10 November 2010

Session Beer.....really?

Full and fair disclosure: I sat down and wrote this after an evening of drinking beer that wasn't session beer. I haven't altered it at all. I make some huge blanket statements that I don't fully agree with my own thoughts, but I said them after drinking. We all get smarter and more handsome when we've been drinking don't we?


I got into a rather heated argument with another fan of craft beer over the term "session beer." If you've kept up on my beer tastes (seriously, why haven't you?) you know that I'm in a relentless pursuit for a fantastic session beer that is full of flavor, showcases the brewers talent, and allows me to imbibe without the threat of not being able to function after a few pints. The problem is that most brewers in the US don't give a shit about session beer. It just doesn't sell. It is easy to sell the newest barrel-aged, 15%, hop bomb, made with the left nipple of the rarest cow this side of the Ganges, but it isn't easy to get people excited about a 3.5% ABV beer that is loaded full of flavor. Our beer drinking culture just doesn't really allow room for this outside of a niche product. I wish I were wrong, but I've yet to be proven wrong. The only company I know going directly after the session beer market is Notch Brewing. Ever heard of them? I didn't think so.

The person I was talking with (and many others for that matter) think that session beer means that that beer can be consumed over multiple pints for that user and that deems that as a session beer. Please allow me to retort......

The actual term session beer is a British term. The British think a session beer should never be above 4% ABV. In America though that is a little more forgivable up to 4.5% ABV. There are not many craft brewers brewing a beer below that ABV point. My personal favorite is from a brewer right here in Indiana. New Albanian makes an altbier called Abzug that is only around 3.8% ABV and has more flavor it than beer twice its heft.

My issue with it really becomes where do you stop? People want to called 6% beers sessionable, and to a certain person it may feel that way, but seriously where do you stop? The level is set at 4.5% for a reason, and the different between drinking 6 beers in an evening at 5% and 6% really is a whole different level of inebriation. The current level of what the government says is legally intoxicated is .08, and that is for a reason. You can't bargain with a cop to raise it if you are pulled over, so why do people insist on raising the ABV level for session beer?

16 comments:

  1. This always makes me think of people who call Bells Two Hearted a session beer. Yeah you can drink more than one in one sitting but at 7+% ABV it's NOT a session beer.

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  2. Actually, Abzug is a lager not an ale and is one of the lightest (lowest tax rate) as laid out by the Reinheitsgebot. NABC has three session beer; Abzug (house lager yeast, Community Dark (house English ale yeast) and Tafelbier (house Belgian ale yeast). Get some!

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  3. That always gets me too, Jess. Basically no IPA should ever be called sessionable. If a beer has the typical abv and IBUs to be called an IPA, there's no way it's a session beer.

    I like drunk Matt's posts. I always say that HBG needs more snark and more swearing.

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  4. Making a full flavored session beer is quite challenging, because most are compared to the full flavor of those big, 6 - 7% beers. That being said, TBP has been pretty successful with some low ABV beers (3.8 - 4.2%), but I can't honestly say I can think of any commercial examples.

    Besides, why buy 3.5% for the same price as 6.5%? I think that's part of the problem.

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  5. That's exactly my problem Jason. Something in me says, "I know there's like half the malt and hops in this session beer, why is it pretty much the same price?"

    I know a huge chunk of beer price is the base cost of bottles, labels, distribution, etc., which doesn't change with the abv of the contents. That makes it hard to bring the cost of a session beer to a point that's acceptable to consumers.

    But then again, if the base costs are a big chunk of a beer's cost, why do high abv beer prices escalate so quickly?

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  6. I can say I've honestly never considered ABV when buying beer (unless I was driving).

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  7. When drinking beer I've already bought, on the other hand...

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  8. I would pay for a sixer of Abzug and wouldn't pay attention to the cost of ferment ables unless the charge was exorbitant.

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  9. I think that gets to a fundamental question, Matt: what is exorbitant? One man's cheap is another man's get-the-fuck-out-of-here!

    For me, I'd buy a session beer in the $6-8 range for a six pack. Actually, I frequently buy one, Upland Wheat, for around $8. Would I pay $10 for that? Hell no. Well, maybe, but probably not as often.

    Maybe Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams could come out with a 4% session beer for $6 a six pack. It definitely takes economies of scale to go that low.

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  10. Stone Levitation (4.4% ABV) is a great tasting session beer. JJ's exactly right, though. For the same price, I'm usually reaching for an IPA.

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  11. as long as you have a designated driver..does it really matter what the ABV is? if you like it drink it till you want to stop or till you gotta stop (becoem sick, start being an arse, gotta go to bed for work, etc)

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  12. I don't think it matters in terms of fermentables and cost. Your average beer drinker wouldn't care. My dad just knows he likes Abzug for flavor and always asks me if they sell that in stores yet.

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  13. Thanks for the mention of Notch, it helps with the lack awareness thing...

    Session beer is polarizing, you are either with it or against it. And those against,in my mind, are missing the point - Session Beer is simply an option. No one is saying high ABV is bad, or that you can't drink 6 DIPA's if you wish.

    Some just like flavorful, low ABV options. It's just that simple.

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  14. Chris,

    I wasn't slamming your company by any means, I hope you guys can keep fighting the good fight for many years to come.

    It is tough to build that much buzz around those types of beers and I really wish it wasn't difficult. Low ABV beer should be just as respected as big big, and really even more because it is much more difficult to really craft an amazing low ABV beer.

    Good luck Chris to you and your team @Notch.

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  15. Matt, I loved this post, you captured the state of session perfectly. Notch is known by about 12 people right now, and that's ok - it was 6 last week. I commented on my FB page that you should be my blog ghost writer. It's taken me 20 posts to explain what you have done in one. Thx, Chris

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  16. I recently had a really great beer from Bell's called Oarsman Ale. It is made with a sour mash so it has a nice crisp taste with subtle fruits and a tart after taste. At 4% ABV it's very sessionable.

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