I was checking out the Facebook musings of awesome beer writer Lew Bryson (friend him!) and discovered something interesting.
There’s a new brewery getting off the ground called NOTCH, and they only make session beers. Everything they brew is under 4.5% ABV.
The beers come out of a collaboration between NOTCH founder Chris Lohring, an award-winning veteran brewer from Boston, and Alan Pugsley, the owner of Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine and native of Manchester, England (where flavorful, low-ABV ales are the norm).
Their lineup is is brewed at Shipyard, and consists of beers like Notch Hop Session, Notch Summer Session, and perhaps a Session Pale and a Session Red. As they are so new, it’s hard to tell exactly what’s out there right now, but the names should give you a sense of the styles of beer they’re looking to tackle.
Here’s how brewery founder Chris Lohring describes the mission of NOTCH:
Every beer we brew is made to extend the good times, as every beer is below 4.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). Full flavor, long drinking, no headache.
At first thought I felt it was silly to base a brewery on a gimmick like this, especially one that limits what you can brew.
Bu
t the more I looked over the beers and Chris’ blog (check out the breathalyzer fun he has planned), the more I felt like this is a pretty cool idea. The guys behind NOTCH certainly know how to make great beer, and it’s nice to see a brewery dedicated to making session brews as flavorful and satisfying as possible.
I like the idea of having a selection of beers that deliver the goods and won’t bog me down. Of course I could pick and choose from what’s out there, but I’d have to wrack my brain to come up with more than a couple of great beers under 4.5% ABV. Chris’ approach takes all the thinking out of it, and thinking hurts!
In the end, the proof is in the Pale Ale. NOTCH is only available in the Boston area right now, and I haven’t tasted their stuff yet. If the beer is great, then I think the concept behind NOTCH is a very clever idea indeed.
What do you think? Have you had anything from NOTCH yet? Do you think a brewery focused on session beers is a good idea or a gimmick? Are there any low-ABV beers you crave?
As always, let us know below.
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
I think that more breweries need to offer “session” beers. The “big beer” thing is just getting all too common. Sometimes it’s a struggle to find a low ABV beer that I can just sit and quaff a couple of.
I’m wondering if Full Sail is going to have a problem with them using the word “session” on their labels. With the recent trends of trademark lawsuits in brewing, I wouldn’t doubt it.
When I first got into craft beer, I loved big ABV beers, for the flavor and the buzz. Now I appreciate good session beers, ones that deliver “real” taste but don’t make you dizzy. It’s a hard thing to do right. It’s a damn hard thing to do at under 4.5% ABV!
I love this concept! What a great idea. Flavorful, low ABV beers. Next thing you know they will be making flavorful low calorie beers! then watch out AB Inbev and Miller/Coors because they will cut into that market for sure!
I think the lower the ABV, the lower the calorie count, so in a way, these are low-cal as well. Or at least not super high calorie beers like most of the stuff I enjoy.
As long it is good flavorful beer, I say go for it. It would be great if it were in a can that we could bring to the lake, but, oh well. This, by the way, is what Elena is shooting for, she would like a full range of session beers.
I think having a range of session beers is a terrific idea. I’m still wondering if a brewery dedicated to JUST session beers can survive. I guess it depends on how good the beer is.
Jim, Thanks for the asking the question. It is one I am trying to answer, as a number of Notch session beers (sub-4.5%ABV) are brewed and released this summer. Based on the feedback, we’ll refine and roll-out in bottles and a larger geographic territory. I could go on for a while talking about session beer, but most of my thoughts and plans are in the Notch Session blog you mentioned. Again, thanks for exposure, and thanks for getting session beer back in the conversation. Best, Chris – Notch.
Hey Chris, thanks for popping over and commenting. We wish you lots of luck getting Notch Session off the ground. I’m looking forward to you guys coming to NJ so I can get a taste – great session beers are pretty rare.
I encourage everybody to check out your blog, especially the breathalyzer experiment you’re cooking up. It’s probably not the most precise science, but it sounds like lots of fun. I can’t wait to see the results.
Chris: I’d love it if because of my brother’s exposure of your brewery that you would perhaps make a special effort to get some of your brews to Idaho. We’re kind of a black hole for east coast breweries. But we love our beer here in the Gem state. Otherwise maybe just a care package for the beer and Whiskey Bros would be awesome…Not that I’m asking of course, that would be rude. 😉
Jim & Don, I’ll keep you guys posted. And once we hit the bottling stage, packages will be on the way. Soon, let’s hope. Chris
Way to beg, Don! And thanks, Chris. We look forward to trying your stuff.
Like it. And love the challenge of creating low ABV with high flavor. Can you support a brewery on that? Only if the beers are good. But I think that would be the case regardless of ABV. Good luck Chris and Alan!
I have high hopes for these guys, and high expectations as well. If all you do is session beers, they’d better be awesome session beers. I can’t wait to try this stuff.
I think its a great concept, and if all the beers are good you can just grab any of them and not worry about it being too strong. Looking forward to seeing some of this in Jersey too!
I like sessions because their is a whole movement toward this but it’s widely spread one. It’s hard to maintain in a small area. I think sessions are a good idea in the context of brewing other stuff. Higher ABVs bring different flavors profiles. Honestly, our answer has to be one of pragmatism. We’ll have to look back to see if it worked.
Yeah, I guess any idea is a good one if it works well.
this is a great idea. As its already huge in Europe i dont see how it wouldn’t take off here.
Chris – Are you guys going to be at GABF with Notch products? or is it to soon?