Tag Archives: Session Beer

Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale

This is a bit of a special review for me. Specifically, it’s the 400th beer review I’ve done for OpenCraftBeer.com over the last 7 or so years. I had a couple of goals when I started reviewing beers for the site. The first was simply that I wanted something that would motivate me to continually keep looking for new beers to try and enjoy, expanding my horizons and my taste buds instead of lazily falling back on the same few known quantities. Inside of the broader goal, I also had a more specific goal, which was to try to review as many beers as I could get my hands on from one of my favorite breweries, Delaware’s Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. To that end, it’s a fitting bit of fate that my 400th review also happens to be my 40th Dogfish Head beer review.

Ok, time for the review. SeaQuench Ale is a session sour from Dogfish Head, designed to be tart and brewed with lime peel, black limes and sea salt. Sours ale are particularly strongly flavored style, and an issue I often have have which session-weight beers is that they have a tendency to end up as a weak imitation of the style. This is not the case with this beer, as the flavor is full and bright. You can smell the citrus and the salt on the nose, and the middle is bursting with lime, and plenty of that beautiful Belgian sour bite. There’s a good bit of carbonation, but not too much, and as you fade to the finish, the saltiness comes back into the fore. The body is light to medium, and the alcohol is a pleasantly light 4.9% ABV. The final word on this one is that it’s a tasty, well-executed beer that I would happily drink year round.

I give it a 4.6 out of 5.

Stone Go To IPA

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Session IPAs are one of the new hotness categories that are popping up everywhere, and Stone’s entry into this market is To Go IPA. In true Stone style, the cap decries light, easy-to-drink beer, so while it comes equipped with a session-style 4.5% ABV, it also has all the bold hop flavor we’ve come to expect from Stone. The nose is bright with loads of pine needles and grapefruit. The middle has pine resin, and grapefruit rind. The citrus in the finish morphs into lemon and there’s a little bit of grain that tastes like wheat. The body of this beer is light to medium as pretty much expected. This is a fun beer, but slightly incongruous, with the lighter body but the big, bold, bitter flavors. I liked it a lot, and it’s certainly different, but not really a lawnmower beer.

I give it a 4.2 out of 5.

NoDa Jam Session

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Jam Session is, as its name implies, a session beer. I’ve found it in 16oz cans, which is just about my favorite container these days. It’s a 5.1% ABV American Pale Ale from the NoDa Brewing Company right here in Charlotte, NC. It is deep orange-amber in color, and has a thick, meringue like head that sticks around. The nose has pine and lemon, and is predominantly hoppy. The middle still leans toward hoppiness but isn’t overpowering. It’s grassy with more lemon and a bit of caramel from the malt balancing it. The finish has a touch of orange and toast and the tiniest undercurrent of pine. This is a really nice pale ale and in this lighter session beer format, one I’m going to be happy to drink quite a bit more of this summer.

I give it a 4.4 out of 5.