What Makes Beer Sessionable?

With craft beer becoming increasingly popular over time, more and more beers are hitting the double-digit-ABV range, with some even reaching up to 20 percent ABV. Having just one bottle of this boozy beer might have you headed straight to bed! This spawned a need for a lighter, more drinkable beer, and the comeback of the "session beer."

While beer experts might throw around ABV numbers, you might be wondering, "what exactly is ABV?" It stands for "alcohol by volume", which is essentially how much alcohol is in any given drink.  In the U.K, a session beer is considered around 4 percent ABV. In America, session beer can be as high as 5 percent. The amount of ABV in a beverage can actually change the flavor of the drink. The higher the ABV, the denser the body will be. A beer of higher ABV also has a slight taste of ethanol.

There are often misconceptions when it comes to how "light" or "heavy" a beer might be. One might assume that because a beer appears darker in color, it has a higher ABV, richer flavor, and is even higher in calories. An example of this is the renowned Irish stout, which is actually only 4.2 percent ABV, and is unexpectedly sessionable. Although it is not entirely wrong to assume the booziness of a beer based on color, it is not always accurate.

Any style of beer can be made to be sessionable, what qualifies it as such is the balance between that beer's style characteristics and a lower percentage of alcohol.

To learn more about what makes beer sessionable, check out the full article from our friends at eReplacementParts.com.

Session Beer

Source: eReplacementParts.com