On Session Beers

The Kernel's Table Beer

For a long time I favoured beers with an ABV of between 6 and 8%. Beers of all strengths have their place, but there's something I've been looking for more and more recently, which is  highly flavoursome beers on the lower end of the spectrum.

There are a number of great session beers available, but what I'm talking about are brews that are high impact, well balanced and sub 4% in strength. To my mind, there are two beers beers that have absolutely nailed this, Brewdog's Dead Pony Club and The Kernel's Table Beer.

The Kernel's offering is one of the beers I keep going back to at the moment. It's a light, fresh and fruity 3.2% ABV pale golden ale that retains character and balance without a big hit of alcohol. It's perfect as a first drink of the night or as an accompaniment to a wide range of food, or if you just fancy something tasty without too much booze in it.

Dead Pony Club, is a California pale ale hopped with simcoe, citra and HBC hops, that has an ABV of just 3.8%. It's lively, citric and fruity on the palate and much like the Table Beer, has a decent balance despite its low alcohol content.

Brewdog's Dead Pony Club

Both these beers will of course be very familiar to a lot of people, but the question you have to ask is why there aren't more sub 4% beers being made by craft breweries? The simple answer is that it's pretty hard to get right. Dead Pony Club and the Table Beer both have real body and mouthfeel, much beyond many lower strength brews.

It's worth mentioning here that Redemption make Trinity, which is also a great lower strength beer with real character, but there aren't many others. It would be brilliant to see a few more emerge in 2013.

There are quite a few best bitters which come in below 4%, but personally although I do like bitters from time to time, they're far from my favourite style of beer. They also usually lack the complexity of flavour that you get with beers such as those mentioned above.

Does anyone else know of any superb session beers that are below 4% ABV? Or do you know of a great little brewery that has one on the way? This year, I want to search out more brilliant session beers to have alongside my favourite stronger brews.

Pig's Ear Beer and Cider Festival

Hazy Iphone photo - a few beers in!

Over the last five days, Hackney's Round Chapel has played host to Camra's 29th annual Pig's Ear Festival of Beer and Cider. I popped down on its final day yesterday, to sample a few local brews.

The first thing that hit me as I entered the Round Chapel was what a great venue for a beer festival it is. A mezzanine level runs right around the hall and provides seating for the punters, whilst the open ground floor plays host to bars and stalls right around the perimeter of the room.

Throughout the week, there has been a real diversity of beer on offer, including offerings from breweries throughout the UK and also a foreign beer stall but the real centrepiece of the event had to be the Hackney bar. 

The current resurgence in London's brewing fortunes has seen a number of fantastic little breweries pop up across East London, many of them in Hackney. London Fields, East London Brewery, Beavertown and Hackney Brewery were all represented, alongside brew-pubs such as the hugely popular Crate Brewery, Howling Hops and Tap East.

I was too late to sample beers from Crate, Howling Hops or Tap East as I went half way through the final day and they had all gone. However, I did have a lovely pale ale from East London Brewery and London Fields fresh and tasty Hackney Hopster. 

One beer that I gravitated straight towards was Redemption's Fellowship Coffee Porter. It's a well balanced, deeply flavoursome dark beer with (sorry to point out the obvious!) a bitter coffee aroma. It has hints of caramel on the palate and a distinct tang from the hops. Its clear to see why Redemption has been winning awards left, right and centre and why their founder and head brewer Andy Moffat has become one of the most revered people in London brewing circles.

These events are of course all about trying beers that you haven't come across before. With that in mind, I took a recommendation from one of the bar staff and tried a 'Hammer' from the Welsh brewery Hafod. It's strong-ish beautifully balanced pale ale with a good whack of hops. It's always good to find a new beer at a festival like this and I'll aim to seek out Hafod Hammer again in the future.

Alongside the myriad of beers, there was also a well stocked cider bar, offering a great range of proper ciders from throughout the UK. It was heartening to see how popular the traditional was cider proving, as it is on a bit of a downer at the moment, much in the same way to real ale during the seventies. 

The festival was made by the friendliness of the atmosphere. Everyone working at Pig's Ear was a volunteer and they all seemed to be having a great time. They well knowledgeable and really helpful too. East London Camra should be commended for putting on another excellent event. 

Next year, I'll try and pop down a bit earlier in the week, to take advantage of the full selection of beer before any of them start selling out. Despite the fact that quite a few beers had gone by the time I got there, the selection was still amazing. It was great to see so many people enjoying good beer and a great atmosphere in a location at the heart of London's brewing renaissance. 

Next year will be the 30th Pig's Ear Festival, I wonder what treats Camra will provide to mark the occasion?