Sessions Beer – Craft Beer with Lower Alcohol Content

Craft breweries are known for creating the flavor packed, exciting brews. But that flavor has also gone hand in hand with a potent ABV range that often make for limited imbibing. Beer drinkers who want flavor – and more than one or two brews – are now seeing a growing option: sessions beer.

Hops and alcohol content have grown together, with high ABV IPAs leading the way in flavor and popularity. But session beers are becoming a solid alternative, providing great tastes along with the ability to quaff more than one cold mug.

Session beer generally contains 4.5 percent alcohol by volume or less, while providing a taste interesting enough to engage beer drinkers seeking nuanced flavor. They’re crafted to pair well with meals, and allow an afternoon or evening of beer enjoyment. The idea is to allow beer drinkers to enjoy beer over an extended period, at gatherings, in a bar, or even at lunch.

From the standpoint of consumption, sessions can provide a true win/win. Beer drinkers can try several brews or keep sipping throughout a gathering with family or friends – without worrying that they’ll end up under the table. Brewers gain, too. Lower alcohol by volume means that consumers can easily purchase more than one drink. The result is that today, many craft breweries offer at least one session that’s strong on hops and taste but contains less than 5% ABV.

After all, craft beer sales are increasing annually, according to the craft beer industry Brewers Association. Increasing consumer interest in session beers is an added advantage, increasing
individual sales of brews, and reducing costs to being with – on the whole, session beers cost less to make than a high ABV IPA.

Of course, it’s not all about reducing alcohol content. It’s about flavor. Unlike mass-produced, often groan-inducing “light” beers of the past, session brew drinkers aren’t settling for less taste or style.

At Smog City Brewing in Torrance, Calif., their Little Bo Pils has a 4.4% ABV and serves up a mix of spice, honey, and hops with a clear, pleasantly bitter, well-balanced edge. Strike Brewing in San Jose offers a Session Series of blonde, brown, and white brews, each packed with flavor, with ABV’s ranging from 4.5% to 4.8%. The East Coast isn’t slouching off on sessions, either. Pittsburgh’s East End Brewing Co. crafts a deep brown ale with only 3.9% ABV, the Fat Gary Nut Brown Ale. This year ‘round ‘round offering is vibrantly malty and sweet.

Beer drinkers don’t necessarily need to visit small micro-breweries to get their draft of choice. Larger craft breweries are getting on board, introducing session beer.

Canned and bottled craft sessions such as Firestone Walker Easy Jack with its German hops and 4.5% ABV, 21st Amendment Brewery’s Down to Earth Session 4.4% ABV India Pale Ale, and Stone Go To IPA with its 4.5% alcohol content all offer portable potables that pack intense flavor along with their reasonable alcohol content. Large craft brewers such as Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon; and Lagunitas Brewing Co. in Petaluma, are also creating ales with an under-5% ABV.

In short, sessions brews are here to stay, with an increasing range of low ABV, richly flavorful offerings that encourage both increased quaffing and responsible consumption.