Session #40: When is a session a Session?

The SessionHave you heard the one about an Englishman, a Belgian and a Czech who walk into a drinking establishment, whereupon the Englishman orders a round of “session” beers?

There is no punchline. Instead another question. What do you think the Czech is drinking?

The topic for the 40th gathering of The Session is Session Beer. Host Erik Myers has offered plenty of options in announcing the theme, but this is a subject that screams for context.

What we (meaning Anglo-Saxons, I guess) choose to call “session” beers are unique to the social gatherings — perhaps lasting hours, involving several beers and plenty of conversation — where they are enjoyed. Are these still “sessions” in West Flanders and Bohemia? In Berlin and Munich? What about the emerging beer cultures of Brazil, Denmark and Italy?

Probably, though not in name. Are the beers the same? Not usually. Does everybody depart a “session” in the same state of inebriation? Not likely.

For the record, I’m a big fan of The Session Beer Project. I’d much prefer pubs to coffee shops sa great good places (and not just because I don’t drink coffee). I really appreciate brewers who find ways to pack more flavor and less alcohol in a glass.

And until Erik set the theme for this round of The Session I hadn’t thought twice about calling session beers “session beers” (or do I mean “session beers” session beers?). The current All About Beer magazine has a feature using the words “session” and “session beers” and I suspect few readers will have any problem immediately understanding what Rick Lyke’s story is about.

It works, so why worry? I’m not registering a complaint so much as a concern, thinking about what the Czech beer drinker at the top would order. America’s own emerging beer culture has plenty to learn from others. The beers, whatever we call them, will follow.

In search of a bigger, maybe hoppier, high

Today’s Wall Street Journal explains the “current flavor boom.”

“The more you taste something, the more you need to taste it,” says Mitchell Davis, vice president of the James Beard Foundation, a New York-based non-profit that works to preserve American culinary heritage. “You always need something spicier, something more, a bigger high.”

What does this tell us about bigger, bolder, more intense, hoppier beers?

Go read the story about how “bold is replacing boring.” Connect the dots. I’d love to join the conversation but we’re boarding a plane. Tomorrow I’ll be visiting a hop yard.

The return of Beer Culture, a good thing

Evan Rail writes about his plans for Beer Culture, which has been dark since last fall.

I hope to write more stories — to tell the tale of how something happened, in other words. How a beer got made, imported or drunk. To tell you who did it and why. And at the same time, I hope to add some light to the history of beer in central Europe: there is simply too much that hasn’t been written about the beer culture here, certainly not in English, and I have to imagine that you, as a reader, would be much more interested in reading those stories than in hearing my personal reactions. You can find personal reactions anywhere. But good stories? Those are hard to come by.

Focus. What a great idea. Perhaps I should try that.

And the brewing gods are . . .

A press release for the third Philly Beer Week (PBW) indicates at least 865 events are planned for June 4 to 13. That’s pretty [insert your preferred obscenity ending in -in’] impressive.

The one that caught my eye: The Forum of the Gods, “a spirited afternoon of beer talk, beer drinking and big names in brewing, with all proceeds going to benefit PBW.”

And who might these gods be?

Jim Koch of Boston Beer; Phil Markowski of Southampton Publick House; Tom Kehoe of Yards Brewing and Wendy Yeungling of D.G. Yeungling & Son. The forum will be moderated by Don “Joe Sixpack” Russell, PBW executive director. Mortal or god? Not clear.

Tickets are $25 per person, which includes nectar from each of the four participating gods.

But back to all the other events. Bryan Kolesar has translated the crazy schedule of events into a spreadsheet you can download. Fine work by a mere mortal.