By Greig McGill
I have always “blamed” the late, great Michael Jackson (the beer writer, not the one with the glove and the predilection for… controversy) for the origin of the term “session beer”. While he certainly popularised it, the term has roots in British pub culture, particularly linked to the World War I era. The origin of the term revolves around the idea of a session - specified periods during the day when workers were allowed to drink in pubs. These regulations were implemented during the war to ensure productivity and maintain a sober workforce. I know, right?? But it does make a certain kind of sense…
Under these regulations, factory workers were permitted to drink in public houses during breaks in their shifts, often referred to as "drinking sessions." These sessions were typically limited to a couple of hours in the evening and sometimes a brief period at lunch. Due to these time constraints, the demand for lighter, lower-alcohol beers increased. Workers wanted to enjoy several pints without becoming overly intoxicated, maintaining a balance that would allow them to return to their duties or go about their day responsibly after the drinking session.
Thus, the session beer was born out of practical necessity - beers that were flavorful yet mild enough in alcohol (under 5% ABV, and frequently between 2.5% and 4%) to be consumed in larger quantities over these short periods without impairing the drinker. Over time, the concept of a session beer evolved but retained its core characteristic of low alcohol content, making it suitable for extended drinking occasions - sessions - while fostering social interaction and enjoyment.
What styles make good session beers?
Pretty much any style you can think of can be reimagined as a session beer. There are obvious issues where styles such as barleywines, imperial stouts, or double IPAs, or anything else which draw their specific stylistic nature from, at least in part, having a high alcohol presence. Sometimes alcohol is just necessary in order to balance the other parts of the more extreme ends of the beer style spectrum.
Generally, the more a style description talks about balance and drinkability, the more that style is likely to lend itself to lowering the alcohol and making it a session beer.
Some specific examples would be;
The classic English Bitter and Mild: These are literally made for session drinking. It was and is their entire purpose in life.
Pale ales: While these have tended higher in alcohol over the last decade or two, they started off as hoppier riffs on an English bitter. So long as care is taken to balance the hops, these can be satisfying for the hop head with a desire to have a long and social session!
Blonde and Summer ales: These can be great options for the session treatment, as they are usually not much higher than 5% by default, and can be enhanced with summery spices or fruits to add to the flavour while losing none of their drinkability.
Kölsch: A German session beer if ever there was one! Not much to change - just aim for around 4%!
Lagers/Pilsners: Keep the hopping low enough so as not to require more malt and alcohol to balance, and you’ve got a dream session beer.
Can I brew one?
Of course! There are several areas to pay attention to when brewing any beer where you want to keep the alcohol low. Always remember that alcohol is a result of converting sugar from malt. The less available sugar, the lower the alcohol, but the less malt, the less flavour. It’s a dilemma! Luckily there are plenty of solutions.
The amount of malt is not equal to the complexity or flavour impact of the malt. Say you normally brew a pale ale at around 5.5% using just a simple base malt. You could try adding some flavour complexity by adding in different base and adjunct malts to give the impression of more malty richness even as you drop the overall quantity of malt. Swapping out up to half your grist with a mix of characterful base malts such as Vienna and Munich, as well as adding a small proportion of oats for extra body and lower fermentability might be a good option. Avoid overly characterful malts here. Crystals or malts like Gladfield’s Shepherds Delight, RedBack, or Aurora are delicious malts and certainly might be OK in very small amounts, but could heavily destabilise a session beer with strong flavours that seem out of balance. Proteinaceous grains can enhance the mouthfeel also.
Be careful with hotside hop additions. It’s very easy to add too much bitterness to a lower abv beer. Even whirlpool hops will still add an amount of bitterness in proportion to the quantity and amount of alpha acids. Consider techniques like dip hopping, or high levels of dry hopping if you want a lot of hop aroma and flavour in your session beer. It’s a lot easier to make a malt-forward session beer though, so perhaps use this as an excuse to chill on the hops for once! I know, heresy, right? But honestly, having a clean, malt-forward, but not overly sweet or “malty” beer can be an absolute joy for a session. Try it!
Think about your mash temperature and your yeast. A good combination of a high mash temp and a less attenuative yeast can get you a beer that still tastes great, but has far less alcohol. It’s a fine line between balanced and clean and under attenuated and cloyingly sweet. Play around with some options and talk to the knowledgeable team at brewshop.co.nz before going too drastic! That said, a mash in the 67.5-69C range, combined with an English strain with attenuation in the 70 percent area can be a really good combination. As always, be careful with your fermentation temperature. While a nice ester profile is a good way to increase flavour and interest in a lower alcohol beer, any fermentation-derived off flavours will stand out even more than usual and may render your beer hard to drink - the last thing you want in a session beer!
Think about a higher chloride content when treating your water. Much as with hazy beers, a higher chloride to sulfate ratio can be beneficial in boosting the impression of sweetness and filling out the mouthfeel. Again, don’t go too overboard, and it may be a case of dialling in the right amount over several iterations of the same beer to find the sweet spot. You can also dose the finished beer with some salt - plain ol’ sodium chloride that you put on your chips - just to see if it needs a little more!
Finally, pay attention to carbonation. A little more than usual can really fill out the mouthfeel of an otherwise thin lower alcohol beer, but go too far, and the thinness can be enhanced due to the bubbles making the malt seem light. This is easy to get right if you are using forced carbonation methods as you can start low, taste it, then just dial in a bit more CO2 at a time until you’re satisfied with the result.
Can has?
Well, now that I've written this, all I want to do is pop down to a nice English-style pub, and drink about 10 pints of 3% lightly hoppy bitter! I hope you feel the same, and if anyone makes the perfect pint, please send me some! Happy brewing.