Hotter, Mintier, Fruitier, Balanced?
Love this article in the Wall Street Journal on food trends, and love how it relates to the current state of the US craft beer scene. Big, bold, extreme. We can draw the parallels between food and beer trends, and what we see is the US amping up flavor over balance. We discover an ingredient, [...]
Fuzzy front end
Lew Bryson gave a mention to Notch this week in his Session Beer Project blog, and he was correct in thinking these initial Notch beers are for market research, but also correct in that I’m messing around a bit. Product design folk call this messing around the “fuzzy front end”, which I’ve always liked, because [...]
One Month Notch
Notch Brewing is one month old, and as May winds down, our first two American Session Ales will be in scarce supply as the last few barrels are tapped. The Session Pale and Session Red served as starting point, and provided me with a wide variety of responses on what Session beer means to craft beer drinkers. [...]
Check out a Session with Notch
These are very informal gatherings at Notch draft accounts over the Summer as we roll out a number of different Session beers. And the Notch Sessions afford you the opportunity to try our American Sessions Ales in their rightful place, among friends enjoying themselves in a casual spot.
A Session beer is never judged by sipping or tasting. A [...]
What is Craft Beer?
I’ve been asked many times during this “American Craft Beer Week” what “Craft Beer” means. In my last blog post, I touched on this a bit. I don’t think size should define “Craft Beer.” I’m not sure “Craft Beer” is even the good term. Paul Ambler from the Black Sheep Brewery has the best definition [...]
American Craft Beer Week
American Craft Beer Week kicks off today, as beer lovers, craft brewers, homebrewers, beer distributors, retailers, and even U.S. Congress are all making special plans. Organized by the Brewers Association, ACBW celebrates small and independent craft brewers, and highlights all that America loves about craft beer. At Notch, we’ll be having another Notch Session later this week [...]
Session Beer Advocates
The Thirsty Pilgrim’s recent post gave me an idea to highlight what I will now call Session Beer Advocates. These advocates simply have Session Beer passion. It also gives the Notch Session blog reader a break from me (Chris) and allows another voice to address the wonders of Session Beer. The Thirsty Pilgrim also had [...]
Session Beer Aware?
A few month’s ago, Todd Alstrom from the Beer Advocate asked me to write an article on any topic for their Beer Advocate Magazine. I chose the topic Session Beer, of course. I’ll post the article in a few weeks (it’s still on the “stands” if you want to read it now), but my article [...]
Beer Blogging takes on Session Beer
This news makes my head hurt, in a good way, as beer bloggers across the globe will unite on a single topic in a few weeks. The topic? Session Beer. I’m slightly excited for this.
Beer Blogging Friday (know as the Session, but nothing to do with Session Beer), is an opportunity once a month for beer [...]
Brewers Association Drops the Ball
The Brewers Association (BA) released the 2010 style guidelines yesterday, and I almost choked on my morning coffee when I read the Session Beer category. The alcohol content guidelines for a Session beer per the BA – Alcohol by Volume: 4.0 – 5.1%.
I’m not sure which is more ridiculous, the upper limit of 5.1% [...]