the session

I plead work. Unfortunately I missed round 32 of The Session, but Girl Likes Beer has the roundup.

Meanwhile Andy Couch has announced the topic for No. 33 will be Framing Beer. The explanation is a little complicated, and you might want to read the whole thing, but here are a few of the options:

Relate an amusing or optimistic anecdote about introducing someone to strange beer. Comment on the role a label plays in framing a beer or share a label-approval related story. I have not done much blind tasting, and I would be intrigued to hear about this “frameless” evaluation of beer.

I hope to be there Nov. 6.

BetterBeerBlog has the roundup for Session #31: “Best Summer Beer” and Girl Like Beer announced the topic of No. 32 (Oct. 2): Eastern Beers.

I would like you to pick your favorite beer made east form your hometown but east enough that it is already in a different country. It can be from the closest country or from the furthest. Explain why do you like this beer. What is the coolest stereotype associated with the country the beer comes from (of course according to you)? And one more thing. If you do a video or picture of the beer (not obligatory of course) try to include the flag of the country.

Given that all the world’s traditional brewing nations, as well as the Republic of Texas, lie east of New Mexico no way can I pick a single favorite but finding a good beer should be easy.

Where did the summer go?

Another Session tomorrow (Friday) and the theme is “summer beers.” Peter Estanial, of the Better Beer Blog, plays host and has the details.

With the summer coming to a close, what was your favorite beer of the summer? It doesn’t even have to be from this summer. Is it a lager or maybe a light bodied wheat ale? Maybe you’re drinking anti-seasonally and are having a barleywine or Russian Imperial Stout. Why is this beer your favorite? Is there a particular memory associated with this beer? How about a city? Maybe there was a particular dish that made this beer memorable? Spare no detail.

This should be a popular one — I see readers already posting names of beers in Peter’s comments — although given my devotion to meeting deadlines I don’t know if I’ll be participating. I guarantee you that with the weather here in New Mexico still ticking well into the 80s (mid-20 C) I will be wishing I was drinking wheat beers as well as writing about them.

The most mentioned destinations for The Session #29 were San Diego, Belgium and Portland. Pretty good choices if you traveling for beer, but if you read the entries in our monthly gathering you’ll find a lot more, plus many excellent tips.

Gail and Steve from Beer by BART have the complete roundup.