Sure, I have written about it before, but I don't think the situation can be over stated. Session beers are, in my consistently unhumble opinion, the best kind of beers to drink. When everything is said and done, I guess I am really just a guy who likes going to the pub and drinking flavourful, low-alcohol beer whilst chatting with my mates, shooting some pool and generally having a laugh. I have even stopped taking a camera and paper notebook with me and my social life has improved immensely as a result.
I really don't care that much whether the upper limit for a session beer should be 4% or 4.5% , mainly because in the US drinking only sub 4% beers would essentially make you the designated driver because there is bugger all to drink at the level. Admittedly one of my beers of choice lately is only 3.9%, the magnificent Scottish Session from Williams Brothers in Alloa, but I have only seen it in bottles so far.
As you can imagine then, I think Session Beer Day on April 7th is a fantastic idea and hopefully the pubs of Charlottesville will have something in the sub 4.5% range available to drink (assuming of course I am not working in the Starr Hill tasting room that day, in which case I will fill a growler with their 4.2% Dark Starr Stout, and perhaps re-run my glassware experiment).
The pubs I usually go to these days are Beer Run and McGrady's, an "Irish" pub with a decent enough beer selection, a pool table and a proper pub atmosphere. Hopefully we'll see some session beers on at both places in time for Session Beer Day, and going forward I would love to see at least 1 tap at each place permanently given over to beers people can drink plenty of.
Hey - its Scott from McGrady's here. One of my patrons pointed me to this blog and I wanted to see if you had any further recommendations for sessions (I've always thought of 5 or lower as session but regardless we have a few that are pouring right now: Guinness Draught (4.3%), Allagash White Ale (5.0%), Smithwick's Ale (4.5%),Harp Lager (5.0%), Starr Hill Dark Starr Stout (4.2%),Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat (4.2%). And of course Yuengling/Killians which aren't craft but definitely drinkable and both under 5%
ReplyDeleteI am aware of 21st amendments bitter american and a few others I think I have read about elsewhere but unfortunately most of these aren't easy to find in kegs. If you have any thoughts on something you'd like to see make our rotation feel free to e-mail me at mcgradysirishpub@gmail.com. Thanks for the mention too! We are working hard to keep our beer selection varied and fun (and delicious)
-Scott Roth, McGrady's Irish Pub
I'll be spending session day at the Franciscan Well for Easterfest. Most will be session beer, though some will not.
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