the session

Mark Lindner has announced the topic for The Session #109 will be Porter. Before you say “That’s so 2007” hear him out.

Possibilities include:

• Contrast and/or compare two or more of the styles
• Contrast and/or compare two or more beers within/across porter styles
• The history and development of the style
• Your love/hate relationship with any porter style
• Baltic porter – ale or Lager or a mixed fermentation?
• Is hopping the only difference between English and American styles?
• Food pairings with your favorite porter or style of porter
• Review the porter(s) you are using as a creative springboard
• Construct a resource along the lines of Jay Brooks’ Typology style pages, see for example American Barley Wine or Bock.
• Recipe and procedures for brewing your version of a great porter

“Porter” always conjures up thoughts of beer history, and unfortunately history misunderstood. And the thought further occurs to me that anybody who chooses to write about porter in the historic context may wish they first saw Martyn Cornell’s presentation at Ales Through the Ages next month: Industrialization in the British Brewing Industry 1720-1850: The Rise of the “Power-loom Brewers.”

The theme for The Session #108 today is “Snowed In!”

We didn’t get a lot of snow when we lived in New Mexico — after all, it is the high desert — and we don’t get all that much now in St. Louis. If you can walk to a brewery in 20 minutes you are not snowed in.

But I can see where host Jon Abernathy is coming from. The top photo was taken on a drive from Corvallis, Oregon, to Bend, where Jon lives, in late March. It was raining in Corvallis.

The photo at the bottom was taken in Durango, Colorado, less than a four-hour drive from our NM home when it wasn’t snowing. On the weekend this was taken it had been a harrowing drive north on a Friday, but on Saturday about three feet of snow that had fallen in the previous five days awaited. Daria and Sierra put on their skis. I put on snowshoes. Nice work if you can get it.

Later we drank Modus Hoperandi IPA and Steel Toe Stout from Ska Brewing. They pair well with snow.

I’m headed to Minnesota in a few hours for the Minnesota Mashout. Last time I was there I am not sure the temperature got about zero the whole weekend. This week it looks downright balmy.

But it will still give me a chance to think ahead toward The Session #108: “Snowed In!”

Host Jon Abernathy writes: “The theme is “Snowed In,” and I want it to be open-ended. It’s the first week of February—we are solidly in the grip of the winter, which means hunkering down from the cold and, depending on where you live, waiting for warmer days to thaw out the ice and snow. But perhaps it’s one of those winters, where the snow starts falling… and falling… and falling some more, and the next thing you know, schools are closed, there’s four or more feet of snow on the ground—and you are effectively snowed in and not going anywhere.”

He includeds plenty of potential topics and writes “this doesn’t have to be confined to only beer blogs; let’s see if we can incorporate some other social media as well. Facebook? Write a post or post a picture, and tag The Brew Site and/or post on my timeline. Instagram? Post a picture of your snowed-in beer and tag brewsite and make sure to hashtag #thesession. Twitter? Same deal, tag @brewsite and hashtag #thesession. Pinterest, Snapchat, something else? Be sure to let me know with a comment and a pointer!”

Dan Conley at Community Beer Works has announced the topic for The Session N. 107: Are breweries your friends?

To be in business nowadays you pretty much have to have a social media presence. This is especially true in the beer world, where some breweries have basically built themselves on their personality. And yet, at the end of the day, we’re also selling you something.

I believe this is the first Session to be hosted by a brewery rather than beer blogger. How do you feel about that? Do you want your feeds clear of businesses, or do you like when a brewery engages with people? Can you think of anyone who does it particularly well, or poorly? As the person who does our social media, which I think is very good (although not quite good enough), I struggle with this problem. I’m on both sides, and rather than come to any sort of conclusion of my own I thought I would make all of you write about it.

This actually isn’t the first session hosted by a brewery. Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan at 21st Amendment played host for No. 22 seven years ago. The topics was: “What does the repeal of Prohibition mean to you? How will you celebrate your right to drink beer?” However, this is the first session hosted by a brewery on Jan. 1.

With apologies to host Mark Ciocco there will be no Session post here this month. Unless something went wrong yesterday, we’re in New Mexico with a wedding to attend, lots of green chile to track down, and maybe a bit of beer to drink.

I highly recommend you click on over to Kaedrin Beer Blog so see how everybody tackled this month’s topic: “Double Features.”