Was Prohibition, as much as anything, a scam to clean away the small brewers en masse so that in due course the experiment could be ended as supposedly unworkable and big-boy friends of the government given pretty well a monopoly of the beer supply thereafter?
All breweries talk about their session beers. I usually take the expression to mean draught bitter of around 4% or slightly under that you can drink about six free pints of during a session. Session beers are designed to ensure that the more you drink, the better you play.
Among brewers, "session beer" simply means a beer optimized for an extended bout of low-intensity drinking, usually to go with some social activity. It's not particularly a reference to the Irish session, could be anything - conversation, darts, board games, whatever.
It's true that the term session beer has nothing to do with Irish sessions, however, Guinness happens to be both a session beer and a good session beer!
I seriously doubt Full Sail had a trad session in mind when they named that particular beer. The 'session' name applies to their lagers only. I was at their brewery a couple of weeks ago up there in Hood River.
I don't get it - the art deco "session" logo is somewhat reminiscent of an accordion badge - it's not related at all in any way to Irish music? What is the point? Maybe it's marketed to Presbyterians who gather in session meetings?
I always took it that a 'good session beer' was one you could sluice down continuously without too much risk of the sort of hangover that seriously makes you wish you had never been born. It is typically a frisky little bitter in the 3.6 to 3.9 proof range with a flowery hoppy nose. I never heard that it was for *doing* anything to except getting drunk with people on a peaceable rather than a warlike basis, and talking loads of bollox at ever-increasing speed and volume. That's OK as things go, though I think life can offer more.
If you drink with people on a warlike basis, you probably won't drink session beer. You'll drink much stronger substances in considerable quantity and lethal mixtures. Or so I gather.
Wow, I hadn't realized they'd expanded the line. When they started, it was just their local version of a Red Stripe stubby. I guess the brand took off.
nicholas, 1.8 percent beer would be pretty close to not beer at all. I think you mean 3.6 to 3.9 percent, not proof.
No, actually, the name is used by brewers for a beer of the sort that we all agree makes up a good session beer. The brewers don't call it that because it's suited to a session of music, they call it that because it's suited to a session of drinking. The term is widely used and, as far as I can see, never applied specifically to the Irish session.
And, if you think about it, if the term were derived from the Irish session you'd expect that the prototypical session beer would be a dark, mildly bitter stout with a solid body and an oddly thin mouth feel instead of a slightly bitter lager with low body and an innocuous flavor.
Since we're on the subject, I think it's pretty likely that the term for an extended period of playing music and drinking in a bar derives from the term for an extended period of drinking in a bar (and that the pseudo-Irish term is a cheap and dirty retrofit), and that therefore the terms "session beer" and "Irish session" are more etymological cousins than anything else. However, my copy ot the OED is not near to hand, so I can't look for citations to establish that.
Around here we might get a pitcher for 8 of us but after that it's $2 beers. Not too bad for a Sunday night. The other session on Wednesday nights nips you for $5.00 per glass. Guess we don't bring in enough punters for freebies. Also notice I don't spend much time out on Wednesday nights.
I've never paid for a beer when I've been playing at a session (although I always make sure to tip the staff well). I'm not saying I wouldn't pay for a pint, but I've never had to. It seems a peculiar notion for the bar to charge the people playing. Why wouldn't you encourage the musicians who are coming to play for free, when the marginal cost of a pint is negligible? Keep the musicians happy, and they set a good example for your customers - if you're looking to sell beer, you really want to see a pint in front of every musician, all night.
When I see a bar charging musicians for their drink, it seems to me an indicator of a bar that hasn't thought about this much.
You wouldn't like Scotland, Jon. Can't remember the last session I played at where I didn't have to pay for beer. There's one where you get one free pint for your efforts -- that's as good as it gets. Unless you're one of the cool people at certain establishments where you get to be on the session tab, but that takes sufficient amounts if coolness.
I make a point of trying the weaker bitters first, then moving on to a stronger porter for the last pint.
My taste for coffee, vanilla or chocolate stout is such that, if I had one first, I would drink it all night.
Geoff, I'm afraid you might be operating under a misconception here. Porters and stouts are traditionally the weaker ales, and IPAs and bitters stronger.
However, since the craft brewing explosion, these traditions are pretty well out the window, in the States at least, and brewers are making beers of all styles in all sorts of strengths.
When I sorted it by ABV, I found that there was no clumping of styles, except of course that the doppelbocks tend to be at the top of the chart (as you'd expect). Stouts, porters, IPAs and bitters are all prety evenly distributed throughout the range.
And despite the traditional notion that Guiness is a very heavy drink, "both meat and drink", it turns out that it's not especially heavy in body or in caloric content. Standard Guinness, for the US market I assume, is 125 calories per pint, which is well below average for that list (average is about 150, with a range of 90 to 250, throwing out the outliers, which are non-alcoholic at the bottom and very high-alcohol at the top).
Not to say you've got a bad strategy there, but the factual basis for it is dubious.
Session beer
Session beer
I'm having lunch at The Grit, which is currently featuring Session lagers. http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/session.cfm
I didn't know we had our own beer!
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by Tracie
Re: Session beer
Was Prohibition, as much as anything, a scam to clean away the small brewers en masse so that in due course the experiment could be ended as supposedly unworkable and big-boy friends of the government given pretty well a monopoly of the beer supply thereafter?
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by nicholas
Re: Session beer
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by Batgirl has left the GPL ;)
Re: Session beer
All breweries talk about their session beers. I usually take the expression to mean draught bitter of around 4% or slightly under that you can drink about six free pints of during a session. Session beers are designed to ensure that the more you drink, the better you play.
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Session beer
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Doom Bar is in that bracket. The name suggests something stronger.
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by David50
Re: Session beer
Among brewers, "session beer" simply means a beer optimized for an extended bout of low-intensity drinking, usually to go with some social activity. It's not particularly a reference to the Irish session, could be anything - conversation, darts, board games, whatever.
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Session beer
It's true that the term session beer has nothing to do with Irish sessions, however, Guinness happens to be both a session beer and a good session beer!
# Posted on November 18th 2011 by sixwatergrog
Re: Session beer
I seriously doubt Full Sail had a trad session in mind when they named that particular beer. The 'session' name applies to their lagers only. I was at their brewery a couple of weeks ago up there in Hood River.
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Why Bother?
Re: Session beer
I don't get it - the art deco "session" logo is somewhat reminiscent of an accordion badge - it's not related at all in any way to Irish music? What is the point? Maybe it's marketed to Presbyterians who gather in session meetings?
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Reeds Munson
Re: Session beer
I always took it that a 'good session beer' was one you could sluice down continuously without too much risk of the sort of hangover that seriously makes you wish you had never been born. It is typically a frisky little bitter in the 3.6 to 3.9 proof range with a flowery hoppy nose. I never heard that it was for *doing* anything to except getting drunk with people on a peaceable rather than a warlike basis, and talking loads of bollox at ever-increasing speed and volume. That's OK as things go, though I think life can offer more.
If you drink with people on a warlike basis, you probably won't drink session beer. You'll drink much stronger substances in considerable quantity and lethal mixtures. Or so I gather.
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by nicholas
Re: Session beer
Wow, I hadn't realized they'd expanded the line. When they started, it was just their local version of a Red Stripe stubby. I guess the brand took off.
nicholas, 1.8 percent beer would be pretty close to not beer at all. I think you mean 3.6 to 3.9 percent, not proof.
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Session beer
How long before Jeremy moves this discussion here
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/866 ?
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Session beer
Seems like the name has everything to do with sessions. If you only go to sessions for the music that's fine. It doesn't mean that's the whole story.
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Batgirl has left the GPL ;)
Re: Session beer
No, actually, the name is used by brewers for a beer of the sort that we all agree makes up a good session beer. The brewers don't call it that because it's suited to a session of music, they call it that because it's suited to a session of drinking. The term is widely used and, as far as I can see, never applied specifically to the Irish session.
And, if you think about it, if the term were derived from the Irish session you'd expect that the prototypical session beer would be a dark, mildly bitter stout with a solid body and an oddly thin mouth feel instead of a slightly bitter lager with low body and an innocuous flavor.
Since we're on the subject, I think it's pretty likely that the term for an extended period of playing music and drinking in a bar derives from the term for an extended period of drinking in a bar (and that the pseudo-Irish term is a cheap and dirty retrofit), and that therefore the terms "session beer" and "Irish session" are more etymological cousins than anything else. However, my copy ot the OED is not near to hand, so I can't look for citations to establish that.
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Session beer
Certainly not connected to the music... Most musicians would drink through " a sh*tey cloot".
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Session beer
Ok then.... "a shechty cloot".
See if your software can manage to edit that, Jeremy.
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Session beer
"I think you mean 3.6 to 3.9 percent, not proof..." (Jon Kiparsky)
I sure do - thanks for the correction, Jon!
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by nicholas
Re: Session beer
http://beeradvocate.com/articles/653
# Posted on November 19th 2011 by Piece
Re: Session beer
"However, my copy ot the OED is not near to hand, so I can't look for citations to establish that."
Pity. You would have found this one:
1670 A. Marvell Corr. in Wks. (1875) II. 325 The King has ever since continued his session among them, and says it is better than going to a play.
Who said sessions were a 20th century invention?
# Posted on November 20th 2011 by Weejie
Re: Session beer
So how many serve your first draft free?
Around here we might get a pitcher for 8 of us but after that it's $2 beers. Not too bad for a Sunday night. The other session on Wednesday nights nips you for $5.00 per glass. Guess we don't bring in enough punters for freebies. Also notice I don't spend much time out on Wednesday nights.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by jrathbun
Re: Session beer
I've never paid for a beer when I've been playing at a session (although I always make sure to tip the staff well). I'm not saying I wouldn't pay for a pint, but I've never had to. It seems a peculiar notion for the bar to charge the people playing. Why wouldn't you encourage the musicians who are coming to play for free, when the marginal cost of a pint is negligible? Keep the musicians happy, and they set a good example for your customers - if you're looking to sell beer, you really want to see a pint in front of every musician, all night.
When I see a bar charging musicians for their drink, it seems to me an indicator of a bar that hasn't thought about this much.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Session beer
You wouldn't like Scotland, Jon. Can't remember the last session I played at where I didn't have to pay for beer. There's one where you get one free pint for your efforts -- that's as good as it gets. Unless you're one of the cool people at certain establishments where you get to be on the session tab, but that takes sufficient amounts if coolness.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Session beer
Here it is illegal for musicians to be served free beer or anything else alcoholic for that matter.
Laurence
# Posted on December 1st 2011 by fauxcelt
Re: Session beer
I prefer to drink Shiner Bock myself.
Laurence
# Posted on December 1st 2011 by fauxcelt
Re: Session beer
I make a point of trying the weaker bitters first, then moving on to a stronger porter for the last pint.
My taste for coffee, vanilla or chocolate stout is such that, if I had one first, I would drink it all night.
# Posted on December 4th 2011 by geoffwright
Re: Session beer
Geoff, I'm afraid you might be operating under a misconception here. Porters and stouts are traditionally the weaker ales, and IPAs and bitters stronger.
However, since the craft brewing explosion, these traditions are pretty well out the window, in the States at least, and brewers are making beers of all styles in all sorts of strengths.
I looked at this table:
http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories.php
When I sorted it by ABV, I found that there was no clumping of styles, except of course that the doppelbocks tend to be at the top of the chart (as you'd expect). Stouts, porters, IPAs and bitters are all prety evenly distributed throughout the range.
And despite the traditional notion that Guiness is a very heavy drink, "both meat and drink", it turns out that it's not especially heavy in body or in caloric content. Standard Guinness, for the US market I assume, is 125 calories per pint, which is well below average for that list (average is about 150, with a range of 90 to 250, throwing out the outliers, which are non-alcoholic at the bottom and very high-alcohol at the top).
Not to say you've got a bad strategy there, but the factual basis for it is dubious.
# Posted on December 5th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Session beer
Its a different story here Jon. The descriptions here fit Geoff's usage: http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=180657
# Posted on December 5th 2011 by David50
Re: Session beer
IPAs in the UK are mostly under 4%.
"Free beer for musicians" in Scotland tends to have everyone suddenly discovering their inner musician
# Posted on December 5th 2011 by Bren
Re: Session beer
>"Free beer for musicians" in Scotland tends to have everyone suddenly discovering their inner musician
Well, that does fit the stereotype.
# Posted on December 5th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Session beer
>"Free beer for musicians" in Scotland tends to have everyone suddenly discovering their inner DRINKER....
Funny how the usual half pint becomes a pint or a dram gets added.
Or is this only in Aberdeen?
# Posted on December 5th 2011 by Johnny Jay