Monday, April 7, was National Session Beer Day. And as I write this (a day or more before you’re reading it), I’m enjoying a Loose Leaf session ale at Odell Brewing Company to celebrate. Loose Leaf weighs in at a paltry 4.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), but it offers a robust hop character that pairs well with sunshine, backyard barbecues, and cornhole tournaments. It’s just about the perfect session beer.
A session beer is simply an ale or lager that one can enjoy in quantity without falling victim to ethanol’s more debilitating side effects. Opinions vary as to just how alcoholic a beer can be while still remaining “sessionable” (a neologism of beer geeks if ever there were one—look for it in the Oxford English Dictionary any day now). Everyone agrees that barleywine is out of bounds, while light American adjunct lager certainly makes the cut, although if you’re drinking light American adjunct lager in quantity, you’re probably more concerned with the score than the beer. But I digress.
Brewing a satisfying low-alcohol beer at home is more challenging than one might initially imagine. The consensus seems to be that 5.0 to 5.5 percent ABV is about the upper limit. But less alcohol means less malt. Less malt means fewer hops for balance. And all of the above could conspire to deliver less flavor.