session ales vs. high gravity at the local pub

I, like many peeps, have a favorite watering hole. Actually, I, like many HBT peeps, have several favorite watering holes. On this evening, I'm enjoying a few choice craft brews; the exact brand(s) and model(s) being none the matter. In a fit of inebriety after my third 7%+ concoction, I ask the barkeep if anyone comes in and asks for a session or low alcohol brew. After a brief chuckle, he unwaveringly states that he is only ever asked what is the highest alcohol brew available.

I'm a big fan of low grav beers. They take a bit of extra effort to get right; to get enough richness and mouthfeel to offset the lack of grain bill. I also do a lot of tinkering in the garage with many projects, and appreciate being able to drink a few without the metal lathe kicking me. BUT there are so few out there! Anyone else in the same boat? What's the atmosphere like at your pub? What are your local craft breweries putting out?
Full Pint brewery is close to me and they have a LG IPA which is nice to have, but there is nothing on tap at local bars.

My favorite bar (not exactly local, but I don't go out drinking often) almost always has Anchor Small Beer, which is a great 3rd or 4th beer, and one or two of their other moderate gravity lagers. I'm sure high ABV kegs turn over faster, but there is usually a pretty decent range, but any bar that deals in craft beer is going to be ABV and IBU heavy for the most part. I would kill to get a nice Ordinary Bitter on tap somewhere local, but so far the only one is the one I brew. Even something easy to get, like Adnams Bitter would be great.

Anyway, this sounds like it should be in "drunken ramblings" but you're like me in that it seems like you make a great effort to be readable when posting druck.

What is full pints lg IPA? I know they used to do the hobnobber pale ale, with rotating hops, but last time I was at the brewery they said they were gonna stop producing it?

I think the best low gravity beers are most British beers, they really push the limit of taste and low gravity.

A couple of friends and I were talking about basically this a few weeks back. Local breweries do a great job at the 6-8% beers but we do not always want something that big, sometimes we are looking for something small and we can have a couple without being over the legal limit to drive. I have been toying with session beers and have made it my personal challenge to brew a beer that is good and under 4.5%. Session saison deffintly got close, with a different ferm temp and water chemistry adjustment I think it would be there.

The latest Chop and Brew also gave a couple of hints as to the challenge of session beers. Dawsons comment was to use the highest quality ingredients you can, make sure your water chem is right and well you have to be on nose with everything making sure it is right. There is little room for mistakes in session beers. Unlike bigger beers.

That pub owner needs to learn the financial rewards of session craft beers! People will drink more session beers thus increase his profits. Just think of how many 4% beers you can drink and still SAFELY drive home.

Most English styles shouldn't go above about 5.5% on draft/cask, including IPA and porters (some go higher in the bottles - Adnams Broadside being a good example - 5.8% on cask/6.8% in bottles). A good best bitter should be in the 3.5-4.2% range, with milds from about 2.8-3.5%. It's fairly rare for an English pub to have beer above 6% on tap, and IME it usually only happens for winter beers.

That said, the John Harvard chain brew pub in Cambridge here has a couple of 3.8% beers - a saison and an amber last time I was in there for a work lunch. Neither was bad at all, but both could be much much better (being served in a pitcher probably didn't help).

Getting a good, balanced beer at around 4% is a challenge. English style brews get a bit of help with the taste and mouthfeel from being cask served at about 55F and less carbed than most US craft brews, particularly southern UK beers with little head (keeps the hop aromas and bitterness in the beer, not the foam). And from being full 20oz pints, not 16oz ones

Daksin,
You got me drooling over the terms "Anchor Small Beer" (which I didn't know existing but must try to find now) and "Ordinary Bitters." I never see much like that around here.

Dirty25,
Hobnobber, yes! It's a regular now and they do seem to rotate at least some of the hops with each batch. This one is using Palisade hops, which is on the resiny side but a good drinker. I think the brewers got used to being able to have a sip, here and there, over the course of the work day without being impaired. It's the only thing I really see them drink.

I've been brewing pretty much exclusively small beers this year. 3.8%-4% is quite doable, imho. I have a French table biere that I've worked out, and an ordinary bitter that's getting there. And a porter which is pretty decent. I want to work on a small American brown too. 3% is tougher. You can get good flavor but it's so thin.

The way I started was to just take a favorite recipe and lower the base grain amount while maintaining the specialty grain amounts, brew it and adjust to taste from there.

I'll have to check out that Chop and Brew, thanks.

There are practically zero English style beers (on tap). All I might see is the odd porter, ESB, or old ale, and none are ever low grav. The only sessions I see are low grav IPAs. I've had 21A's Bitter American, Green Flash's session IPA (forget the name), and the Hobnobber recently. All American hop beers. Something malty or estery/Belgian would be nice once in a while.

Weezy said:

Daksin,
You got me drooling over the terms "Anchor Small Beer" (which I didn't know existing but must try to find now) and "Ordinary Bitters." I never see much like that around here.

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I've only ever seen ASB on draft at Small Bar in San Diego, and a few places in San Francisco where the brewery is located. It's actually made from the second runnings of their Barleywine, Old Foghorn, so it's very traditional in that sense. Apparently they bottle it, but I've never seen it.

Re: Ordinary bitters, it's a style that almost never gets bottled. The only one I can think of is Adnams Bitter, which isn't that hard to find in big stores like BevMo or Total Wine.

Stone Levitation ale at 4.4% isn't too bad. Just had a Citra session ale (4.5) from Green flash that I thought would be great but just too bitter for me.
A nice bitter on cask at about 3.5% is about the range I would like to see more of.

Im totally down with the session ales. All my watering holes have great beer but in the last few months they are all carrying very high alcohol brews in all styles. Im over that fad. Im high abv'd out! Lately I have been walking in and looking for the sessions!

Over this summer I designed and brewed a session series..

Pale ale
Stout
Brown

They turned out well and sold pretty well also. It is a bit tricky to pack in the flavor while keeping the abv low but can be done. It is a pretty rewarding project especially if designing fresh instead of just scaling back an existing recipe.

We have a local nano, Roc City Brewing, that makes a dark mild that I cant get enough of. In think it weighs in just under 4%. I've been toying with the idea of keeping only low gravity beers on tap and bottling all my big beers. Many of my friends are put off by big high alcohol beers and keeping a nice selection of sessions is good way to introduce them to the craft beer scene.

I brew mostly sub 5% beers for the exact reason you mention - I want to be able to come home from work and have a couple beers with my dinner and not feel like junk the next day.

I just don't understand why milds, bitters, low abv saisons, grisettes, biere de table hasn't caught on with brewpubs and small breweries. It makes so much sense financially to even serve proper pints if these beers.

That said usually if I'm out and about I drink Guinness - tasty, low booze and very sessionable.

The fact that the bar tender mentioned everyone asking for the highest abv beers is not good for craft beer long term IMO

Pretty Things put out a 2.8% mild that was one of the best beers I've had in a few years commercially

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18371/79455

I am a big session guy... I think ultimately that's what most people want so long as flavors are preserved. I'd bet all my spent grain session IPAs will be the next craze

greatschmaltez said:

I am a big session guy... I think ultimately that's what most people want so long as flavors are preserved. I'd bet all my spent grain session IPAs will be the next craze

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I would be ok with this

I haven't tried a second mash or second runnings=second, LG beer yet. I'm not set-up to handle so much beer. someday!

shoreman,
your blog has been a bit slow! get to it! Your blog and the 1.03 beer thread got me on this low grav brewing kick!

Burley Oak in Berlin, MD brews what they call a "Sessionable Barleywine" at 8%

joking aside, Founders All Day IPA

Weezy said:

I have a French table biere that I've worked out

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If you don't mind me asking, whats your recipe like for this?

chad_ said:

If you don't mind me asking, whats your recipe like for this?

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Surely! It started with WLP510 Bastogne yeast. It's a nice, mild Belgian yeast that's light on the traditional belgian esters. The most pronounced ester is black pepper. From there I paired the black pepper with honey malt, which I like much. Adjust the honey malt % to your liking.

Grain bill is a play on the Bastogne/Ardennes region between Belgium, Germany, & France:

59% Belgian pilsner
13% honey malt (I use Gambrinus)
12% Franco-Belges pale
10% German Vienna
4% crystal 10 or 15
2% flaked barley

plug that into your software to get to an OG of 1.036. It finishes around 1.009-1.010 for ABV of ~3.5%.

mash high: 154*F

Hops:
I try to keep to a BU:GU ratio of 0.5-0.6. I've been using Hallertau for the bittering part (about 18g at 60 min) and late additions of st.goldings (10 min & flame out, about 20g total). Next time I want to try some of that french hop for the late addition, Strisselsplatz (or whatever it is hehe). Weights here are for 4 gallon batch so go by your software and the BU:GU ratio.

OH, sans the WLP510, use Safbrew T-58! It's a peppery belgian. The WLP510 is unfortunately a platinum strain. I got it and brewed a 2L starter and divided that into a pitch for my first batch and 3 slants for freezing, for future batches.

Weezy said:

I haven't tried a second mash or second runnings=second, LG beer yet. I'm not set-up to handle so much beer. someday!

shoreman,
your blog has been a bit slow! get to it! Your blog and the 1.03 beer thread got me on this low grav brewing kick!

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I know, it's not that I haven't been brewing them its just that I haven't been blogging the recipes or taking Picts. I'm trying to figure something easier out like Flickr just don't have time to blog.

I recently brewed a nice 10 gal batch 4% saison with the Belma yeast - really good.

Pils malt
Pale ale malt
Wheat

Saaz & goldings hops

Coriander & touch of lemon & orange peel.

I can post the recipe if you want - fermented down to 1.00000000

Phunhog said:

That pub owner needs to learn the financial rewards of session craft beers! People will drink more session beers thus increase his profits. Just think of how many 4% beers you can drink and still SAFELY drive home.

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Safely probly 4-6. Legally..still probably only 2. Doesnt take much to fail a breathalyzer.

I hear ya on the blogging. Need an app to post directly to the blog from the phone, with pics.

Post up the recipe! Personally not a big fan of wheat in saisons. I usually swap it out for flaked oats.

I think the problem is that many people associate higher ABV with more flavor. In the past this was more true. It is just taking longer for folks to realize there are some lower ABV beers out there that pack a lot of flavors. Of course these are harder to brew successfully. A lot of malt and hops can hide a multitude of problems. Brewers have to really step up their game. If small beers really catch on, I suspect a few brewpubs might lose some business.

In some ways, session beers are easier to make than their bigger cousins. They generally don't have crazy hop schedules and can often be no-sparged. They don't need huge amounts of yeast. They don't require extensive aging. They just need high quality ingredients and fundamental brewing skills.

I regularly do a dry stout and a special bitter, both around 4.5%. They are the two easiest beers I make. Granted, some of the advantages I have, like not sparging, may not translate to a commercial operation.

Weezy said:

I hear ya on the blogging. Need an app to post directly to the blog from the phone, with pics.

Post up the recipe! Personally not a big fan of wheat in saisons. I usually swap it out for flaked oats.

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Ya I'm looking for something like that where I can post to the web from my phone - maybe flickr or google+ but I'd rather find something Indy.

Summer saison

Recipe 10 gallons

4lbs British pale
2lbs German wheat
10lbs German pils

2oz EKG 60
1oz saaz 30
1oz saaz 10
1oz saaz knockout
1oz EKG knockout

2tsp corriander & about 5 bags Ora's organics lemon tea at knockout

Belma saison yeast

Brewed as partial boil - added 4 gals spring water before fermentation

Sg 1.042
Fg 1.000

A little larger than my usual session beers but such a good summer quencher-you could easily knock out some of the pils malt and other grains and make this 3% if you wanted.

I have not hoped on the session beer train myself. My “session” beer is something like an ESB, Brown Ale, or Wheat of some kind depending on the season that are in the 5.0-6.5 abv range and I can have five or six in a few hours and then be able to make it home after an hour or so of not drinking. Also it seems like most session beers in my are are APAs, IPAs, and lighter Lagers and I enjoy those stilled none are a real favorite say for the IPA. Maybe if some more session style Milds or Browns I would get more into it.

Now when you all go out for a session how long are you usually at the bar and how many would you like to drink? Just courious about this new beer subculture.

I'm probably not a good benchmark. My outings are long happy hours a few nights a week. I'll have 3, regardless of the abv.

I'm slurping on a Jester King Commercial Suicide right now. English mild with Saison yeast and oaked. 3.5% and very well done; rich, clean, and not too thin...but this just reminds me I'm not a fan of chocolaty beers!


Shoreman,
What does that lemon tea end up like?

Weezy said:

Shoreman,
What does that lemon tea end up like?

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It's just dried lemon peel, lemongrass, dried sweet orange and black tea organic.

I've been using these in beers instead of buying homebrew spices or using fresh - unless I have them on hand. It gave some nice complexity but you can't pick it out - that's the way I like spice.

I just brewed another larger saison small batch with honeybush/vanilla tea with orange blossom honey and sorghum in the mash - I like going the tea route b/c you can find some exotic spices and try to match them up especially Belgian influenced ales.

shoreman said:

Pretty Things put out a 2.8% mild that was one of the best beers I've had in a few years commercially

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18371/79455

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You're welcome to the recipe, if you're interested.

patto1ro said:

You're welcome to the recipe, if you're interested.

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Ya recipe would be great. I'm brewing some old British recipes from a book I have and this would be a good addition.

shoreman said:

Ya recipe would be great. I'm brewing some old British recipes from a book I have and this would be a good addition.

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22nd Feb 1945 Barclay Perkins X Ale
OG: 1030
FG: 1009
amber malt 8.12%
crystal malt 5.80%
Mild Ale malt 20.89%
Strong Ale malt 22.05%
Pale Ale malt 22.05%
no. 3 invert sugar 10.83%
caramel 0.97%
flaked barley 9.28%
0.65 lbs hops per barrel
100% Fuggles

mash temp 145º F
sparge at 165º F
tap heat: 154.5º F

Boil for 1.5 hours
Pitch at 61º F
Max fermentation temperature 70º F
Colour: as brewed, 15 SRM
finished 25 SRM

Thanks for the recipe - I'm going to try and make some mild & brown malt with home roasting this fall.

any info on "mild" and "strong" malt? that's new to me? I'm assuming some historic reference?

Weezy said:

any info on "mild" and "strong" malt? that's new to me? I'm assuming some historic reference?

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Northern Brewer sells mild ale malt and Extra Special Bitter malt, but I don't know if these are the same thing.

The mild looks like "Crystal 5"...hehe. The ESB might be fun to try! Heck they both would be fun to try.

shoreman said:

Thanks for the recipe - I'm going to try and make some mild & brown malt with home roasting this fall.

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Mild malt shouldn't be roasted.

dyqik said:

Northern Brewer sells mild ale malt and Extra Special Bitter malt, but I don't know if these are the same thing.

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That mild ale malt is the correct one. To be honest, I'm not really sure what strong ale malt was, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same as the Extra Special Bitter malt as since it was used as a base malt. I suspect it was similar to mild ale malt.

patto1ro said:

Mild malt shouldn't be roasted.

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Thanks - would that be considered Amber Malt? I've been reading about toasting in this book:

http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/Publications.htm

shoreman said:

Thanks - would that be considered Amber Malt? I've been reading about toasting in this book:

http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/Publications.htm

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Amber malt is roasted. Mild malt is very different, just a slightly more highly kilned version of pale malt.