Beer

The American Session Ale. Pale copper color, firm malt body and a dry, hoppy finish. Notch Session Ale is well balanced, but in true American fashion the hop flavor is up front, and finishes dry, which begs for another sip. Notch Session Ale is unfiltered and hopped throughout the brewing process with three US hop varieties, resulting in a complex depth of hop flavor. The US has no Session Ale tradition - so this is our interpretation.

Notch Session Pils salutes the unfiltered Pilsners of the Czech Republic: crisp, herbal, and hoppy. The Czech culture is a beer culture - drinking more beer per capita than any other nation. And their beer of choice is the low gravity, unfiltered and unpasteurized Pilsner, known as "workers" or "tap" beer. In the end, Czech Pilsner serves the same function as Brit Session Beer - lower ABV, great flavor, and built for multiple pints.

Brewed to the original Saison strength, this is the classic farmhouse beer. Originally brewed by farmers to slake the thirst of seasonal workers (les saisonniers), this refreshing beer had a lower alcohol content that is not often seen in today's modern Saison. Notch returns the Saison to its roots, not only in alcohol content, but by using local ingredients much like the Belgian farmers. The wheat used in Notch Saison is malted by Valley Malt in Hadley Massachusetts.

Inspired by the black session lagers of the Czech Republic, Notch Cerne Pivo is malty, toasty, and infinitely drinkable. Notch Cerne (pronounced CHAIR-nay) breaks the myth the dark beer is heavy, or that lower alcohol beer is light in color. Cerne Pivo is Czech for "Black Beer", and is a beer style indigenous to the Czech Republic. This style of beer is rarely found in the US, so enjoy a bit of the Czech session beer culture this winter.

Under the Brewers Supporting Agriculture (BSA) program, brewers buy shares of their barely crops at the beginning of the season from Western Mass farmers. Notch was proud to be one of the first brewers to participate in this program, and the BSA Harvest Ale is the result of this year's barley crop. This year's BSA Harvest is an American Farmhouse Ale that displays the character of a Belgian Saison, yet with US hops and New England grains.

Second up in the cask only series is Notch Bitter. While traditional in British brewing methods, it is nontraditional in ingredients, using German malt and hops. Look for the classic British Bitter characteristics (dry, balanced, tastes like more), but with a German influence. In an era of bigger is better, Notch Bitter shows that subtlety still has merit. It's pretty damn tasty too.

Notch's Cask only series celebrates the roots of session beer, and first up in the series is Notch Dark Mild. While the British Mild has evolved over the centuries, it was the session beer of choice for the 20th century British coal miner. Notch’s Dark Mild pays homage to this worker’s beer – a very dark ruby brown appearance, malty and fruity aroma, a caramel maltiness with very low hop bitterness, and only 3.7% ABV.