I guess I'd better clear this up now. Just because I'm starting this blog partly as a platform for this loosely defined Session Beer Project, it does not mean that I do not like big beers, do not like experimental beers, do not like (deep breath here) extreme beers. I do like them -- to a point.
Hell, just look at the blog: the second set of tasting notes are on the Geary 20th Anniversary Ale, not a session beer by any reasonable stretch of the imagination, even you serious extreme geeks' imaginations (and you know who you are, you guys saying "Barleywine? That's my lawnmower beer, baby." Nice).
The main point of the Session Beer Project is to give session beers a little tiny bit of equality of attention, attention that's mainly going to the so-called extreme beers right now. Because, really: most of the world, every day, drinks beers that are under 5% ABV. Really.
But the Session Beer Project is not Seen Through A Glass. It's just part of it, albeit a large part of it. STAG is also my blog, where I'm going to write about whatever suits my freakin' fancy. So don't anyone be putting their preconceived notions all over my blog, or calling me on what they think is a contradiction in my terms. Cuz I got an answer to that.
Right. Onwards!
7 comments:
Well, the only thing wrong with session beers is...Geez, Lew, nothing!! Bring 'em on!! This is a great idear o' your'n.
jakester
Chalk it up to just loving beer...period. Every beer. Well, every GOOD beer anyway.
That's the way I see it.
And why wouldn't anyone want to enjoy MORE of a beer they enjoy? Instead of one and done?
Cheers!
On a similar subject to session brews, may I bring up the SB's fellow red-headed step-brother? The lowly "lager" (yes, I know lagers can fall into the session beer category, give me a chance to rant).
I can't tell you how often I'll read something such as, "I'm not big on lagers." in a beer forum discussion and all I can do is ask, "Why?"
It seems to me BMC has made so many folks gun-shy to a lager that none are given the proper chance to prove themselves.
Then again, with its smooth subtlety of character and flavor, maybe precision lager is yet another casualty in the "extreme" battleground?
Steven,
Fear not, lagers will get their time and glory here. And I think you're dead-on with the "BMC" theory: Carol Stoudt said the same thing to me years ago.
BMC may have dampened the reputation of lager, but that style is a good way to introduce the BMC crowd to craft beer (is that what we're calling it these days?), as in "Here's what that style of beer is supposed to taste like". It's worked for me several times.
At any rate, I love lagers and I think they're also a good test to determine if a brewer has their act together.
So let's here some more about lager.
Of course I meant "hear". Geez. It's difficult to proofread with a one-year-old trying to tell me she's going to bed.
Always ready for more lagers, Harry. I just wish the Brits hadn't ruined them by making "lager" a synonym for incredibly cheap, fizzy, crap that makes their prejudices about American beers ridiculous.
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