Steve Jackson wrote:
wrote in message
...
Douglas W Hoyt wrote:

I feel sorry for anybody who sits down for the night with one particular
beer at one of these "sessions" I keep hearing about.
Well, if you're talking about feeling sorry for someone who drinks the
same beer all night, yeah, I feel that way, too.

You're both idjits.

Seriously, what's wrong with drinking one beer in a given evening?

Well,since you ask "seriously" I'd say nothing... (my "feeling sorry"
comment was poking fun at beer geekiness...).


Lew Bryson adds some interesting other criteria in his recent blog
entry, which I think are important to a session beer-

"1. Alcohol under 5.5%.
2. Flavor in balance.
3. The beer doesn't overpower the conversation.
4. Reasonably priced "

I'd agree with three of Lew's four. His abv is still too strong (although I
realize he's adapted to an American audience).

Well, I, too (in a snipped portion) thought it too high and would say
that his choice was probably also limited by what's available in the US
market but, agree that much of the American audience isn't familiar with
good tasting lower alcohol beers - thus we see posts like "When will we
get REAL BEER" in such-and such a state which was a ABV limit of 6% or
so or the "surprise" to many people when they learn that Guinness
Draught Stout [considered "strong" tasting to the typical US beer
drinker] is lower in alcohol than a Budweiser.


One of my pet peeves is, even as the new Prohibitionists have grow in
strength in the US, both the alcohol level of many beers and serving sizes
have grown as well.

Maybe. But I think the larger sizes are better - if balanced out with a beer
that's not too strong.

Yes, my observation (which pertained to changes in the US on-premise
market) was based on the *combination* of the move to larger glasses and
increased availability of higher alcohol beers. I suppose, along with
the number of taps increasing, I'd like to see an increase in the
selection of glassware and the volume of same.
..
The English serve their beers in imperial pints, the
Germans and Czechs serve most of theirs by the half-liter. I think those are
good sizes.

Yes, I say so, too. For a US 8-10% abv ipa, I'd rather have a 6-8 oz.
glass.

If I do go into a bar with a good draft selection, I'd much
rather drink several small glasses of a variety of beers.

Depends on my mood. To be honest, it's rare I'm in checklist mode anymore.

I've never done the checklist or rating race. But, I come across a bar
with a good selection so seldom in my part of the US, that when I do,
I'd like to re-visit old favorites (HopDevil, Brooklyn beers) and at the
same time, try something new or a limited release - after having a US
"shaker pint" of a German lager and then a HopDevil, I found out that
the Flying Fish tap was their limited "Espresso Stout" but since it was
mid-afternoon and I was driving I had to pass...


In the UK, even tho' we were told that "half pints" are for women, we'd
drink them in free houses and came to notice that the fellows with the
more manly imperial pints were still working on the same one while we
were finishing up our third or fourth "half".

That's not a bad thing. It's not a race.

Hmmm...wasn't really racing, just found it amusing that our "natural"
drinking speed was a bit faster than the UK drinkers so that the "macho
factor" ultimately was based on the quantity of beer one holds in their
hand rather than consumes (which is the criteria for the non-beer snob
beer drinker in the US). Similar to the response we were surprised to
get back then (early 80's) when we looked for Bass No. 1 and Courage RIS
and a few other UK barleywines- "Ah, no, we don't carry 'em- only old
ladies drink those...".