What is the one beer style usually makes up the first position in the sample flight, but yet is usually the one that we never get really excited about? The Pale Ale.

While this style serves as the foundation to its big-hoppy-brother the India Pale Ale, lately “Pale Ale” has become a throwaway term. I hear bartenders and servers using it to describe everything from Pilsners to unfiltered wheat beers (I wish I was kidding).

Your mission – if you choose to accept it – it so seek out and taste two different pale ales. Tell us what makes them special, what makes them forgettable, what makes them the same or what makes them different. Then, share it with us. (By writing a comment below on June 1st with a link to your post).

It’s going to be interesting to see the results of reviewing this overlooked style from everyone.

It’s also the first Friday of the month, which means today is also The Session—group beer blogging day. British beer writer Pete Brown is hosting this month’s edition of The Session, and has chosen for us to write about a topic that is possibly one of the most subjective I’ve yet seen: The Beer Moment.

My approach to beer writing is by no means the only approach, but I write to try to encourage other people to share the simple joy of beer as much as I do, to switch on people who drink beer but don’t particularly care about it that much, to suggest to them that there’s so much more they might enjoy.  No one says you have to do it this way, and no one ever made me the spokesperson for beer.  It’s just how I decided to write, in the same way others decided to write in an opinionated way about what they love, and what they hate.

So in that spirit, my choice of topic – with 62 topics already covered – is this: simply, the Beer Moment.

What is it?

Well, what is it to you?  What does that phrase evoke for you?

That’s the most important thing here.  Switch off and float downstream, what comes to mind?  Don’t analyse it – what are the feelings, the emotions?

To my mind Pete has picked a very Joycean topic, in the stream-of-consciousness sense, and that’s what he’s invoking intentionally; otherwise, as we do when we drink and review beer, we tend to over-analyze, and over-think the beer. So—

Excitement. Particularly for trying something new. I can’t help it, I get excited about trying new beers—whether it’s a new beer I picked up and is sitting in my fridge, or a new homebrew that I’ve made, or the latest beer to go on tap at one of the breweries in town. Hell, I get excited about drinking beer I’ve had many times over—knowing there’s a cold bottle of whatever waiting for me when I leave work and get home—that’s a moment.

Another moment is the social one; visiting with friends over beer, hanging out at the brewpub or on the back patio or whatever, splitting special bottles or laughing over pints, meeting new friends who like good beer—all moments.

Happiness. I don’t mean that the beer by itself makes me happy—well, drink enough and everyone gets happy—but that it’s these types of moments that I associate with beer than make me happy: the chance to try something new, to see good friends, to relax, to laugh, to give me something to write about, to be a part of something like The Session. That sounds corny maybe. But there it is.

The “moment” is defined by all of these things to varying degrees for me. And each moment is unique, because each day is unique, and each beer is unique. What could be better than that?

My approach to beer writing is by no means the only approach, but I write to try to encourage other people to share the simple joy of beer as much as I do, to switch on people who drink beer but don’t particularly care about it that much, to suggest to them that there’s so much more they might enjoy.  No one says you have to do it this way, and no one ever made me the spokesperson for beer.  It’s just how I decided to write, in the same way others decided to write in an opinionated way about what they love, and what they hate.

So in that spirit, my choice of topic – with 62 topics already covered – is this: simply, the Beer Moment.

What is it?

Well, what is it to you?  What does that phrase evoke for you?

That’s the most important thing here.  Switch off and float downstream, what comes to mind?  Don’t analyse it – what are the feelings, the emotions?

I can’t but think of the late Don Younger’s famous line, “It’s not about the beer, it’s about the beer.”

What’s your Beer Moment? Write about it on Friday, May 4 (“May the Fourth be with you”) and submit your blog post to Pete to be a part of The Session.

But why do people decide to start a blog (Okay, so not all “blogs” are personal. Many breweries have recognized the value of social media in modern society)? One thing seems true of most blogs: they are easy to start. All you need is a a computer and a rudimentary understanding of the Internet to initiate your meanderings. The difficulty resides in keeping up with content and reaching an audience. What draws folks to your site? And, what makes you think people want to read what you write?

Your mission as a craft beverage blogger reading this post, should you choose to accept it, is to compose a post on the topic of “What Drives Beer Bloggers.” There are no rigid guidelines about how to write about this topic but we’d certainly love to hear about the history behind your blog, your purpose in creating it, its evolution, and/or what your goals in keeping it going.

This is a topic that resonates with me as I’ve been thinking really hard lately about what this blog is, and what I hope to accomplish with it, and how I can turn this “beer blogging thing” into something lucrative enough to do full time. But before you think it’s all about the money, some context:

I’ve been writing this blog since 2004 (making it, as Jeff Alworth has pointed out, the longest-running American beer blog) and for that entire time it for all intents and purposes might as well have been a hobby blog (for as little as it earns). I never started out thinking, I can make money on this. Yes, I’ve been running Google Ads for a long time, but at best it really has only ever paid for hosting fees for the website (i.e., minimal). And yes, I get freebies because of the blog: beer samples, media passes for the (occasional) festivals I attend, occasional perks like a free night’s stay in Silverton for the Oregon Garden Brewfest later this month. The ad revenue and freebies are enough to allow me to write off my beer expenses on my tax returns—and trust me, I spend more than I make, so it’s still a bit of a loss.

Now, though, I would absolutely love to be able to do this, for lack of a better term (because it’s still “blogging” after all), professionally. Maybe not via the blog directly, but using it as a launchpad for writing or something else in the beer world—or maybe something online entirely new (what with social media, and mobile apps, and ebooks—who knows?). So I’m trying to figure that part out.

But here’s the thing: even having said that, I will still blog about beer, because I love doing it. And because of the community I’ve become a part of: a network of other bloggers and beer writers and brewers that having this blog has opened up to me. And because I love beer, and I’m a blogger, so why not blog about beer?

To answer Angelo’s questions I quoted above, frankly the most-searched post to this site comes from searching “best cheap beer”—so clearly the big draw (as with anything online, I suspect) is writing from a practical perspective, the kinds of things most people are interested in. No, that’s not the only search bringing people here, but it’s a consistent one. And for what makes me think people want to read what I write—well, except for a few examples (like Apocalypse Beer) where I actually do think people want to read what I write about, for the most part I just don’t worry about that. I don’t. I personally enjoy writing about it, and that’s what counts for me.

(Though—because it’s the internet, there’s always an audience, no matter how small, who will be interested in what we write, no matter how obscure. The old long tail, you know.)

So I’m a bit of a purist, when it comes to my own blog, but I’m not opposed to making money off of it either—the catch, of course, is figuring out a way to make money off of it, keep doing what I love, and staying true with it. So that’s what drives me.

But I’ll still blog about beer even if none of that pans out. I don’t think I can’t not at this point.

Angelo has crafted a thoughtful introduction to this topic—go read it—and asks,

But why do people decide to start a blog (Okay, so not all “blogs” are personal. Many breweries have recognized the value of social media in modern society)? One thing seems true of most blogs: they are easy to start. All you need is a a computer and a rudimentary understanding of the Internet to initiate your meanderings. The difficulty resides in keeping up with content and reaching an audience. What draws folks to your site? And, what makes you think people want to read what you write?

Your mission as a craft beverage blogger reading this post, should you choose to accept it, is to compose a post on the topic of “What Drives Beer Bloggers.” There are no rigid guidelines about how to write about this topic but we’d certainly love to hear about the history behind your blog, your purpose in creating it, its evolution, and/or what your goals in keeping it going.

The Session #62 takes place on Friday, April 6. To participate, write a post on this topic and link it back to the original Brewpublic Session post, or post a link to it on Brewpublic directly in the comments.

The month is also a special one for The Session: it was exactly five years ago, on March 2, 2007, that the very first Session took place: that month we wrote about stouts (“Not Your Father’s Irish Stout” was the topic suggested by founder Stan Hieronymus), and, interestingly, my own review of my local Deschutes Brewery‘s Obsidian Stout somewhat ties in with this month’s topic, five years later: What makes local beer better?

Matt of the Hoosier Beer Geek blog brings us this topic, and says:

The topic I’ve been thinking about is local beer. The term is being used by just about every craft brewer in the country. What does it really mean though?  Is it more of a marketing term or is there substance behind the moniker? This month I want to think about what makes local beer better?  I’m not just talking about the beer itself, although it’s the focal point, but what makes local beer better?  My connection to local beer is far from thinking that my beer is actually “local.” Maybe you don’t agree with me, and you can write about that. Bonus points for writing about your favorite local beer and the settings around it being local to you.

I don’t believe touting “local beer” is strictly marketing—but it’s not strictly accurate either. Consider: the beer itself might be brewed locally, but where did the malt and hops come from? For the vast majority of breweries, that answer is probably “not locally”: the malt may have come from Briess in Wisconsin, or farther; the hops are probably from the Pacific Northwest—or New York, or even England or Germany.

On the other hand, local beer is still brewed locally, regardless of where the ingredients come from, and when it comes down to it, I believe there are two reasons why local beer—even when the ingredients come from afar—is better:

• Freshness. With few exceptions, beer is meant to be consumed fresh, and you will never find fresher beer than the bière du jour that your local brewpub put on tap that very day.
• The Brewer(s).  Quite simply, they are members of your community and they have a passion for beer—and a vested interest in making sure they’re sharing that passion with you, the consumer. Sure, their beer might be popular in out-of-state markets—but their bread and butter comes from their local market, their community.

Fresh beer made by someone who’s connected and (hopefully) cares about the community—to my way of thinking that’s exactly why local beer is better.

(Of course here in Oregon we are spoiled by “local”—we are one of the major hop growing regions in the world so local hops is a no-brainer and we even have some breweries that are growing their own barley. And Wyeast is located in Hood River. So yes, my view of “local” might be clouded—but it’s clouded in a good way!)

The topic I’ve been thinking about is local beer. The term is being used by just about every craft brewer in the country.   What does it really mean though?  Is it more of a marketing term or is there substance behind the moniker? This month I want to think about what makes local beer better?  I’m not just talking about the beer itself, although it’s the focal point, but what makes local beer better?  My connection to local beer is far from thinking that my beer is actually “local.” Maybe you don’t agree with me, and you can write about that. Bonus points for writing about your favorite local beer and the settings around it being local to you.

This isn’t the first time the Session has been on the topic of Local Beer: the first was #4 way back in 2007 albeit that topic was more “guidebook” rather than “why it’s better.”

To participate, write a blog post about the topic on Friday, March 2nd, and submit a comment linking to that post on the Hoosier Beer Geek blog, or send Matt an email with the details at hoosierbeergeek -at- gmail -dot- com.

This month’s host is Kendall Jones of the Washington Beer Blog, and the topic he has selected is “Growlers Galore“:

These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t recall exactly when they appeared on the local beer scene but it could not have been more than eight or ten years ago. Maybe they existed in obscurity before. My memory fails me. Today growlers are everywhere. I think. Growlers are very common around the Pacific Northwest, anyway. I cannot speak to their popularity elsewhere. I’d love to know.

Tell us about your growler collection. Tell us why you love growlers or why you hate them. What is the most ridiculous growler you’ve ever seen? Tell us about your local growler filling station. Ever suffer a messy growler mishap? Anything related to growlers is acceptable.

I haven’t taken to collecting growlers in the same way that I would collect bottles, partially because I don’t have the room—indeed I did a major purge of my bottle “collection” about a year ago and I still really don’t have room for more—and partially because the growlers I have are a reusable commodity: I keep getting them refilled!

I only have a small number of growlers though: two from 10 Barrel Brewing, one a Rogue Dead Guy growler, one from Hopworks Urban Brewery, and one from Steelhead Brewing in Eugene. Those are my clean and reusable set, and all are the standard brown glass, half-gallon “jug” style without much fanfare; I have another fancier one from Southern Oregon Brewing with a ceramic flip top and metal handle that my brother gave me, but it’s not in good enough condition to fill unfortunately.

But for me these are “working” growlers: I’ve taken to always carrying one or two in the car with me on the off-chance that I’ll be near a brewery, and for the most part I’m unconcerned about the decor on the bottle. And fortunately that decor doesn’t matter as I live in a state (Oregon) that has lenient enough beer laws to allow breweries to fill any growler that comes in the door, even ones from other breweries (indeed, some breweries will fill just about any lidded container you bring in), unlike, say California or South Dakota that will only let you fill a growler if said growler is from that same brewery.

So I love having a growler on hand, but not for a collectible purpose, for me it’s almost entirely functional. Don’t get me wrong—having a Hopworks growler is cool but what’s even cooler is being able to fill it with fresh beer from Deschutes, or Brewers Union, or Barley Brown’s, or any number of other Oregon breweries anytime I’m in their neighborhood. It’s hard to beat that.

These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t recall exactly when they appeared on the local beer scene but it could not have been more than eight or ten years ago. Maybe they existed in obscurity before. My memory fails me. Today growlers are everywhere. I think. Growlers are very common around the Pacific Northwest, anyway. I cannot speak to their popularity elsewhere. I’d love to know.

Tell us about your growler collection. Tell us why you love growlers or why you hate them. What is the most ridiculous growler you’ve ever seen? Tell us about your local growler filling station. Ever suffer a messy growler mishap? Anything related to growlers is acceptable.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t a topic I would have thought up. But I’m digging it.

The Session takes place on Friday, February 3rd; leave a comment at the Washington Beer Blog to participate.

This month our host is Mario Rubio of Brewed for Thought, and he’s chosen a theme that is less beer related than you might think: I almost always drink beer, but when I don’t…

So as we are all incredibly interesting people, and almost always drink beer, let’s talk about what we drink when not drinking beer. Maybe your passion for coffee rivals that of craft beer, or it could be another alcoholic beverage such as scotch. My daughter being a root beer fan would appreciate her dad reviewing a few fizzy sodas. Maybe you have a drink that takes the edge off the beer, be it hair of the dog or a palate cleanser during the evening.

Beer cocktails, wines, ciders, meads, you name it as long as it’s not beer. Try to tie it in with craft beer in some way for extra credit. Be creative and I’ll see you guys in the new year.

“When not drinking beer…” As hard as it might be to believe to someone who visits this blog regularly, I do not drink beer all the time. There are a number of alcoholic drinks I enjoy as occasional alternatives—spicy complex red wines, rustic dry whites, spicy rum, silky tequila—but the one type of drink I immediately thought of (as did many beer drinkers, I imagine) that I tend to gravitate towards is a natural for beer enthusiasts: whiskey.

It’s obvious, really, since whiskeys are for all intents and purposes distilled from beer. There are of course subsets of whiskey (which is primarily made from barley and aged in charred wood): Scotch (multiple distillations and aged at least 3 years in oak), bourbon (at least 51% corn), rye whiskey (at least 51% rye), and so on. In many ways I’m still very much a novice when it comes to whiskeys, so I’m always interested in trying new ones.

When it comes to a regular whiskey—or, as it happens in my case, a bourbon—my “go to” is usually Evan Williams. Part of the reason, I admit, is that it’s inexpensive, especially when compared to Jack Daniels (for instance); but I found, once I started drinking it, that I quite enjoyed it and I feel in many ways it’s as good as (if not better) than some of the more expensive bourbons that I’ve tried. Their green label—a traditional 80-proof spirit—tends to be a staple in my cabinet, though I also have an excellent bottle of Single Barrel Vintage (seen in the picture) that my brother gave me for Christmas a year ago. I’ve been savoring that one, drawing it out, very much enjoying the vanilla and oaky character it possesses.

The other whiskey bourbon you’ll notice in my picture there is local: Oregon Spirit Distillers, based here in Bend, has been in operation for only a few years and while vodka is their primary product (2011 also saw a rum, an absinthe, and two cordials produced), they released their first bourbon late this past year. Being the budding liquor geek that I am (of course we already know that I’m a beer geek!) naturally I picked up a bottle; and while even I recognize that it’s a “hot” and young bourbon, I can tell there’s a lot of potential in there, and it’s vastly interesting to hold onto a bottle and taste it periodically as it matures.

Of course this is all just the tip of the iceberg; like beer, whiskey is a deep subject that can take years to explore—for instance, Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter, also wrote a number of authoritative books on whiskey over the years. While I won’t forgo beer for the harder spirits, I still continue to explore and enjoy this other world and anytime you don’t see a beer in my hand there’s a reasonable chance there’s a bottle of whiskey nearby…