Session Beer Day is April 7th

Yesterday the beer blogosphere blew up with talk about the upcoming Session Beer Day, which was marked for April 7th, the anniversary of the Prohibition repeal. The idea was started just yesterday by Lew Bryson, creator of The Session Project blog, a blog devoted to raising awareness about the joys and benefits of session beers. Session beers, defined by this blog are beers that are 4.5% and below, although others like the DING beer blog and myself would say that to be called a 'session beer' it must actually be 4% or below. Normally I don't get excited about days like "IPA Day" or "Stout Day" because I want to drink what I want to drink. "Session Day" is also kind of weird because I actually wish most days were Session Beer Days, I wish more breweries would spend their effort making beer that you can drink multiple pints of without getting intoxicated. Session Beers are ones that inspire conversation without inebriation and should be a part of our normal vocabulary as beer drinkers. Nonetheless, I like to think that this event will raise some awareness about Session Beers. We'll see. April 7th is fast approaching so I'm not sure how easy it will be for local breweries and bars to do what they need to do.

What to do? If you work at a bar (or manage one, or own one), please consider throwing some under-4.5% [or under 4% please!] beers on for April 7th, and making a special price or promotion for them. Tell folks it's Session Beer Day, and encourage them to see how good lower alcohol beers can be. (Good day to get a "We Support" window sticker, too!) If you're a brewer or wholesaler, encourage your accounts to pick up your under-4.5% beers for that day; it's a great chance to promote those beers! If you're a beer blogger/tweeter/writer, please consider spreading the word about Session Beer Day: use the hashtag #sessionday . And if you're a session beer drinker...get out there and ask for it!

I'd like to leave you with a short poem/essay on session beers that my pal Robbie wrote on his blog a few days ago. Sorry to swipe the whole thing but it's just so good:

I actually only intended to stop for a quick pint on the way home from work.

Then a pal arrived in the pub and, although I was about to leave, insisted on buying me a pint. So we had another pint.

Then of course I had to buy him a pint in return.

After leaving the pub I passed another pub on the way home which had an amazing and rarely seen beer. I had to have a pint of that, and let my friend who lives round the corner from the pub know it was on.

When she arrived we had another pint.

Then I had to leave and go home, as I hadn’t had any dinner yet.

This is why we drink session beers.

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