I’m in my sixth decade, and my body reacts differently these days to the excesses of my profession. American craft brewing has excelled in the creation of highly alcoholic genre classics, including Imperial India Pale Ale, Barley Wine and Quadrupel, and while I still adore these styles, increasingly my palate turns to an evening’s reasonable sustainability, in the form of session beers. The Pennsylvania-based beer writer Lew Bryson is the founder of the Session Beer Project, and he provides these helpful parameters.
Session beers are:
► under 4.5% alcohol by volume
► flavorful enough to be interesting -- no light beers, please
► balanced enough for multiple pints
► conducive to conversation
► reasonably priced
In brief, low-alcohol, but not low-taste. It's deliberately vague. The great thing about session beers, especially the ones that come in under 3.5%, is that you can enjoy several beers, and still have a BAC of under 0.04.
At NABC, Gravity Head is winding down, and Session Head is here. In a nutshell, the weekend NABC schedule looks like this.
Gravity Head Fan Appreciation Night
Friday, April 5 at the Pizzeria & Public House
The handful of remaining Gravity Head listed selections will continue to be tapped and poured, but we're on the downward arc. On Friday, April 5, all Gravity Head listed selections currently on tap will be priced as specials, all day long.
Session Head 2013
Starts Saturday, April 6 at the Pizzeria & Public House
Officially, Session Beer Day is on Sunday, but NABC is starting early on Saturday with Session Head. Consider it the polar opposite of Gravity Head; instead of small pours of big beers, it's full pours of small beers. The list is here, along with the session beer philosophy. Read, absorb, and act. Hoops junkies already know that the University of Louisville's game begins around 6:00 p.m. If the Cardinals advance to the final game on Monday, and even it they don't, it will be shown at the Pizzeria & Public House (Bank Street Brewhouse is closed on Mondays).
Session Beer Day 2013
Sunday, April 7 at Bank Street Brewhouse
We'll observe Session Beer Day at Bank Street Brewhouse, with our weekly Sunday brunch (prime rib and the omelette station on the first Sunday of the month) and NABC session series pints on special throughout the day.
Links
More on Session Beer Day at Lew Bryson's Session Beer Project site
NABC's session observance preview at Session Beer Project
Session Beer Day 2013 at the Beermebartender blog
For a contrarian viewpoint, there's always Joe Sixpack (Don Russell) in Philly
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