa's to be a nice compromise, tasty, lighter and far, far superior to the BMC's. I actually Love Blue Point's Mosaic IPA session- and not as a session, as an IPA!

 

higher abv new brews at home. sessions in the pub. i drink out at the bar prob more often than not. if im gonna spend a few hours with my friends watching a game and shooting the shit, i cant pound barelywine all day or night.

 

you clearly havent explored many styles of beer then. this wins ignorant post of the year so far to me.

 

As said 10%=10 degrees Plato=1.040 OG.

You can check your hydrometer and refractometers by zeroing with distilled water, then making a 10% sugar solution and seeing if the hydrometer is at 1.040 and the refractometers is at 10 Brix/Plato.

There are sites you can google to find the proper way of making the solution.

 

Jeff,

I posted previously:

“I did a quick web search and found the below from an article in Brewing Techniques magazine:

“Stating that a wort is 10 degrees Plato (or Balling) means that if the extract in solution were 100% sucrose, it would be 10% of the total weight. In the typical wort, however, only a small fraction of the extract is actually sucrose.”

Since wort is not 100% sucrose it does not seem to me there is an exact 1:1 relationship between degrees Plato and percentage of wort strength.

Do you see this differently?

Cheers!

 

Well buzz aside you just ant make a full bodied beer under 5%. Not to mention the six packs cost the same as a sixer of 7% IPA. Um I'll have 1 really good beer, rather than two watered down versions and save the $ and be happier with my hops and malt.

 

Because sometimes its fun to get slowly drunk with your buddies.

 

You're not the first person to post this myth that full bodied (or flavored) beer cannot be brewed under 5%. Have you simply not tried many beers under 5% (excluding Bud/Miller/Coors)? Or have you just not tried the right ones?

Some of the best beer I've had in my life were 5% or less. My favorite this year was 4% on cask. There's other styles outside of a session IPA that do quite well at 5% or less. In fact, most of the time I prefer a nice 4.9% abv pilsner over a double IPA.

Moreover, your second sentence is contradictory to your first. You're not discounting the buzz if you have an issue with purchasing a 4.5% beer at the same cost as a 7% IPA.

 

Because Berliner Weisse beers are awesome. I'm making on that will clock in at 3.4% at the most, flavor means more than ABV.

If you want to get the best buzz for your cash get some Natty Ice or better yet, Nikolai Vodka.

 

Totally agree that there's oodles of great beers <5% ABV, but do you have some good examples of such beers that also have a rich/full body? I'm not at all saying they don't exist -- just that, in my experience, the lighter stuff is, well, lighter. So, when I have an an itch for something rich and viscous, I do find myself reaching for the bigger ABV stuff. I'd be thrilled to find some good examples of rich, low ABV brews, though.

 

Unfortunately Yards does not distribute to California but Yards Brawler (a Mild Ale) would be a good example.

Cheers!

 

It is not exact but close enough. Wort is a small fraction of Fructose, glucose, sucrose, and then a big fraction of maltose. Sucrose is glucose and fructose. Maltose is 2 glucose molecules. Wort also has Maltotriose and higher sugars.

This doesn't keep us from using hydrometers or refractometers.

In your article the next line says "This is not a problem; sucrose was merely selected as the reference because it produces the largest increase in specific gravity for a given percentage by weight in solution"

 

"It is not exact but close enough." I suspected that was the case but I was not 100% certain.

Thanks for your input!

Cheers!

 

I'm in total agreement on a session. I don't get them. They're basically IPAs without the balls. I drink craft beer for flavor and a session beer is a step back towards domestic in my book. Plus you can still find full flavor beer at less than 7% (see zombie dust 6.40%). An All Day IPA from Founders is 4.70%. I'd rather just slow down my drinking if I'm planning to go all day.

 

I feel like people are using the terms 'session beer', and 'session IPA' interchangeably.

 

I was thinking the same thing. One is merely a subset of the other, not the only example.

 

I love session beers I've been on a big session beer kick. I really enjoy the flavor of some of them (short's prolonged enjoyment and go to IPA). Really enjoy them during the summer when I'm hanging out outside. I do think that some of them are a bit overpriced. But they do have allot of time (wages). Hops are probably about the same as some ipa's. The amount of hot water and energy to move the wort around going to be the same (wages, electricity, wear and tear, etc....) so the only thing that would really make any difference is the amount of grain being used so it's definitely cheaper but not by a ton there's still lots that go into it and I'm sure they don't think about the grain their just thinking time and equipment that's tied up.

 

So what makes All Day any less of "full flavor beer" than Zombie Dust? If "full" just means a stronger flavor, than Zombie Dust isn't full-flavored compared to Permanent Funeral. Why drink that light ZD crap when you could drink PF?
"Well yes, ZD is lighter but it still has enough flavor"
Where do you draw the line?

"IPAs without the balls" sounds like you think there is something daring, adventurous, or maybe cool about IPA's. It's great that you really enjoy 6-9% IPA's, (Just a guess ), but rest assured they aren't going anywhere as more session IPA's are released.

 

I feel many people use the terms "craft beer" and "IPA" interchangeably.

 

New Glarus does a great job with low ABV beers. They aren't classified as sessions but that's probably because they were brewing these before sessions became trendy.
Spotted Cow is a very light-bodied refreshing cream ale at 4.8%.
Moon Man is a very delicious APA coming in at 5%.
Raspberry Tart at 4%.
German Pilsener at 4.8%

I guess I don't seek out sessions but their appeal is pretty obvious.