Hugh Sisson's Diary of a Brewer 

As someone who cut their beer drinking teeth in England as a student in the early 1970’s, I have to say that the Brits are on to something with their “session beers”.  For those not familiar with the term, a “session beer” is a draft beer, often cask conditioned but not necessarily, with an alcohol by volume of around 3 to 4%.  The point is that it is a beer you can drink for an entire pub “session” – usually around 4 hours or so – without necessarily feeling like you being massively irresponsible and have to crawl home. The genesis of the concept probably comes from two sources – one social and the other economic.

From the social side, the English are just much more pub-centric than we colonists, and hitting the “local” for a few hours a couple of times a week is a major part of many people’s social life.  The “local” is more than just a watering hole, but part of the fabric of the community.  Consequently, it is necessary to have available a full flavored but lower alcohol beer for people to consume in volume while they socialize for the evening.

From the economic standpoint, beer taxes in England were historically calculated based on the original gravity of the beer.  The lower the original gravity, the lower the alcohol by volume, but also the lower the taxes (and cost per pint!).  When a person is consuming 3 or 4 pints per session during a visit to the “local”, a slightly lower price point can certainly be an incentive!

These days, many American brewers seem to be focused on “big” beers with ABV’s of 7 to 10%.  In my own brewery we have an entire line of big beers (our “Heavy Seas” products) and I have to say that I am a sucker for the big flavor profiles that these beers deliver.  But I also have to say that I wish I could make these big flavors at lower alcohol levels!  Believe me, if I could, I would.

You see, my problem is, I LIKE to drink beer.  But I don’t like to get drunk.  And as much as I like my big beers, I just can’t drink all that much of them without getting silly.  Since it is my big beers that pay my bills, it is my big beers that get much of my attention - the market at least somewhat dictates what I do.  However, I sure wish there was more demand for our lower ABV products.  So as Shakespeare sort of said, “here’s the rub-” how do we make “session” beers more popular in a market that seems to be driven by ever rising ABV beers?

I am not sure what the solution is.  Perhaps if more breweries made an effort to market more “session” like beers that would help, but not if the consumer base doesn’t support the concept.  Perhaps a “competition” to create the best session beer would help.  I don’t think trying to get more pubs to do cask ale would be successful – too many pubs do not really know how to handle cask beer and the American consumer doesn’t really understand it anyway.  And many brewers (myself included) have to really think about how marketable the “session” concept really is.

Having said that, however, I still think it a very worthwhile concept to try and develop.  I am planning on discussing this with my brewing team over the next few weeks to see if we can come up with a product with good flavor, high drinkability, and an ABV around 3.5%.  Don’t know if we will be able to sell it, but if it works, it will become my way of paying homage to the great English tradition that started me on my career  in beer.