![]() ![]() Just as long as they don’t skimp on flavor. So if meticulous brewers want to slim down the IPA’s waistband and fit the beer into a lower ABV package, then let them! In fact, here’s a bit of fun trivia: Session IPAs might actually predate what we think of today as IPA in regards to alcohol content.Īt the end of the canning line, good beer is good beer, no matter what brewers or their customers want to call it. Given that the average IPA clocks in at 6% ABV at the low end, the notion that sessionable IPAs can be brewed in the first place is arguable–at least for purists or sticklers for style designations.īut session IPAs have been around for years and then some. Occasionally they’re spiked with lactose or other wacky adjuncts.Ī session IPA takes that essence and shaves off a percentage or two, delivering the tastes and textures people want from the style while pruning that alcoholic edge. IPAs are popularly dry hopped, or double dry hopped, and they can come in imperial classes and above, too, including double IPAS (DIPAs), triple IPAs (TIPAs), and even quadruple IPAs. Of course, we’re so accustomed to typical IPA alcohol percentages that it may take a moment to remember that session IPAs are even available. Let’s Ask The Obvious: What Is A Session IPA, Anyway? Photography courtesy of | Lawson’s Finest Liquids But as lower-ABV beers increasingly snatch up real estate in the craft beer market, maybe now’s the time for a lesson in session. Because consumers want options that don’t punish their livers.Ĭue the session IPA, a sub-style that until now has been somewhat shunted to the side in favor of its burlier cousins. They’ve had their moment, and they’re here to stay, just like dessert sours and pastry stouts.īut more recently more easy-drinking, lower-ABV beers like lagers (and even non-alcoholic beers to some extent) have been gaining popularity. Perils of pride aside, high ABV beers remain popular, and in some cases function as mainstays on brewery menus. If you are ordering two, either you have an inordinate impression of your own constitution, or you’re about to take a walk of shame, leaving that monster brew unfinished on the table. In these cases, the beer itself is often the experience.īut you are not racking up a tab by ordering nothing but 13% ABV IPAs. Once in a while, a tall boy rocking a beastly ABV is exactly what a person wants. This is fine because there’s a beer for everyone. Each designation intends to outdo the others for sheer breathtaking booziness, as if getting drunk is a contest where anyone needs to cheat to win. ![]() There are single-strength beers, double and triple, all the way up to quadruple. Sip of Sunshine is a delicious beer, and it’s a wonder we all get to share it.Beer comes in every size classification available: Small, medium, large, and Scottish. An overly critical view is that Sip of Sunshine is a typical New England-style IPA, of which there are many, and that no matter how fresh the can it will never drink as beautifully as Double Sunshine did straight from the tap at the Prohibition Pig.Ī more generous take (and I think the correct one) is that a quirky New England brewery has done the nearly impossible, making what was once a hidden treasure into one of our most available and popular drinks. ![]() Lawson’s demands that it be shipped and stored cold to maintain freshness. Sip of Sunshine drinks like its name, with soft tropical fruit character (think mango and grapefruit) in a deceptive 8 percent ABV package. There’s some stone fruit character here as well as a pronounced bitterness, for those who like their IPAs with a little bite. I recently tasted two Lawson’s brews: Sip of Sunshine and Hopcelot, a limited release inspired by the Vermont band Phish’s song “Ocelot.” The latter is made using eight hop varieties from around the world, sourced mostly from the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand. “Sean knew he wanted to create a beer like Double Sunshine but unique, and a beer that would resonate with craft beer lovers to bring more fans under the tent,” says Talmon. Lawson’s is now distributed in nine northeastern states, in large part because the beer the brewery decided to focus on, Sip of Sunshine, has been so popular. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |