Why Session Beer?

Traditionally beers were "low" abv. A great example is saison. Ment to be drank to quench thirst 8% beers are not thirst quenching. For some reason everything got imperilized cause why not...I think session beers are returning to tradition.

 

If I'm gonna drink a low ABV beer I'm just gonna go for the macros, especially when sessions can cost even more than the regular thing (my local store was selling Go To IPA for $2 a bottle).

 

It is interesting to consider the different situations in the Czech Republic vs Germany. In Germany the standard beer is a pilsner of 11+ degrees plato (vollbier) and an abv of maybe 4.8%, give or take a few decimal points. In the Czech Republic it is my understanding that the common beer is 10 degrees plato and 4-4.1% abv (or schankbier). It is also interesting to consider that the on-trade off-trade split in Germany is 20%-80%, whereas in Czech Republic it is 48%-52%. Additionally the per capita consumption is 145 liters in Czech Republic, but some 107 liters in Germany.

In a Swedish government report from 1936 they detailed the tax system of neighboring countries as it related to beer and compared it against the Swedish tax system at the time. Of the Czechoslovakia it says that it had 3 classes for beer
Schankbier - a beer of no less than 9.5% wort strenght and no more than 10% wort strenght
Lagerbier - more than 10% wort strenght but no more than 12%
Spezialbier - more than 12% wort strenght

For Germany it lists these tax classes
Einfachbier - 3-6.5% wort strenght
Vollbier - 11-14% wort strenght
Starkbier - 16% and above

For Germany it says that beers with a wort strenght over 6.5% but below 11% can only be made by special permission from the finance ministry, which is then labeled schankbier (in other words a beer similar to the Czechoslovakian schankbier).

I cannot say to what degree these classes have remained the same in these two countries, to what extent they have shifted due to wars and economic depressions and other factors. But it is interesting I think that Czechoslovakia had a special tax class for schankbier of 10 degrees plato back in 1936, the same class of beer which today is the most common class of beer consumed in what is now the Czech republic (unless I'm misinformed), although the abv might have increased slightly as a consequence of increased attenuation over the years (beer in Sweden at the time was capped at 10.5 degrees plato and 4% abv with an estimated average degree of attenuation of 60%).

Whereas in Germany they essentially banned this style of beer in their legislation, which most likely meant that the average abv was slightly higher compared to that of Czechoslovakia. I have a suspicion that this has not always been the case however, and that tax regimes have shifted somewhat over the course of the last 150 years, and which has impacted the types of beers that are commonly available in the market.

Additionally the average degree of attenuation has most certainly gone up over the same time period, with an associated increase in average abv as a result of this.

 

Found this pdf from the Czech brewing association which details the market share of vycepni pivo of 7-10% wort strenght vs lezak of 11-12% wort strenght in the years 2006-2013 (page 7). Vycepni pivo (i.e "schankbier") had a market share of 66.4% against lezak's (i.e "lagerbier") 33% in 2006, by 2013 the market share of vycepni pivo had shrunk to 53.9% with lezak grabbing 44.7% of the market. So "schankbier" still composes more than half the beer market, and was even more dominant a few years ago. That's pretty impressive and remarkable.

 

Patrik, is there a reason you are using the percentage mark (%) for measuring wort strength vs. the degree mark (°) as in degrees Plato?

Cheers!

Jack

 

Honestly for me it's a calorie thing. All Day IPA and Prolonged Enjoyment have way less calories than some of the big abv beers. During the week I like to keep my caloric intake in check but I like to have 2-3 beers a night. On the weekends I'm cooking something on my Big Green Egg and hitting the heavy stuff.

 

It's all good. And I was referencing more on the high side - something like FBS could spend an extra week or two in tanks before it's ready to be packaged in comparison to all day.

That said, and I can't believe I didn't think about this before, but that thought process is rendered completely invalid by lagers. Lagers are generally priced cheaply, and require months of aging. Destroys above points talking about opportunity costs involved with making beers that need to age longer (i.e. barley wine)

 

Health. Moderation.

People have different goals for drinking limits and such. Moderation, I've often read, is around the lesser limit of either 3 drinks per day and 14 per week. These are standard drink units, not pours or bombers or pints, etc. Also for some reason people often just focus on the 3 per day and forget the 14 per week.

A 16 oz. pint of IPA is just shy of 2 drink units.

I think it ought to be clear why some of us enjoy a full flavored, low alcohol beer.

 

Session beers are a great way enjoy multiple brews without having to tap out and call it a night before everyone else. Some beer styles are low abv because that is the characteristic of that particular style i.e. Berliner weisbier, English bitter, Baltic porter, dry Irish stout, etc. these brews are lower abv for a reason. Years ago, water was not sanitary enough for drinking so beer was discovered and used for drinking. Low beer, or near beer was given to the workers in fields while the upper class drank the high octane beer. The majority of these styles with a mid to lower abv that are deemed "sessionable" are actually quite delicious! I strongly urge anyone to broaden your tastes and try some of the Belgian sours, Berliner weisbier, etc as you may not only enjoy it, but you will appreciate the history of beer and how it has changed over time throughout the ages.

On second thought, if you are really not that excited about beer and are just trying to catch a buzz, try a bottle of Bezelbuth. It's relatively inexpensive and 13% abv. Two of those should put you in a good place!

Cheers!

 

I've only tried one session beer so far Firestone's easy jack its pretty good. I am a fan of DIPA's etc.. but I must say now that theirs more choices I will be drinking more session ipa's I drink for the taste not the buzz so for me this is a perfect thing.

 

I don't have the time to read through everything at the moment, made it through the first 2 pages, so if I'm repeating something said I apologize.

I work at a beer bar in Crested Butte, CO. We love the high ABV stuff, right now we have an 08 Stone IRS, Maharaja, Delirium Tremens, Old Guardian, Double Bastard(waiting on the 09 World Wide) and a few more big guys on tap at the moment. If I'm going to have 1 or 2, I like the big beers. The other night I drank a Maha then the IRS and called it good. My "session" beers tend to be Modus and Little Sumpin, unless I'm on the river. Hell I go to the late night bars and drink Bud Light. My point is I think there is a time and place for every ABV beer... Cant we just love them all?!

As for sessions, the point I have not seen made is a session beer, especially an IPA, is much hard to brew tastefully than a higher ABV beer. Avery brought us some of that 3 point 5 session beer before it was released, they did a fairly good job with it. I have also tasted some really funky ones. When a beer is only 3.5%, there is far less malt flavor to work with to balance the hops. Yes you are using less hops, but there is also much less margin for error to reach the taste you are looking for. There are certain IIPAs that I have had that totally use the malts to protect the hop profile. With a session the brewer doesn't have that luxury, no way to mask hop flavors if they are not completely right.

...and with all this talk about a session IPA I am now going to attempt to make one

 

Not really, I'm just being inconsistent with my use of the two, I guess it comes down to the fact that in Sweden it is common to express it as "10% wort strenght", whereas it seems as if degrees is used in other countries without denoting it in percent, but I take degrees plato to mean the same as percentage, unless I'm mistaken. So I guess I'm trying to bridge the two systems in a sloppy (but I hope not inaccurate) way.

 

I personally am not drinking to get drunk. I drink it for taste. I'm not against catching a good buzz no and again, but I also like to enjoy a few cold ones on a hot day.

Session ales allow for a nice refreshing beer w.o having to make a plan to get drunk!

 

Patrik, 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.”

So, there does indeed seem to be a ‘relationship’ between degrees Plato and a percentage measurement but it appears to me that it is not specifically a 1:1 relationship.

Cheers!

 

Plato is a measurement of gravity of wort. Simply having the beginning Plato without the ending makes it impossible to for sure know the abv. Speaking broadly, the higher the beginning Plato, the higher the abv (abv is calculated by comparing starting and ending gravities)

http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

 

I've always thought, from what I've read that the German term prozent stammwürze (which is the basis of the Swedish system of measuring a beer's stamvörtstyrka, i.e the "wort strenght" prior to fermentation) and degrees plato meant the same thing. So that a German beer with a stammwürze of 12% is the same thing as a beer of 12 degrees plato. And that there is a 1:1 relationship. Hmmm.

 

I fully understand that; I was confining my discussion to wort strength with no discussion whatsoever with regards ABV.

Do you have any input on the matter at hand? Measuring wort strength in degrees Plato vs. a percentage of wort strength; are they they exact same number/value?

Cheers!

 

As a light weight (someone who is small in stature AND someone who doesn't have a high alcohol tolerance), I appreciate good lower ABV beers when I'm out but have to drive home. Worrying about your BAC is a good way to ruin an outing.

 

If you ask the masses the sessions beers are Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite. It's that simple. Anyone I know who drinks it on the reg says the same thing "It's quantity, not quality"

Please craft beer...stick to good craft beer

 

Because i like drinking beer more than soda and water