The Bar Towel

atomeyes wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:
It's not snark, just pointing out you're wrong....again.

How many beer festivals have you been to in Europe? Of the numerous I went to in the UK, there were very few booze bombs. From memory there would be about a maximum of 10 out of 100+ beers on offer, that were over 6%. For years, the strongest beer available at beer festivals was Orkney Skullsplitter. All the students went for that, used up their tickets and left smashed. The grown ups stuck to regular, every day beers and stayed the course.

you know, there are other festivals and other countries that produce beer other than the UK.
not that this list is gospel by any means, but I'd look at trends in the US and Belgium before I'd look at what the UK has done or is doing.

You brought up Europe, of which the UK is a part of, by saying the decades old 'session ale' is now trending, which is just wrong.

You brought up that low ABV sacrifices flavour...again this is just wrong.

And how does a session ale reduce drinking & driving? If anything, it would worsen, IMO.

Torontoblue wrote:And how does a session ale reduce drinking & driving? If anything, it would worsen, IMO.

While it may or may not reduce drinking and driving, it could reduce being DRUNK and driving. We've all had a beer or two and still got to where we needed to go. Having 8 or 9 on the other hand...

liamt07 wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:And how does a session ale reduce drinking & driving? If anything, it would worsen, IMO.

While it may or may not reduce drinking and driving, it could reduce being DRUNK and driving. We've all had a beer or two and still got to where we needed to go. Having 8 or 9 on the other hand...

Driving buzzed is just as bad & irresponsible. People would just up the amounts of beers they usually have thinking they are fine because it`s only a session ale.

I'm quite happy with the recent session beer attention. I've been on a bit of a low ABV kick for the past five or six months and don't drink a lot of high ABV (8.5%+.) Bellwoods Stay Classy and Muskoka Detour have been nice (the MD bottles especially for homebrew with such easy to peel labels!) The Grand River Mild has always been nice. C'est What's Joan's Dark Secret is good too. My week in pubs in London UK was fantastic with the cask beer and mostly lower ABV!

The summer pale ale homebrew I've been testing turned out to have 2.7-3.2% ABV over three variations. At his point I'm happy with the ABV and the grain flavour. The hops just need tweaking.

I hope some more flavourful session beers come about in the future.

Torontoblue wrote:

liamt07 wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:And how does a session ale reduce drinking & driving? If anything, it would worsen, IMO.

While it may or may not reduce drinking and driving, it could reduce being DRUNK and driving. We've all had a beer or two and still got to where we needed to go. Having 8 or 9 on the other hand...

Driving buzzed is just as bad & irresponsible. People would just up the amounts of beers they usually have thinking they are fine because it`s only a session ale.

wow....

And...............what? Care to elaborate?

The driving buzzed thing, or drinking more?

Torontoblue wrote:And...............what? Care to elaborate?

The driving buzzed thing, or drinking more?

this thread isn't about you or me. you've had 2 or 3 posts directed at me. i'd rather encourage others to post instead of me having to defend what i'm saying or you trying to lure me into an internet battle. if you don't mind.

thanks

groulxsome wrote:
Where are the Berliner Weisse? ...Cans of Berliner Weisse, LCBO. Someone! Nickel Brook, looking at you.

Good luck with that as even in Berlin one is very unlikely to see it.

I thought anything under 5% was considered "sessionable". Virtually all the newer beers at my local LCBO are at least 5.5%. Actually I'd say most newbies are 6% or above and all seem to be IPAs. I guess that's why I've been sticking with oldies but goodies like St Peter's Organic and Pilsner Urquell.

atomeyes wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:And...............what? Care to elaborate?

The driving buzzed thing, or drinking more?

this thread isn't about you or me. you've had 2 or 3 posts directed at me. i'd rather encourage others to post instead of me having to defend what i'm saying or you trying to lure me into an internet battle. if you don't mind.

thanks

An internet battle? This is a discussion forum, for all points of view, for everyone; you post, I post, A N Other posts, we discuss, we disagree, and on & on & on.

Why start a thread and ask questions if you're not going to take part?

atomeyes wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:And...............what? Care to elaborate?

The driving buzzed thing, or drinking more?

this thread isn't about you or me. you've had 2 or 3 posts directed at me. i'd rather encourage others to post instead of me having to defend what i'm saying or you trying to lure me into an internet battle. if you don't mind.

thanks

You quoted the dude saying only:

atomeyes wrote:wow....

And that's your response to him asking why?

Great milds are a work of art demonstrating the skill required to make beer without hiding behind a booze veil. If anything, the lack of them in our market is a sign that we don't have brewers good enough to pull them off.

Funny how many great milds traditionally come from a second runnings or similar castaway process. What does that say about the first runnings? They must be pretty good to start.

I love the new world inventions and wildly flavourful beers we enjoy, but there is definitely a lack of maturity as big ABV is some sort of bravado. Similarly I find the rush to any trend, even like Berliner Wiesse, if only in discussion, part of the problem. Grow up before you try to be another person. Bad brewers overreaching is not the solution.

Also, for the record, a "session" for me does not involve driving afterwards. Regardless of the style consumed.

Tapsucker wrote:
I love the new world inventions and wildly flavourful beers we enjoy, but there is definitely a lack of maturity as big ABV is some sort of bravado. Similarly I find the rush to any trend, even like Berliner Wiesse, if only in discussion, part of the problem. Grow up before you try to be another person. Bad brewers overreaching is not the solution.
.

i'd like to take Berliner Weisses out of the equation when talking about sessionable beer, simply because that they traditionally are low alcohol and the lactob fermentation's what steers it in that direction.

sessionable stouts, porters and IPAs would be what we're missing. even a low alcohol saison to quaff during the summer would be an interesting option.

Tapsucker wrote:Great milds are a work of art demonstrating the skill required to make beer without hiding behind a booze veil. If anything, the lack of them in our market is a sign that we don't have brewers good enough to pull them off.

Funny how many great milds traditionally come from a second runnings or similar castaway process. What does that say about the first runnings? They must be pretty good to start.

Just brewed an 1890 Whitbread Mild from Ron Pattinsons book - at 5.8% and 58 IBU, it's an interesting historical note that mild was not a reference to strength of the beer, rather if it was meant to be drank fresh, and were marked for strength from X to XXXX

Torontoblue wrote:

liamt07 wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:And how does a session ale reduce drinking & driving? If anything, it would worsen, IMO.

While it may or may not reduce drinking and driving, it could reduce being DRUNK and driving. We've all had a beer or two and still got to where we needed to go. Having 8 or 9 on the other hand...

Driving buzzed is just as bad & irresponsible. People would just up the amounts of beers they usually have thinking they are fine because it`s only a session ale.

I think you're assuming that most/all people drink for the purpose of getting buzzed/drunk.

I think there's many people out there (myself included) that enjoy the idea of "having a pint." Whether that pint is 2% alcohol, 5% alcohol or 8% alcohol. I just want a pint of something.

And if I'm driving, I'd like to have an option of having a 2 or 3% mild or something similar. That would be glorious.

liamt07 wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:

liamt07 wrote: While it may or may not reduce drinking and driving, it could reduce being DRUNK and driving. We've all had a beer or two and still got to where we needed to go. Having 8 or 9 on the other hand...

Driving buzzed is just as bad & irresponsible. People would just up the amounts of beers they usually have thinking they are fine because it`s only a session ale.

I think you're assuming that most/all people drink for the purpose of getting buzzed/drunk.

I think there's many people out there (myself included) that enjoy the idea of "having a pint." Whether that pint is 2% alcohol, 5% alcohol or 8% alcohol. I just want a pint of something.

And if I'm driving, I'd like to have an option of having a 2 or 3% mild or something similar. That would be glorious.

exactly.
my belly will be full of beer regardless of the percentage. i drink for the flavour profile (although i can argue that higher abv beer have that bite that fits well with certain styles) and not to get blitzed.

i'm at the point in life where i try to steer clear of getting drunk because those high school/university days are long, long gone.