Session Beer a movement?

While up early this AM I looked at my blogger dashboard and decided to check in on a few of the blogs I follow. One of the blogs I follow, The Session Beer Project, no surprise it has lots to say on session brews. Another is Northern Brewer: The Blog which has a recently posted article titled, Session Beers. As is obvious from this thread, these blogs got me to thinking about session bier.
Links: http://northernbrewer.blogspot.com/2010/07/session-beers.html#more and http://sessionbeerproject.blogspot.com/

There are lots of things to discuss relative to session bier. What I'm most curious about are 3 questions.

1) What percentage of the homebrew you make for yourself is session bier?

2) What percentage of the homebrew you make for yourself is imperial strength?

3) What is the current standing of session bier in the craft bier market and why? I thought we might get some interesting answers here.

While I think a true session bier is probably 4% abv or less, for the purposes of the discussion I'd frame it as 4.5% or less to give a bit of wiggle room. I'll say anything over 7% is imperial for sake of discussion.

Me first.
1 & 2) Probably 45% of what I brew is session bier, and 13% is imperial. Obviously this leaves me with 42% mid range.

3) From a euphoria/buzz stand point 90% of what gets the publicity are big biers, either imperial or close. There are certainly some companies that thrive off of this market paradigm. However I think for most of the meat and potatoes breweries the dynamic is somewhat different BUT it's still a driving force. Mostly due to the marketing/buzz/publicity side of things session beers are an afterthought. Sure for most craft brewers the sales are driven from their browns, pale ales, etc, obviously non-imperial biers. However most aren't session biers either.

Schlante,
Phillip

Out of my last 20 batches, I have made one batch less than 4.5% and four batches greater than 7%. And I've got another three batches that are between 6.5 and 7%...

So that's 5% session and 20% imperial (or maybe as much as 35% imperial depending upon your definition).

The big thing for me is that I don't actually drink a ton of beer in one sitting, even if it's a session beer. I will have one or two and that's usually it. I have a mild on tap right now that I really like and have been drinking pretty much every day, but I still only drink one or two and I'm using a 12oz glass. With the head on there I'm probably only drinking a pint a day max. That one is less than 3% ABV.

If I want 4.0% beer or lower, I'll hit the grocery store.

75% is in the 4.5% - 7% range.
25% is in the 7% - 11% range.

The majority of what I brew and drink is 4.5% to 5.5%

1) What percentage of the homebrew you make for yourself is session bier?

17%

2) What percentage of the homebrew you make for yourself is imperial strength?

0%

3) What is the current standing of session bier in the craft bier market and why? I thought we might get some interesting answers here.

I wish there were more, but marketing/pricing is an issue. A lot of breweries have flat pricing for their regular beers, and then they have expensive beers/4packs. I can't justify paying $8.99 / 6er for a 4% bitter. They could obviously drop the price, but i wonder how that will be accepted by the general populace. I think there would be confusion.

about 50/50 - I have trouble not brewing what I think is going to taste the best. Sometimes bigger is better! I'm trying to brew more session beers, but its hard to stay away from big ambitious beers...

90% of my beers are 6% or less.
75-80% would be 5% or less
30% would be under 4.5%
10% would be over 6%

Session beer doesn't get enough beer geek cred, I think. But I really think it deserves the same respect as 'big' beers - more even, because it's quite difficult to create a low alcohol beer that's interesting nevertheless. This is where commercial (incl. a lot of microbrewed) session beers fall flat.

prosper said:

90% of my beers are 6% or less.
75-80% would be 5% or less
30% would be under 4.5%
10% would be over 6%

Session beer doesn't get enough beer geek cred, I think. But I really think it deserves the same respect as 'big' beers - more even, because it's quite difficult to create a low alcohol beer that's interesting nevertheless. This is where commercial (incl. a lot of microbrewed) session beers fall flat.

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I am with you on this. All but one of my beers have been 5% or less. I think the main reason for brewing my own is to get the complexity I want without the higher alcohol. Don't get me wrong, I like the buzz factor sometimes but I love the taste of beer and I am a glutton. I could only drink 1/3 of a higher abv beer than I do now without falling down drunk, I am a glutton not an alcoholic!
I do have a few IIPA's in the works but not for a while and I am toying with the idea of a barleywine but not until I am a better brewer!

Beernik said:

If I want 4.0% beer or lower, I'll hit the grocery store.

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The classic styles that are below 4% (historic saison, mild, ordinary bitter, scottish light, berliner weiss etc) more or less don't exist commercially in the US. What if you wanted one of those and not some arbitrary lower alcohol beer?

KevinW said:

I am with you on this. All but one of my beers have been 5% or less. I think the main reason for brewing my own is to get the complexity I want without the higher alcohol. Don't get me wrong, I like the buzz factor sometimes but I love the taste of beer and I am a glutton. I could only drink 1/3 of a higher abv beer than I do now without falling down drunk, I am a glutton not an alcoholic!
I do have a few IIPA's in the works but not for a while and I am toying with the idea of a barleywine but not until I am a better brewer!

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Well, at 6'8" and 300lbs, I can put away a fair bit of beer without getting my buzz on. Problem is, I'd rather be 6'8" and ~240lbs...

I don't have an ABV breakdown handy, but 26% of my beers are over 1.070 OG, and 23% are under 1.050.

prosper said:

But I really think it deserves the same respect as 'big' beers - more even, because it's quite difficult to create a low alcohol beer that's interesting nevertheless.

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I could not agree with this more. Much like brewing a great light lager, you really need to have your ducks in a row to brew a flavorful mild, for example.

Unfortunately, I think "session beer" by your definition barely exists in the craft beer market. Almost all of the <4.5% beers you'll find will be macro lager. Occasionally I find a brewpub with something like a wheat that's 4.5%, but it's rare.

prosper said:

Well, at 6'8" and 300lbs, I can put away a fair bit of beer without getting my buzz on. Problem is, I'd rather be 6'8" and ~240lbs...

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I hear you, you have me on the height(about 14") but my problem is not on the weight(my proportions are kinda scary):cross:

I've only brewed 5 batches, but I want to throw in.

0% have been session beers
60% have been imperial strength
40% have been 5.5-6.5%

I brew what I like to drink!

g2knee said:

0% have been session beers
60% have been imperial strength
40% have been 5.5-6.5%

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This is my numbers or really close to them.

I tried for what the OP is calling a "session beer" and it fermented to the lowest gravity reading I have seen so far 1.002 so my only 4.5% turned out above that mark. (Ya, and it was intended for SWMBO anyways...)

I like to drink "strong" beers because when I drink I will drink as much as it takes, unless I am only planning on 1 or 2, to get a buzz. If I need to drink 30 "64 calorie" beers or 15 "session beers" or 7 "strong beers" or 4 "imperials" it all works out in the end as the same result just 1 has more trips to empty the bladder than the other...

Most of mine fall into the 5-6% range. I like a beer I can have several of. the really big stuff is fine for 1 beer every once in a while.

I specifically plan session beers for putting in kegs. Mostly because I don't have a lot of people that come over to drink from my kegs, so if I'm to empty them with any sort of quickness I need to make them lighter alcohol lol. But for beers I bottle it can be anything.

So about 30% goes into session beers. They last me a while unless friends visit to help out. The rest is spread out.