Why is everything high grav anymore?

[Weezy]

Last year the buzz was session ales are the next big thing....I'm still waiting. It seems like every new thing is 9%+! What gives.

I love me some Hopslam, Enjoy By, and my Blackout Stout, but I need to drive home after 3.

Signed,
Sad_Happy_Hour_Shopper

 

[AgentHubcap]

People equate ABV with value

 

[opiate82]

High ABV sells. One of my local breweries is calling 6%+ beers "sessionable" now. Market trends and what not, all I can say is brew your own.

 

[insanim8er]

People equate ABV with value

More like it's associated with a good time.

But ya, I think higher ABV = higher profits?

 

[BigEd]

Last year the buzz was session ales are the next big thing....I'm still waiting. It seems like every new thing is 9%+! What gives.

I love me some Hopslam, Enjoy By, and my Blackout Stout, but I need to drive home after 3.

Signed,
Sad_Happy_Hour_Shopper

AKA "Beer Advocate Syndrome".

 

[Teromous]

I think the general feeling in most avenues of life is to do more with what you have, and push things to the limit. That's not to say that there is little value to be found in subtlety, it's just the progression that things have come to be. I find it better to enjoy things as they are, and wonder less about how the wheel turns and when it will come around again.

 

[Nightshade]

It's like drag racing sure it's cool for a while to build some godawful car that can go 0-130 in a 1/4 mile but after a while it becomes boring because you realize that taking corners in the same car sucks. So you build a more rounded vehicle and start racing road course.

 

[Early8]

I can enjoy the higher ABV brews for sure, but I don't choose to brew them my self. I rarely go beyond 1.050 OG beers. I am generally around 5% ABV with my home brews. I like to drink beer rather than bow to it. I bowed to a Hopslam and a Heady Topper last night; they were great beers, but I was still thirsty and drunk....


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[Beernik]

Session ales are always "the next big thing". I've been hearing that line for three years.

The truth it's profit margin: a 10% beer in a 22oz bottle can be sold for $15. A 4% beer in a 12oz bottle sells for $1 because they have to compete with BMC.

 

[downtown3641]

Unfortunately, I think the session beer trend has somewhat turned into a session IPA trend. I'll refrain from launching into my usual rant against session IPAs. I will say that, here in central Virginia, we have a number of breweries distributing session beers of various styles in cans. I can walk into a decent beer store here and get a local kolsch, pilsner, cream ale, and Altbier in cans. I'm still waiting for someone to distribute a mild. Devil's Backbone serves one at their brewpub, but that's an hour and a half drive away. I guess I'll have to keep brewing my own every few months.

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[GarageDweller]

vote with your $

 

[beersk]

AKA "Beer Advocate Syndrome".

Ha. I stopped reading Beer Advocate because everyone on there is so annoying. Tickers, White Whale chasers, pretentious idiots who don't really seem to actually like beer but just the idea of beer.
And all the reviews...seriously? Is it really necessary? I'm going to find out for myself what the beer is like, I don't need some dipsh*t trying to describe to me what he's tasting. These are the ones known as tickers. The ones who just try to up their different beers drank totals.
There was one guy who said he'd never had the same beer twice. I couldn't believe it.
Ah well, that's their deal. I homebrew and I like to drink beer. A lot. So I do.

And therefore, I don't like the whole high gravity thing; the attitude that it's not good unless it's above 7% and barrel aged. I like my beers to be in the 4-6% range. I don't drive, I bike, but still, I like to be able to drink 2 or 3 or 6 and not be passed out.

 

[youngpretender13]

Our local brewery (Fonta Flora Brewery) produces a great variety of session ales that are amazing. He makes 2 IPAs at the moment and has only 1 imperial. Also their most popular are the table ales, a Scottish dinner table, and one called supper table which came out around thanksgiving made with locally grown sweet potatoes. I think he likes the fact that with Belgians and Sessions he has the ability to experiment with different fermentables. They have brewed a local Kiwi Belgian, Carrots in an IPA (Alpha VS Beta), Bulls Blood Beats (Dry hopped and Dry beeted, its beautifully pink for Valentines day), earl grey tea, oranges, and corriander (Brass Monkey). Check out his site Fontaflora

 

[carton132]

I guess I just don't see the point in drinking 1200 calories a night, so I don't get why anyone wants be able to drink 6 beers at a time. When I have a beer, I want it to be full flavored, exploding with hops, and able to help me wind down at the end of the day. A nice 7, 8, 10% IPA does that nicely. All Day IPA? No thanks, I'll just take one Devil Dancer triple any night.

If I find that if I'm buzzed but still thirsty, I can always drink water.

Regarding big ABV for big prices, I actually had a brewer tell me that they introduced a few "session" ales last year because they are cheaper to produce and more approachable to more drinkers, so I'd say it goes both ways.


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[daksin]

High ABV sells.

This is the answer. My top selling beers will always be my IPA and whatever on the board is the highest ABV, even if we only sell it in half pints. Frustrating, but if you want breweries to keep session beers around, you need to buy them, and tell other people to buy them.

Luckily, I keep my ord. bitter on all the time for a few reasons: It's my favorite beer, I can drink it while I work, and if somebody comes in and orders a pint of it, I know they know their stuff about beer. Makes it easy to pick out the real beer nerds.

 

[Weezy]

I'd drink the s hi t out your OB.... love the style.

I'm assuming its not $6/pint! a local pub got a keg of Yard's Brawler, which is a lovely little mild. But $6/ea was depressing.

 

[RPCidery]

I dunno, I was enjoyin' the heck out a 4.7% pilsner from Georgetown brewing. Went real nice with lunch, and only like $4 for a pint.

 

[Nightshade]

I guess I just don't see the point in drinking 1200 calories a night, so I don't get why anyone wants be able to drink 6 beers at a time. When I have a beer, I want it to be full flavored, exploding with hops, and able to help me wind down at the end of the day. A nice 7, 8, 10% IPA does that nicely. All Day IPA? No thanks, I'll just take one Devil Dancer triple any night.

If I find that if I'm buzzed but still thirsty, I can always drink water.

Regarding big ABV for big prices, I actually had a brewer tell me that they introduced a few "session" ales last year because they are cheaper to produce and more approachable to more drinkers, so I'd say it goes both ways.


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I did a series of sessions through the summer at work, probably going to repeat another session series this year because it went over fairly well. There is a higher profit margin in it for the brewery but also customers like to have two or three beers in the hot summer weather and not feel like they just sucked down a small lake and need a nap.

I enjoy the challenge of sessions more than I enjoy building big burly beers because there is a lot of skill to get all the flavor with the lower amount of grains...it isn't as simple in most cases as just cutting the recipe in half because then you lose a flavor component. This is why a lot of people will have no issue building a session IPA but not touch something like a session brown, porter or stout.

 

[BrianDorry55]

Personally I spend most of my money on higher gravity stuff...because I just enjoy the intense stuff more...but it depends on how you're buying them...if I'm at my local brewery, Cigar City...the price for pretty much all beers under 9 or 10% is $5 a pint...the price for an imperial stout or barleywine is usually $6...some people can afford to spend $40 every time they go out drinking...I can't...I spent $20 and I'm done. When I buy beer for home...I'm typically buying six-packs of IPAs because I can get Jai Alai or Two Hearted for pretty cheap...if I'm gonna go any lower than that, I usually just buy black and tan....but I guess it boils down to why you're drinking...what you would rather spend your money on...and how much money you have to spend...I'll drink the hell out of some sub-5% berliners though.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

For me, there's certain styles that just taste better with higher ABV. A malt-forward DIPA, a big robust porter, these styles just improve the more flavor you can pack in there.

On the other end, things like witbier, pils, OBs, etc... are great and refreshing when kept to a reasonable OG/ABV.

That being said, I RARELY brew something < 1.060. I'm trying to polish some more sessionable recipes, but I always end up liking the big ones more

 

[dlester]

Over used comment: "Go big or go home." Really? Everything has to be big? I like multiple beer without being drunk (maybe a small buzz).


Cheers

 

[Weizer]

I have zero problem finding true session ales here. Pizza Port makes a fantastic SIPA called Ponto. If you want, I'll be more than happy to trade you a 6 pack of pint cans for a 6er of nugget nectar!

 

[dobe12]

Ha. I stopped reading Beer Advocate because everyone on there is so annoying. Tickers, White Whale chasers, pretentious idiots who don't really seem to actually like beer but just the idea of beer.
And all the reviews...seriously? Is it really necessary? I'm going to find out for myself what the beer is like, I don't need some dipsh*t trying to describe to me what he's tasting. These are the ones known as tickers. The ones who just try to up their different beers drank totals.
There was one guy who said he'd never had the same beer twice. I couldn't believe it.
Ah well, that's their deal. I homebrew and I like to drink beer. A lot. So I do.

SOOOOO TRUE!!! Can't stand BA and all their stupid rules/practices. I couldn't agree more about the reviews. I just love the reviews where I guy lists all the flavors he tastes "There's a deep woodsy flavor up front slowly followed by hints of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, stone fruits, vanilla, oak, etc" BLAH BLAH BLAH.... more like followed by hints of douchery!

Personally I am an equal opportunity beer drinker. I like to have a big Russian Imperial Stout or Belgian Tripel in the fridge for the end of a hard day when I want to sit back and sooth some stress. But I also like to have a lower ABV beer on tap. I try to always have something hoppy (more recently lower ABV pale ales around 5-6%) on one tap and then something more crowd friendly like a Patersbier, pilsner, or maybe a light wheat beer on the other tap. I'll rarely put a high ABV beer on tap since that beer most likely won't be a daily drinker.

I'm a HUGE fan of anything Firestone Walker, especially their more rare brews like their anniversary series, parabola, sucaba, etc. Big barrel aged beers are a recently realized favorite of mine. I've recently fallen in love with The Bruery and their barrel aged beers.

My tastes range from a simple 4% Pilsner all the way up to Dogfish Head's 18% World Wide Stout. It just all depends on what I'm in the mood for.

 

[downtown3641]

SOOOOO TRUE!!! Can't stand BA and all their stupid rules/practices. I couldn't agree more about the reviews. I just love the reviews where I guy lists all the flavors he tastes "There's a deep woodsy flavor up front slowly followed by hints of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, stone fruits, vanilla, oak, etc" BLAH BLAH BLAH.... more like followed by hints of douchery!

Everyone's palates are different. I enjoy seeing what flavors other people are picking up that I may be missing. But, if you just want to be judgmental because someone enjoys beer differently from you, that's fine too.

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[funnycreature]

I have to admit that for a long time I'd also get beers from the higher ABV end of the spectrum. Since I started homebrewing I'm much more interested in different styles that I didn't even want to touch before since I always stuck with those I already knew. I also started brewing with higher ABV beers for the same reason.
I don't understand what's so challenging about higher ABV beers unless you go into the 10+% range; from what I've heard it's actually way more challenging to whip up a great low gravity brew that's tasty and balanced... I still have to come up with a good session beer recipe after I'm done optimizing my blonde ale and Kölsch.

 

[dobe12]

Everyone's palates are different. I enjoy seeing what flavors other people are picking up that I may be missing. But, if you just want to be judgmental because someone enjoys beer differently from you, that's fine too.

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Must have struck a chord.

 

[Weezy]

I have zero problem finding true session ales here. Pizza Port makes a fantastic SIPA called Ponto. If you want, I'll be more than happy to trade you a 6 pack of pint cans for a 6er of nugget nectar!

Done!

 

[downtown3641]

Must have struck a chord.

Nope. I just like to point out when people miss an angle when they're being judgmental. Carry on.

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[NewJersey]

bigger beers arent just higher in alcohol. their size affects their flavors not just the ABV

 

[gbx]

Brewing a big beer is way craft beer has distinguished itself as a premium product above macro brewed beer. Its easier to justify the premium price if the ABV is higher. And in terms of marketing to craft beer fans, the culture of having several pints of the same beer just isn't there - nobody has any brand loyalty and are always looking for something new.