Why the Light IPAs?

I would prefer to drink a beer that was brewed to be full flavored and happens to be lower in ABV (bitters, milds, pale ales, etc.), than a beer that was brewed to be low in ABV and flavor (light IPA). Goose Island Honker's, Fuller's London Pride, NG Moon Man, 21st Amendment Bitter American, and basically everything from Notch fit the bill when I want to step outside of my usual IPA heavy rotation (although Moon Man is only when visiting family in WI). I would drink Coniston Blue Bird as well if it wasn't so damn expensive.

 

because beer marketers figured out a new way to sell you idiots pale ales and have you pay more for them

 

You mean like the new founders all day ipa @ 4.7 %. Or the new Wachusett light IPA. Or all the releases from Notch Brewing, American session beers.

 

1/2 big boy beer + some water = your beer.

 

If you want to avoid getting too buzzed on high abv IPAs try this: Instead of drinking 6 @ 4% abv one after the other, try drinking 3 @ 8% abv with 1/2 hour and some water in between each beer. And you'll probably save some money.

 

I think English Mild is a great style and definitely has it's place, but the "session" IPA is distinct in its appeal to me. I agree that pricing is tough, I don't want to pay the same for a bottle of 7% IPA and a bottle of 4.5% IPA, but I can imagine the overall cost is pretty similar to the brewery.

I know that they are pretty similar to pale ales, but I think that session IPA implies less malt and more focus on the hops than a typical pale ale. More and more I am starting to buy the argument that the term "session" should be used for beers closer to 4% and below. I'm not as firm about this as some, but I think it's ridiculous to call anything over 5% a session beer on the label.

 

I suspect they do low ABV IPA's so they can still justify the $10 sticker price. But look at all the hops we had to use!

 

Notice how no one complains that Goose Island IPA (6% abv) and Honker's (4.2% abv) are the same price? Or that Sierra Nevada Torpedo (7.2% abv) and Kellerweis (4.8% abv) are the same price?

At least I remember them being similar in pricing.

You're paying for quality beer, not to get hammered. Well, I am at least.

 

Levitation is under 5% and it's the same price as Stone IPA at 6.9%. I don't have a problem with that and don't think beer should be priced by ABV alone. Difficulty and cost of production should be the primary considerations of pricing.

That being said, I love levitation because it's hoppy and sessionable. We definitely need more beers like that. I may take a shot at making something both hoppy and sessionable fairly soon.

 

Yards brawler is very flavorful. One of my go-to session beers.

All Day IPA in cans this summer though!

 

No, I don't think he does. There are a couple of regional breweries in the Seattle area making +/- 4% abv IPAs that are just as hoppy as the 6% versions. A beer can be low abv and still be highly hopped, low abv doesn't make it a Pale.

 

I see.. so you'd like to see something like english milds here with more hops? yea that'd be nice.

 

It's all about the hop bursting in these session IPAs. That's what differentiates between a Pale and a Session IPA. If you double dry hop a 4.5% beer and throw 3lbs/barrel at it, it's far juicier with hops than a straight up pale. It's all about throwing tons and tons of flavor/aroma hops from the 10 minute to 0 minute mark on these.

Uinta Wyld and Drakes 1500 are perfect for this.

 

But most US beer drinkers have an expectation that an IPA would have higher alcohol levels. The definition of an IPA from the Brewers Association (how beers are judged at the Great American Beer Festival) states: “Alcohol by Volume:6.3-7.5%”

Cheers!

 

You have it, Notch Session Ale and Cerne Pivo.

 

Exactly what I was going to post in addition to http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/66 and http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/98.

 

First paragraph, yes. Second paragraph, no. Unfortunately.