Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Session Beers in All About Beer

I've got an article on session beer in the latest issue of All About Beer. I've picked up some nice compliments on it already from brewers and drinkers, and one just suggested I share it here. So I am. Pick up a copy at your local beer or homebrew store.

Two sample paragraphs:
"Strength doesn’t, I think, have that much to do with it," [Martyn Zythophile"] Cornell said firmly. "What makes a good session beer is a combination of restraint, satisfaction, and ‘moreishness.’ Just like the ideal companions on a good evening down the pub, a good session beer will not dominate the occasion and demand attention; at the same time its contribution, while never obtrusive, will be welcome, satisfying, and pleasurable. And yet, though each glass satisfies, like each story in the night’s long craic, the good session beer will still leave you wishing for one more pint, to carry on the pleasure."

and...
Then relax and enjoy. That’s one of the best things about session beers: you can think about something besides your next beer. You can finally become more of a beer drinker, and less of a beer geek. And you and your friends will find that you have more in common than just beer, and maybe you’ll learn a new card game, and maybe – could we get another round? Yeah, the same – you’ll make some new friends, and maybe instead of constantly beer-hunting, you’ll become a regular and develop a local pub. Hey, even Michael Jackson had a local.

Hope you can find it, hope you enjoy it!

4 comments:

  1. To Martyn's definition, in my experience I'd have to say that the strength of a beer very often effects its obtrusiveness, not to mention any carrying on of the evening!

    ReplyDelete
  2. True, though Martyn is, of course, just trying to get us away from the single-mindedness of tying everything to a number!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, I just saw it as a parallel to the BeerAdvocates who think anything downed over a period of time can be labeled "session," regardless of said number.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah. He's got the disadvantage of having a ton of session beers available all the time, and being able to focus on the pleasurable part of it. Lucky booget.

    ReplyDelete

Comments welcome: please stay on topic. Spam will not be posted; don't bother.