Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance
While the term “session beer” as a style description has only been around since the 1980s, many classic beer styles, like Pilsner, Kölsch, cream ale, and English mild and bitter, to name a few, have been a crucial part of “session” culture for beer drinkers for centuries. In more recent years, many craft brewers in America have begun producing additional low-alcohol drinks, providing sessionable examples of customarily strong beers. Nowadays, the craft beer market has many notable examples of “session IPAs” and moderate-strength pale ales and stouts, and even rare styles like Gose are now part of mainstream craft offerings. These cover a wide range in terms of malt balance and hoppiness, and their moderate strength requires high brewing standards to achieve balance and drinkability.

In Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance, author Jennifer Talley takes an overview of the history behind some of the world's greatest session beers, past and present. Talley weaves societal, political, and brewing trends into her narrative, and stresses the importance of beer in society as well as offering guidance on how brewers can encourage responsible drinking in their patrons. She addresses brewing processes and ingredients to help brewers master recipe development when crafting high-quality but easy-drinking beers. The final section contains 25 recipes curated by the author. These recipes are for popular craft session beers taken straight from the mouths of some of the best brewmasters in America, complete with a brief history of the breweries and brewers involved. Open up this book and disover why beer drinkers say “I'll have another” to session beers, and be inspired to brew some of your own.
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Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance
While the term “session beer” as a style description has only been around since the 1980s, many classic beer styles, like Pilsner, Kölsch, cream ale, and English mild and bitter, to name a few, have been a crucial part of “session” culture for beer drinkers for centuries. In more recent years, many craft brewers in America have begun producing additional low-alcohol drinks, providing sessionable examples of customarily strong beers. Nowadays, the craft beer market has many notable examples of “session IPAs” and moderate-strength pale ales and stouts, and even rare styles like Gose are now part of mainstream craft offerings. These cover a wide range in terms of malt balance and hoppiness, and their moderate strength requires high brewing standards to achieve balance and drinkability.

In Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance, author Jennifer Talley takes an overview of the history behind some of the world's greatest session beers, past and present. Talley weaves societal, political, and brewing trends into her narrative, and stresses the importance of beer in society as well as offering guidance on how brewers can encourage responsible drinking in their patrons. She addresses brewing processes and ingredients to help brewers master recipe development when crafting high-quality but easy-drinking beers. The final section contains 25 recipes curated by the author. These recipes are for popular craft session beers taken straight from the mouths of some of the best brewmasters in America, complete with a brief history of the breweries and brewers involved. Open up this book and disover why beer drinkers say “I'll have another” to session beers, and be inspired to brew some of your own.
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Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance

Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance

by Jennifer Talley
Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance

Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance

by Jennifer Talley

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$19.95 
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Overview

While the term “session beer” as a style description has only been around since the 1980s, many classic beer styles, like Pilsner, Kölsch, cream ale, and English mild and bitter, to name a few, have been a crucial part of “session” culture for beer drinkers for centuries. In more recent years, many craft brewers in America have begun producing additional low-alcohol drinks, providing sessionable examples of customarily strong beers. Nowadays, the craft beer market has many notable examples of “session IPAs” and moderate-strength pale ales and stouts, and even rare styles like Gose are now part of mainstream craft offerings. These cover a wide range in terms of malt balance and hoppiness, and their moderate strength requires high brewing standards to achieve balance and drinkability.

In Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance, author Jennifer Talley takes an overview of the history behind some of the world's greatest session beers, past and present. Talley weaves societal, political, and brewing trends into her narrative, and stresses the importance of beer in society as well as offering guidance on how brewers can encourage responsible drinking in their patrons. She addresses brewing processes and ingredients to help brewers master recipe development when crafting high-quality but easy-drinking beers. The final section contains 25 recipes curated by the author. These recipes are for popular craft session beers taken straight from the mouths of some of the best brewmasters in America, complete with a brief history of the breweries and brewers involved. Open up this book and disover why beer drinkers say “I'll have another” to session beers, and be inspired to brew some of your own.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781938469411
Publisher: Brewers Publications
Publication date: 10/01/2017
Pages: 250
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jennifer Talley's brewing career began in the state of Utah as brewmaster at Squatters Pub Brewery in Salt Lake City. She honed her skills through a variety of positions at Salt Lake Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery, Russian River Brewing Company, and Auburn Alehouse in Auburn, California. With more than 20 awards from the Great American Beer Festival® and World Beer CupSM, Talley is also a Cicerone Examiner, craft beer industry speaker, technical committee member for the Master Brewers Association of the Americas, and a national and international beer judge. Talley was awarded the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing in 2011. Jennifer resides with her children in Grass Valley, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword xiii

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction 1

About This Book 3

Section I What Is a Session Beer? 7

Chapter 1 A Short History of Session Beers 11

The Original Session Beers of the British Isles 13

Ales of England 13

My Goodness, My Guinness 16

Ales of Ireland 17

Ales of Scotland 19

A Little Country Called Belgium 20

What's in a Name? 21

Per Diem 22

Saison, a Beer for All Seasons 25

White Beers of Belgium 26

The Session Beers of Germany and Central Europe 28

Where Is My Berliner Weisse? 28

Wheat Beers of Bavaria 29

The Birth of Lager Beer 32

Ales of Germany 35

New World, New Beer 38

Chapter 2 Brewing Session Beer; Nothing to Hide Behind 43

Yin and Yang: Balance Is Key 45

From Grain to Glass 45

Grain Selection 46

Milling 48

Water Preparation 48

Mashing 50

Boiling and Hop Bitterness 53

Yeast and Fermentation 55

Maturation 57

Clarification and Stability 58

Balance and Specialty Ingredients 60

Sensory Evaluation 61

Safety and Sanitation 63

Safety First 63

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness (No Rest for THE Weary) 64

The Intangibles 67

Chapter 3 Modern Interpretations 71

Modern American Lager 71

High-Gravity Brewing 72

Adolphus Busch 73

The Quality of Adjuncts 74

Oldest Brewery in America 77

The Impact of the Brewers Association 79

Birth of the Craft Session Category 80

Session-Style Pale Ales and IPAs 82

Development of Quality Hop Character 87

Other Session Offerings 91

Gose Rising 93

Cream Ales 95

What Once Was Old Is Now New Again 96

Chapter 4 Drinking Session Beers 99

Defining Drinkability 100

A Session Society 101

Creating a Culture of Responsible Drinking 106

Food with Drinking Sessions 108

Session Beers for Every Season 111

Education Is Key 111

Chapter 5 The Cost of Doing Business 115

Fiscal and Community Responsibility 116

Cost of Ingredients 116

Calculation Explanations 118

Pricing Explanations 120

Brewpub Numbers 121

Microbrewery Numbers 122

Brewhouse Efficiency and Small-Scale Systems 123

Final Financial Contemplations 124

Section II Session Beer Recipes 127

Recipe Specifications and Assumptions 127

The Recipes 127

Specifications and Units 128

Hops and Bitterness Units 128

Yeast 129

Brewing Notes 129

Chapter 6 North American Session Beer Recipes 131

Sun King Brewing Company 132

Sun King Sunlight Cream Ale (Commercial) 133

Sun King Sunlight Cream Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 134

Auburn Alehouse 135

Auburn Alehouse Gold Country Pilsner (Commercial) 136

Auburn Alehouse Gold Country Pilsner (Five-Gallon Batch) 137

New Glarus Brewing Company 138

New Glarus Totally Naked Lager (Commercial) 139

New Glarus Totally Naked Lager (Five-Gallon Batch) 140

Russian River Brewing Company 141

Russian River Aud Blonde (Commercial) 143

Russian River Aud Blonde (Five-Gallon Batch) 144

Firestone Walker Brewing Company 144

Firestone Walker Extra Pale Ale (Commercial) 146

Firestone Walker Extra Pale Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 147

Firestone Walker Easy Jack IPA (Commercial) 149

Firestone Walker Easy Jack IPA (Five-Gallon Batch) 150

Stone Brewing Company 152

Stone Go To IPA (Commercial) 153

Stone Go To IPA (Five-Gallon Batch) 154

Stone Levitation Ale (Commercial) 156

Stone Levitation Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 157

Squatters Craft Beers 158

Squatters Full Suspension Pale Ale (Commercial) 160

Squatters Full Suspension Pale Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 161

Wasatch Brewing Company 162

Wasatch Premium Ale (Commercial) 163

Wasatch Premium Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 164

Bell's Brewery, Inc 165

Bell's Oarsman Ale (Commercial) 167

Bell's Oarsman Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 168

Chapter 7 German-Inspired Session Recipes 171

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company 172

Urban Chestnut Zwickel (Commercial) 174

Urban Chestnut Zwickel (Five-Gallon Batch) 175

5 Rabbit Cerveceria 176

5 Rabbit La Bici (Commercial) 177

5 Rabbit La Bici (Five-Gallon Batch) 178

Red Rock Brewing Company 179

Red Rock Black Bier (Commercial) 181

Red Rock Black Bier (Five-Gallon Batch) 182

Saint Arnold Brewing Company 183

Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer (Commercial) 184

Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer (Five-Gallon Batch) 185

Hollister Brewing Company 186

Hollister Tiny Bubbles (Commercial) 187

Hollister tiny Bubbles (Five-Gallon Batch) 188

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company 190

Sierra Nevada Otra Vez (Commercial) 192

Sierra Nevada Otra Vez (Five-Gallon Batch) 193

Chapter 8 Other International Session Beers 197

Allagash Brewing Company 198

Allagash White (Commercial) 199

Allagash White (Five-Gallon Batch) 200

Lolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales 202

Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere (Commercial) 203

Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere (Five-Gallon Batch) 204

Brooklyn Brewery 205

Brooklyn 1/2 Ale (Commercial) 207

Brooklyn 1/2 Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 208

Yards Brewing Company 209

Yards Brawler (Commercial) 210

Yards Brawler (Five-Gallon Batch) 211

Stone Brewing Company 212

Stone Lee's Mild Ale (Commercial) 213

Stone Lee's Mild Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 214

Carl Heron 215

Carl Heron's English Amber Ale (Commercial) 216

Carl Heron's English Amber Ale (Five-Gallon Batch) 217

Drop-In Brewing Company 218

Drop-In Tisbury Local (Commercial) 220

Drop-In Tisbury Local (Five-Gallon Batch) 221

Jennifer Talley 221

Jennifer Talley's Dry Irish Stout (Commercial) 222

Jennifer Talley's Dry Irish Stout (Five-Gallon Batch) 223

Afterword 225

Evacuation 225

Bibliography 229

Index 237

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