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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

One More Post About Sessions

I was going to stop beating the drum for session beers--at least for a few days--until I had one last night at Deschutes that knocked my socks off. It's called "Experimental Cascade," and the experiment is dropping back their venerable Cascade Ale from 4.5% to 4%. As a bonus, it was dosed with late additions of Crystal and Amarillo hops. The result is easily one of the best small beers I've had--and a beer that can stand toe-to-toe with anything out there in terms of complexity and flavor.

The hops are what make it sing. Even though Deschutes miniaturized Cascade, they left the BUs at 28--which, even in a small beer isn't excessive. But those late additions give the beer a huge nose and intense hop flavor. Somewhere closer to the herbal side of things--coriander, cumin, pepper--they were also zesty without being citrusy. The lightly caramelly malt was on the dry side, and the beer finishes crisply--perfect moreishness. If this beer were regularly available, it would quickly become a mainstay of mine. A really wonderful treat. For those of you who admire the elegance of a well-made session, get over to Deschutes, stat.

5 comments:

  1. Maybe it's a disservice to call them small beers. Kinda has a bad vibe to it and probably not the best way to promote them. No one wants to walk into a bar and order a "small beer", that's like order up a "pink fluffy" or a "tickly fizz". I mean does 4% really deserve "small"? I've had bitters, stouts, porters and the like all at or under 4%, none had a wimpy "small" next to the name.

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  2. I haven't been following the comments on your session threads, so someone may have already mentioned this. But a few months ago Horse Brass had an extremely tasty 4.2% beer from -- of all people -- Stone. San Diego County Session Ale. If you see it around town, get one, it, uh, tastes great and it's less filling.

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  3. Please keep beating the session drum. Sessionable beers can change your whole outlook on the world. I find them to be some of the most flavorful and aromatic beers around. The best are truly complex - more complex in my opinion than the big beers or hop bombs.

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  4. One beer that I like that is low Abv is the Stone Levitation ale at 4.4%

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  5. @Bill: Not sure about the finished product, but Kelsey McNair's homebrew recipe, which SDCSA is based on, used an insane amount of late-kettle and dry hops. I believe his 5 gallon recipe used 2oz each of Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Tomahawk (aka Columbus) and Simcoe, both at the end of the boil and again for dry-hopping.

    @Jeff: Beat away. I am starting 2011 off with a series of session-strength brews. My second attempt, a special bitter with a couple late Amarillo charges, is gurgling away happily right now.

    Cheers!
    Kevin
    Beer and Coding

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