There is no perfect consensus as to the definition of “Session Beer,” but beer drinkers can perhaps agree on the following: Session Beers are generally served on draft and average around 5% ABV or lower- so that you can drink multiple servings in a “session.” At ShawneeCraft we create Session Beers with the utmost respect for flavor and tradition but with only intermittent respect for the ABV conventions. Our Session Beers range in ABV from as low as 4.2% to as high as 7.2% and above, and are on draft at the Gem & Keystone and other selected establishments.
This is the trademarked image from ShawneeCraft's website. I reproduce it here as news, and will take it down if they simply ask.
So you look at these draft offerings, and they're mostly just that: draft, as opposed to their "Heirloom Beers," which are usually bottled, but occasionally draft as well. They're mostly around 4.8%, which is too high for me. Still, I'm not going to call them out or anything on those, but... it's pretty simple that a 7.3% beer is not a session beer, and you can't fig-leaf that big swinging dick by saying "there is no perfect consensus as to the definition of 'Session Beer.'" Because even the YAAAA! EXTREME BEERS! guys at BeerAdvocate cap it out at 5%, and the DINGistas cap it out at 4%, and even Full Sail (who will, I'm guessing, likely be having something to say about that "TM" on "Session Beers") has their two at 5.1% and 5.3%. I retain hope that they'll eventually ratchet those down.
But be all "we're craft brewers so we do what we want" as much as you please, that's not going to make a 7.3% beer a session beer. It doesn't even fit in with the rest of your offerings in the line! So why not call them "Draft Beers" (and don't bother with the ™, "draft beer" ain't trademarkable and everyone knows it) and make more sense.
I'm not being a jerk. But if we don't set hard limits on this, it will soon mean nothing, and we'll have 6% session beers. If you're a brewer and don't want to put in the effort to make a great tasting beer at lower ABV, then just don't do it. And if you make a great-tasting beer at 7.3% -- which the ShawneeCraft Pumpkin Saison is, it's amazing -- why not just call it "Great-tasting Beer!" instead of trying to hop on the session beer bandwagon by calling your pig a parakeet.
You can't trademark "session beers" as a term, either. There's enough pre-existing use that it wouldn't stand up to a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that what they actually TM'd is the image, the handwritten "Session Beers." Like Anchor didn't really trademark "steam beer," they trademarked the label image, and protect "steam beer" as part of that image. I'm also pretty sure it wouldn't hold up for too long if they tried to defend against "session beers" on another label.
ReplyDeleteI'm a large man, and I can't even have a session of 7.3 percent ABV beers. As for the Full Sail session lagers, when I interviewed someone from the brewery, they said the "session" didn't stand for the strength of the beer, but rather a nod the beers they liked to drink after a "session" of paddle boarding,
DeleteLew - I KNOW that you are not the villain here, BUT there *is* some blame that you should shoulder.
ReplyDeleteI've spoken about this before, many times, but the bottom line is that a uncompromising, solid, immoveable, hardline stance like mine does NOT leave wiggle room; yours does, and to some lesser or greater extent, the utterly moronic position taken by Shawnee can be attributed to such.
Sorry, but this DOES come back to a lack of black and white, and this is the result of not taking my stance.
Actually, Ding, I think you're somewhat delusional if you think either of our positions have caused this, or could have made any difference in it happening. It certainly wouldn't have made any difference if the number were 4% or 4.5%; not to mention that there's BeerAdvocate out there saying 5%.
ReplyDeleteWhat this is, is a direct result of session beers becoming more widely known and requested. Once that happened, it was inevitable that some American craft brewer would take a dramatic, rebellious stand and say that their 6+% beer was a session beer.
But by this point, people already know better. I didn't find this on my own, a reader sent it to me. And I had a post up calling them out within an hour.
I dunno Lew, here's the problem.
ReplyDeleteBy moving away from the original, hardline definition of 4%, and consequently introducing 'flexibility' as a SPECIFIC element, people have taken advantage. Moving away from a strict definition into 'wishy-washy' territory has caused this nonsense IMO. If nobody had ever abuse 4$ in the first place, we would not be here.
A 7.3% session beer? Are the folks at Shawnee that clueless or do they think beer consumers are? It appears as though they are prepared to create their own beer style definitions -history and convention be damned. I eagerly await the roll out of their 70-Shilling barleywine.
ReplyDeleteSession beer is NOT a 'style', it's defined by ABV.
DeleteThe only thing wrong with 4% as an upper limit is the number of excellent 4.1 - 4.2% British real ales that would be excluded. "The lower the better, but less than 4.5%" is a good rule for me.
ReplyDeleteLooking to our old friend, the BJCP style guidelines --just for laughs-- we see that ordinary bitter lies between 3.2 - 3.8%, whereas special/best/premium bitter is 3.8 - 4.6%, and so I reckon that since such beers are session beers in the country where the term really originates (right?), that's as good a break point as any.
Full Sail's unfortunate choice of name has served to confuse matters, I imagine. Never had them, FWIW. Are they GOOD or SHITE? Not that I'd go out of my way to try them, being somewhat done with lager. (Except when out and about in Bierkellersaison.)
Funny you should ask, Nick: I just happened to read the whole "GOOD or SHITE?" thread last night (the kids wanted to know why I was laughing so much). I would say Full Sail was GOOD. "being somewhat done with lagers," really? Is it because you've been swimming in them?
ReplyDelete@Erlangernick writes;
ReplyDelete>"Looking to our old friend, the BJCP style guidelines --just for laughs-- we see that ordinary bitter lies between 3.2 - 3.8%, whereas special/best/premium bitter is 3.8 - 4.6%, and so I reckon that since such beers are session beers in the country where the term really originates (right?), that's as good a break point as any."
Errrrr, just to confirm, you DO understand that special/best/premium bitter would never have been described (or used) as the 'session beer', right??? As such, YOU are saying that it is only beers up to 3.8% that would count as session beers. Also, when you say, "...that since such beers are session beers in the country where the term really originates", that you are only talking about the ordinary bitters (and therefore according to the BJCP, beers ONLY up to 3.8%), right??? Right??? So the 'break point' you speak of, is by your OWN/BJCP definition, 3.8% and NOT 4.6%, right??? Right???
Ding, you're REALLY old news at this point.
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