Bars, Brewpubs: Show Your Support for The Session Beer Project!

The sticker I talked about just below? I did get a sample, and today I went down to Memphis Taproom and watched Brendan and Leigh proudly place it on the side door to the bar (the front one has that nice decorative ironwork). "We have session beers," the sticker says, "come on in!" We toasted it with Cantillon Vigneronne (delicious), and then talked about a big session event for this fall; more about that later.

In the meantime...bar owners, brewpubs, brewers! Show your support for sub-4.5% beer with flavor and balance, and let your customers know you have session beer available, by displaying your own sticker. (The link takes you straight to CafePress, where you can buy the sticker direct; realized that was easier for everyone than having me buy them and have to charge twice for postage.) If you get one and display it, let me know and I'll put up a list here and on our Facebook page.

The rest of you, I decided to scrap the idea of putting something on the back of the t-shirt. I couldn't come up with something I really liked, and it was an additional $4. The logo's good enough. So you can get a Session Beer Project t-shirt here. I wore mine to Mahar's in Albany over the weekend, while I was drinking Fuller's Chiswick Bitter.

Drink up!

More evidence

Boak and Bailey go on a session beer bender...and wake up "fresh as a daisy." Please, more good low-alcohol beers!

Some projects advance

I know some of you have asked, 'Now that you have a logo, when can we get t-shirts?' Well, I'm experimenting. I got a larger version of the logo, loaded it up on CafePress, and had myself a t-shirt made, in black. It looks good, and that's how we'll go...but I'm thinking about what to put on the back, because the logo deserves (and maybe needs) an explanation. I'm thinking about the definition we have over to the right, tweaked a bit:

Session Beer!

► 4.5% ABV or less

► flavorful and balanced

► conducive to conversation

► reasonably priced

"Thanks, I'll have another!"™

How's that look?

I also had a sample window-sticker run up for bars and breweries to put in their front window, indicating that they endeavor to have at least one session beer (not a mainstream light, and in addition to Guinness!) available at all times. That's the graphic above: what do you think? I think the wording and line graphics enhance the 'interwar" look of the logo itself.

Finally, here's a nice bit about session beer from Stonch's Beer Blog, explaining how Jeff made the progression from big head-bangers to appreciating session beers (and it's not just in there because he says nice things about my blog).

Harpoon Brown Session Ale

I was in the midst of posting this over at STAG when I realized it would be better to put it here. So here we are.

The good folks at Harpoon recently asked me if there was anything in their line-up that I hadn't tasted, anything I'd like to get a sample of (believe me, folks: this does not happen every day! I have a long relationship with this particular brewery). Yeah! Send me some of that Brown Session Ale, if you could. Harpoon's head brewer Al Marzi had told me that he was going to add a session beer when I interviewed him back in 2007, and this was it, but I hadn't had a chance to taste it. So they very nicely sent me some (along with some UFO White, which was real nice, but at 4.8%, it's a STAG review).

I chilled some, and broke one out yesterday afternoon. It does pour brown, and it's aromatic, too: a chocolate touch wrapped around a malt sweetness in the nose. Don't expect cloying, though. It's nicely attenuated (that means it's fermented long enough to eat up most of the sugars), and has enough hop to tidy things up. My only reservation is that it may be a little too dry; I'd almost like to see more malt left in there to bulk up the body just a touch. Good beer, though, and I opened another bottle when this one was done; it held up fine on the 'volume test'!