Stillwater Yacht is actually what I clicked to type. I don’t buy it often enough, tall boy cans and 4.2%
Some of you guys must have to have hoppy beers! When I think about refreshment, I think Berliner Weisse and lighter style lagers. We’re lucky to have a local lager brewery that’s quite good (Jack’s Abby), so I don’t have to look hard for a super fresh Vienna style Lager. If I didn’t have access to that, I’d be reaching for Rothaus Tannenzäpfle Pils most often for hot weather refreshment (sorry, 5.1% ABV). For even more refreshment, but not something I’d be drinking all the time, I would go for Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse. At 3% ABV and with plenty of mouthwatering sourness, this stuff practically hydrates you as you drink it.
Boulevard Ginger Lemon Radler
Bell’s Oarsman, Oberon, or Pooltime
Founders All Day IPA
Dogfish Seaquench Ale
Ska True Blond
Most any other gose or Berliner weisse, preferably cans.
But… really I mostly drink Busch beer with about 30% simply lemonade. I’ll sub in other pilsner-style or macro as well on that, or Oberon or True Blond.
Also we drink a lot of rose with Perrier by the pool.
You can always rely on a Pilsner as a session beer, refreshing and low ABV’s
• Six Point Crisp – The Crisp PILZ – 5.4% ABV. Should be available in your area.
If you have friends in the CT/MA area have them pick-up some.
• Workhorse Pilsner – CounterWeight Brewing, Hamden CT – Available statewide retail
• The Session –BLDG 8 Brewing, Northampton MA – Available statewide retail
Cheers!
My go toos are: (Thinking of things that are bottled and distributed.)
Victory Prima Pils. As mentioned about, a little out of your ABV range.
Kona Brewing - Big Wave Golden Ale. If found fresh this perfect.
Pizza Port Brewing Co. - PONTO S.I.P.A. Not sure that makes it out to SC but it is a nice beer.
Firestone Walker - Easy Jack & Pale 31
North Coast Brewing - Scrimshaw. Great for the pool.
Avery Brewing - Joe’s Pilsner. Make sure it is fresh. The cans are dated. I never see this anymore despite Avery arguing with me that it is in all the stores. I finally found some at a Total Wine and they were over a year old.
Oscar Blues - Pinner. It has been a while since I have tried it but this fits the bill.
And of course the dirty little secrets…
Ice cold ICE COLD Coors Light
Ice cold Tecate in a can with, lime, Tabasco and salt around the rim.
A few from a different style:
Unibroue - Blonde de Chambly
Goose Island - Honkers Ale. Can be hit and miss. I don’t really buy Goose Island anymore but that used to be a solid session beer.
Cheers,
Jason
I’m not a huge session fan, but Lawson’s super sessions are as good as any and where I live its readily available. I sometimes drink Founder’s All Day IPA is when I don’t want to be very discerning (it’s fine tho).
If low alcohol is the goal, you can do that with stouts for cold days, and sours for warm days, plus good ales/pilsners.
I guess if you stick to Guiness, Murphy’s, and similar Irish stouts or domestics made in a similar style. Most stouts I drink these days come with seriously high ABV. Usually very, very high ABV means for sipping in winter. On the sours side, I love them, but don’t find them to be that session-able. There are exceptions of course, more on the Gose, Berlinerweisse side of things.
Not sure if it was said upthread (probably) but Stigel and other Radler’s are good, and very low ABV. I do find them too low sometimes though, and usually turn them into cocktails.
Michael, there are plenty of domestic low ABV microbrewery stouts that I find more enjoyable than a typical session IPA.
I had a mocha golden stout at Stony Creek Brewery (CT) this weekend that was around 5% and quite good. Again, I’d take it over a typical session anyday.
I’ve had a lot of sours and goses locally lately that are not as salty or sour as typical versions from a few years ago, and very quaffable/drinkable in warm weather, with good complexity.
I’m not saying low ABV stouts aren’t out there, but they’re hardly the norm for the category. I guess that also depends on what you consider low ABV. The topic here, poolside drinking / session beers makes me think of ABV under 5%, not palate fatiguing, and ideally refreshing. Pretty much not at all what I think of in stout. When I think of stouts I think moderate to high (to very, very high) ABV, and more on the sweet, heavy, and complex side of the equation. Basically a stout is the opposite of what I want by the pool. But I am a fan of the style, and it’s exactly what I want when sitting by a fire in late fall or winter. When you say you’d take a stout over a typical session any day, I might also for one or two in cooler weather, but I doubt I’d want several in a row over a long period of time, which is the point of the session beer. I agree with your earlier point that lagers and pilsners are good for that. But of course everyone is different, and some people might just prefer a stout in that situation, but I’m always surprised when at a local brewery and it’s 95 degrees outside and someone orders a stout. I live right by Side Project, and I see people in there on 90 degree plus days ordering bottles of 15%, $50 stouts off the bottle list so obviously some people enjoy that kind of thing. (Admittedly with side project I think a lot of that is people who are visiting from out of town and want to try those beers so they get them regardless of weather, and not because it’s what they’d normally drink that time of year).
Like I said before on the point of sours, there are Goses, Radlers, and Berlinerweisse that I consider session-able, and I really like sours generally, but I do find that palate fatigue sets in over time unless the level of tartness is somewhat restrained. Salt level has never bothered me. I have often felt that “barely sour” should be style we see more of, as that’s probably my favorite thing to drink over a long period of time in warmer weather. And probably I have seen more beers going that way in the past couple of summers.
Michael, there may also be regional difference here.
IPAs and DIPAs (hazy style) dominate the New England brew scene, and I would say goses/sours, many of which aren’t nearly as sour as years past, are running second. That’s 60-75% of the list at most breweries I go to. There is usually a stout or two at a brewery, but more often than not they’re not high ABV or they’ll have examples of each. There is usually a pale ale or pilsner of course-- and locally produced barrel aged bombshell beers over 10% are pretty rare.
If I’m seeking something with lower alcohol or want a second beer after having a 9% DIPA: In warmer weather (which keep in mind is only 3-4 months here) I will chose a sour over a session, and in cooler weather a stout (or if they have it, brown or amber ale) over a session.
I guess this is a long way of saying: I’ve rarely had a session I thought was that good. 
Lawson’s Super Session is something I’ll sometimes drink, usually after having a better beer-- Or if we’re watching an unusually intense sports game where I’m likely to nervously drink without really paying attention, I’ll get some All Day IPA sometimes. But neither of those beers are in my wheelhouse… in fact I’d say the readily available Dogfish Seaquench Ale sour is more enjoyable than either, though all of which are easy to get year round where I am.
Ice cold XX. Have not found anything better. However, Bell’s Poolside is nice.
Good input Peter. I agree with your statement about rarely having a " session beer " that was very good. I actually think the term " session " is bizarre. For me, when I think going low ABV I choose a well made Pale Ale, most are in that 4.5 - 5.5 ABV range, I don’t refer to them as " session beers" I call them for what they are. I also love a great IPA in the lower 6’s to higher 6s ABV range, again I don’t consider any of these " session beers". IMHO whenever I see the term " session " I immediately think that whats in the can/bottle is a poor attempt to capture big flavors without the necessary ABV to support the hop and grain bill and usually winds up being a watered down forgettable beer. Forget the " session " tag and just buy a great Pale Ale or a lower ABV IPA, there are a lot of excellent options in both categories across the country.
Cheers,
Bud
Bud,
I would agree that with a lot of what you say about rarely drinking anything self-described as a session beer, but the OP specifically referenced poolside drinking. We have a pool so I took the prompt quite literally, and for me drinking outside by the pool in high heat calls for something specific, and it’s not Stouts or IPAs or even pale ales (again, just for my preferences, clearly there’s no right answer or anything). I’m usually looking for something refreshing and not fatiguing. I really like NE style IPAs, stouts, etc., but if I’m sitting in the sun sweating for a few hours I just want something refreshing, which is why a shandy is common for me, or beer and bloody Mary mix, or a Michalada.
Now, we just closed the pool for the season and I’ve switched to Oktoberfest/Marzen beers and tend to drink progressively darker and stronger beers as the weather continues to cool. I do find that I am much more of a seasonal drinker than some.
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat with a lemon wedge
That’s out of the Boulevard Brewery Kansas City Missouri
Miller High Life (from bottle only) or Coors Original
Yep, I’m clearly a Yak.
Cool inside info. Thanks for sharing.
Beer is so local/regional now, I always start with those. It’s tough sometimes to make recommendations because of the variation. Almost all the canned beer in my fridge now is local stuff–Other Half, KCBC, Threes, and thanks to Jorge Decadent Ales. You can’t really get any of this stuff outside of metro NY.
Decadent is incredible. We get a trickle of them in the local market. I love the Blackberry one.
Evil Twin Mission Gose is also low ABV, think around four, and really good. It has eucalyptus, so unique but I like it.
Not really a session fan either but I’ve found the Highland Brewing Daycation to be tasty. 4.9 on the scale. I would think makes it to Greenville.