Session Beer Day is Coming!

Much to the distress of the Big Beer Cabal (and to Uncle Jack), the Session Beer Project is not dead! I've just been dealing with other matters, and happily watching session beer cruise along on autopilot. But our newly christened annual Session Beer Day -- April 7 -- is coming up, and it's time to beat the drums.

Consider the drums beaten...

First, I have our first Session Beer Day event to announce: Bulls Head Pub in Lititz, PA, home pub of Paul Pendyck, who has brought cask beer engines to many bars and brewpubs in America, will be celebrating by putting 4.5% and under beers on all their taps (including the beer engines) for the whole day, and selling them for $4.50 a glass! (And Paul uses imperial pints for most of those beers!) What's more, with Paul's permission, I am challenging as many session beer-friendly pubs as possible to match this event! Plenty of time to promote it, plenty of time to get people fired up. Show your session beer love!

Lemon zest & peppercorns

What else? How about some great new session beers? Wachusett is releasing their new Light IPA in cans in March, to join their year-round line-up: 4% ABV with 37 IBUs (and only 121 calories, if you care). Victory has a new spring seasonal, Swing Session Saison, at 4.5%, that launches today in the Philadelphia market. The Lion has a new formulation of their Stegmaier Pale Ale at 4%, and it's crisp and zesty in the mouth and rushing with hop aroma (out soon, I got some samples). There's a whole LINE of session beers coming from Mavericks, under 4% and aimed at the active life (no reason Michelob Ultra should have that to themselves, right?). And of course, speaking of entire lines of session beers, I know Chris Lohring will have new beers from Notch Brewing's line of great, tasty, and traditional session beers of all types (Saison has gone year-round, BTW!).

What else? Well, if you use Untappd, we need to ask them politely to set up a Session Beer Day badge. You can email them here, or leave a note on their Facebook page. Something like: "Can you please repeat last year's Session Beer Day Badge for Session Beer Day on April 7? Thanks!"

Any journalists, bloggers, Tweeters, movers and shakers: please spread the word. April 7 is a day to celebrate beer in big glasses, all-day beers, great beer with great flavor and low alcohol. I'm available for interviews or quotes, but the day is about the beer!

And...I have realized that I will not be in the U.S. on Session Beer Day. I'll be in Scotland on a whisky research trip, but you can bet I'll find a few glasses of session cask that day: Cairngorms, or Deuchars, or something small and local, I hope. Run with it, we're going to do this!

I'll be posting more this month. Get excited, we're gonna drink lots of beer on April 7!