Brewing Session Beers

I have a special bitter that's at it's peak right now. Only problem is, I'm gettting a little tired of it.

It's a nice session beer, but I'm not really a session beer drinker--my lifestyle (middle aged, demanding job, three kids, etc) just doesn't allow for it. Since SWMBO isn't a beer drinker, it's just me except when I have friends over for beer drinking (who also don't tend to be big session drinkers.)

I guess I need to brew session beers only when I have a party planned or something. If I only drink one a night (typical weeknight), I generally want it to be something a little more thought-provoking.

Just to offer a service to you and others like you on this board who have similar problems, I will make a huge sacrifice.

If you get tired of any of your beers - session beers or otherwise - you can send them to me where I will give them a stable home in a wonderful and caring enviroment.



Then, you'll have an excuse to brew another beer . . .

In fact, I suggest that you send half of every batch you brew to me. Just think . . . you'll never get sick of one of your homebrews again!

Just take a day now that it is nice outside, take a few buds to the lake/pond/creek and toss some lines in there. Bring the homebrew and you'll be surprised how fast it dissappears. Oh ya, you have to get SWMBO to watch the offspring - no doubt the hardest part!

I find my tastes cycle and particularly in the summer I like the session beers. So often beers are just too over the top and sometimes it is really great to have a nice simple beer.

Then again there are those barley wine nights...

There's no FIFO rule with beer. Make a new one and drink it instead of your session beer. When you grow tired of it, switch back.

I made a Wit that was OK. Then I made an Oatmeal Stout that was really good. Now, I can only drink stout for so long before I need something lighter. Out of drunken boredom, I made a black-and-tan (er...Wit and Black) out of the Wit and Oatty. Brilliant! It's the best of both worlds, and my new preferred drink.

Cheesefood said:

There's no FIFO rule with beer. Make a new one and drink it instead of your session beer. When you grow tired of it, switch back.

I made a Wit that was OK. Then I made an Oatmeal Stout that was really good. Now, I can only drink stout for so long before I need something lighter. Out of drunken boredom, I made a black-and-tan (er...Wit and Black) out of the Wit and Oatty. Brilliant! It's the best of both worlds, and my new preferred drink.

Click to expand...

Call it a Brit-Wit!

Cheesefood said:

There's no FIFO rule with beer. Make a new one and drink it instead of your session beer. When you grow tired of it, switch back.

Click to expand...

Agree. My only problem is that my cellar is currently the basement floor (steady at about 58-60), so the hoppy beers do tend to lose their hop flavor and aroma over time. The bitter is really quite good right now, but I don't think it will be as good a month from now.

Good thread.

I am on a never-ending (it seems) quest ot have a "session beer" to be on tap all the time. I just can't find somethign I always want around, besides an APA.
I'm going to try my hand at a boring pub type ale in the coming weeks, somethign easy to drink and somethign anyone can enjoy a few of when they stop over. I'm simply go ing to call it pub ale.

BTW, cweston--by the end, I'm usually sick of my beers too. This smoke dporter is an exception (I drink a pint about every 2-3 days) and of course it seems I can never get sick of a good american pale ale. But when I had a stout and the fat tire cloner on tap...it seemed like it was really hard to finish those up.

I regularly get tired of beer and often bottle it up and stash it away for later use. Most of the time this gets hauled off to parties and given to friends.

Dude said:

BTW, cweston--by the end, I'm usually sick of my beers too. This smoke dporter is an exception (I drink a pint about every 2-3 days) and of course it seems I can never get sick of a good american pale ale. But when I had a stout and the fat tire cloner on tap...it seemed like it was really hard to finish those up.

Click to expand...

I'm with you guys for certain types of beer, especially stout.

I love stouts, but can't drink it every day. One or two batches a year is all I make, and the last bottle of a batch seems to hang around for 5 or 6 months.

The stout I have now was brewed in October and I broke into it on December. I drank it like it was my job for a few weeks, but then tapered off and have only had a couple of them in the last month (is was a requirement to drink a couple of them around St. Patty's day, obviously.)

If I ever nail down my Holy Grail porter, I suspect I'll have that constantly available (for me) and my IPA constantaly available (for SWMBO.)

-walker

i have several beers that i like to have around all the time... a dark/mild session beer, og around 1.038-40. real easy to quaff, even though it's sorta dark, and a small pale(english-style) or bitter around in the 1.040 range as well...

these cost me less to brew, and turn over a tad quicker than the other stuff we brew. these my drunkard brothers don't like as much as the stouts or heavier beers, so i get to enjoy them on my own

I know what you mean about brewing beer your friends/brothers don't like. I hope to fond one someday! It seems all my buddies who come over like my latest batch better than the last one. Some of their SWMBOs are even starting to drink beer when they didn't before! I'm hoping that nobody likes the rauch I have in secondary, then maybe I'll get to have some.
I'm trying to get so that I have light/medium/dark beer around all the time, but as it is I seem to run out of one, brew a ton of it then run out of another, and so on. I figure I'll have the system dialed in in about 45 years...

Noob alert!

How is "session beer" defined? I've heard the term used any number of times and I don't know exactly what it means.

From usage, it sounds like what I call my "house beer" - the refined, proven formula of what I like to have on hand at all times, easy to make, easy to drink, as opposed to a specialty beer like a blueberry ale, which I might make only once or twice a year and which take an unusual effort to brew.

I have a regular session beer on tap all the time and have never tired of it. I usually have my session brew on one tap and a stout on another. The stout IS taking a long time to blow, and when it do and it comes time to brew another then I think I'll bottle it.
Sessoin beer is just that. Something you sit down and just guzzle it down. Usually lower alcohol than regular brews.

SteveM said:

How is "session beer" defined? I've heard the term used any number of times and I don't know exactly what it means.

Click to expand...

I think what most folks mean by that is a beer that could be appropriate for a session of drinking--i.e. an extended social session that includes drinking several beers.

Beer snobs might call a session beer "quaffable."

An imperial stout is not a session beer, not only because drinking more than two or three might make you fall-down drunk, but also because it's very heavy and complex and drinking two or three will make you feel full like you just had Thanksgiving dinner.

session=lower alcholol and body than say an ipa or stout or porter. it can be a bitter, pale ale, or even a mild ale.