5/15/2023 0 Comments Session beerIt is not light, not watered down, and still fully satisfying without being filling. One of the hallmarks of session beer is that it is decidedly not weak. In early beer history, most beer was made with less sugary grains, much of it untoasted, and with a low tolerant yeast.Īs such, early beer hung in around 2% ABV and the entire family imbibed at every meal.īrewers who wanted to produce those lower ABV, full flavored beers then only had to take a lesson from our ancestors. So you can have a fruit or grain high in sugar, but a lower tolerant yeast will only produce a beverage with a low ABV that is on the sweeter side as a result of all that sugar that remains unconsumed. Yeast with a lower tolerance will start dying off or lying dormant as the alcohol content rises, effectively producing its own poison. Of the hundreds of strains of yeast, some are more tolerant of alcohol and some are less tolerant. The other factor, yeast, is a bit trickier. Indeed, to get beer to have a higher ABV, brewers learned to roast their grains, which converts much of the maltose to glucose, a more fermentable carb. Grapes are full of fructose, a highly fermentable carb, while grains are rich in maltose, which is a much less fermentable carb. The more fermentable the carbohydrate, the higher the alcohol content will be, which is why we see wines with higher ABVs than beer. Yeast, a single celled organism always in search of food, consumes fermentable carbohydrates for energy and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide as waste products. We’re talking specifically about natural fermentation here. Remember that the alcohol content of any beverage is determined by two factors – sugar and yeast – not counting distillation. The truth is that the history of beer tells us all beer was once what we now call session beer. ![]() There was no burgeoning science to uncover, no reinventing this wheel. What many forget when telling this story of session beer in England is that session beer was not new. Or should we say born again? All Beer Was Once Session Beer That’s crazy talk!Īnd, again, all attempts to make light beer had resulted in loss of flavor and body. The solution was never going to be for these burly men to simply not have beer at lunch. Just two of those brews can knock you off your game for the day and make it difficult to complete the second session of your workload.Īnd if you operate heavy machinery, say in a factory, putting down two strong beers can make returning to work dangerous to you and your coworkers. Well, a strong porter comes in at 10% ABV. When these men broke for lunch, they would head off to the pub for some food and a couple (a few?) beers. The story goes that blue collars workers had work days broken into 4 hour “sessions.” If you ask around, you will likely find the history of session beer traced back to Great Britain around WWII. In fact they go back much farther than most people realize. No one wants that.īut session beers are not new to the beer scene. Session beers todays stand in contrast to, and in many ways in response to, strong beers with high ABVs, like porters, stouts, and IPAs, and light beers that typically just taste like watered down beer. The general consensus is that a session beer must be below 5% ABV but still packed with flavor. The idea is that you can drink several of these beers without getting impaired so you can’t drive. What Is Session Beer?Ī session beer, at its most basic, is a beer that has a low ABV and low carbonation but is still full of flavor. Not only is session beer a delight to brew and enjoy, but it also has a long and fascinating history in the world of brewing. But you’re still wondering, “what exactly is session beer?” You might even have had session beer and begun speculating as to what it is. You may have heard of session beer in passing.
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