The Session #17: Rounding it up

Time to repay you all for your patience. For your enjoyment, here's an annotated guide to the entries for this month's Session. Despite the fact that our American beer-writing brethren were busy shooting bottle rockets at each other in Belgian beer-fueled revelry, folks still made time to pull off their bbq mitts and bang out some Session posts in response to the topic broached last month, around the time of the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.

The responses - 2831, at last count - fell into three distinct categories which could be summed up thusly: those who thought the question was bollocks, those who thought the question was bollocks but figured cracking open a stout would appease the Session gods, and those who humored me by admitting a certain fondness for the unorthodox beer out of season, for one reason or another (or none, like me).

The "eff off" crew, which ironically followed what the topic was about by doing their own thing regardless of expectations:

Lew Bryson of Seen Through a Glass comes right out calling me a geek, says "Screw that," and proceeds to play the topsy-turvy game by "going to a brewpub owned by Englishmen and drinking English-type real ales brewed on an English-made system with English yeast" on the Fourth of July. Brilliant.

Al at Hop Talk was about to call me on my bluff, but then it started raining.

Amy, author of Brewing Battles, says "Forget you, I'm having a panache." To which I say, "A what?"

The "I'm sorry, honey, but this dude from San Francisco totally told me I had to pull some strong aged stuff out of the cellar and write it up instead of doing the dishes," taking one for the team crowd:

Stephen Beaumont on his That the Spirit blog calls me on my bluff, throws all caution to the wind and literally tests out the paradox of drinking anti-seasonally, to a zydeco soundtrack, nonetheless.

Matthew from Southern Suds hits a Baltic porter that starts with a letter that's really hard to find on your keyboard - but does it! - in a day-end review, capping a beach outing of toeing the line with pilsners and weissbiers to avoid drawing any unwanted attention.

Keith at Brainard Brewing takes his chance on the soapbox to try to inform the world of the existence of Bigfoot. With decent success, mind you.

Bill at Beerjanglin' then doubles up on his round, not only extolling the graces of Bigfoot, but gives some thought to the somewhat debate-prone Triple Bock.

Jon at The Brew Site heeds the call of what appears to be an owl possessed by Satan and digs deep, real deep, into the pumpkin patch of autumnal ale.

The Beer Nut swings the bat at a weird Belgian bock in hopes for anti-seasonally-ing the rest of the crew, but winds up finding himself a little let down.

Ray at The Barley Blog heard the call, and heeded it, in one simple syllable: stout.

Steph at brew.cook.pair.joy reminds us that stout's not just a syllable, it's dessert, too.

Melissa at Bathtub Brewery cuts straight to the business and goes on a total stout rampage, going so far as to suck Steph into her vortex of blackness.

Ted at Barley Vine then ups the ante on the stout game, turning the volume up to XS! (That doesn't mean "extra small.")

Tim at Sioux Brew also played "stout drinking lab rat" for an evening and subjected himself to a phenomenal brew, for the sake of science.

Bill Brand, via his What's on Tap blog, uses the opportunity to write a (scoop?) review of Stone’s 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, paired nicely with - I hope this isn't a typo - "grilled roast beer."

Rick at Lyke to Drink reminds us that behind ye olde stouts lie the malty underworld of scotch and doppelbock...

On top of that, there was an unquestionable "Christmas in July" mood that swept the group, with both Shawn "The Beer Philosopher" over at the Aleuminati and Boak of Boak and Bailey's cracking open some special something somethings that were by all means certainly meant to be enjoyed in a yuletide way (something I plan on doing tomorrow as well, my kindred brethren).

The "no sudden movements, keep smiling, and Rob will eventually go away" folks:

A kindred spirit, Mario from Brewed for Thought fired up similar barbecue-driven images, evoking "burning meat on an open fire...roasted meats, dusted in charcoal and a thick smoky BBQ sauce," finding a perfect companion in his favorite stouts and browns.

Loot over at Lootcorp.com thinks brewing and drinking seasonally is too fun to quit, but too cedes in the presence of the almighty 'cue.

Joe from Beer at Joe's shows the world exactly what July in San Francisco looks like, for those of you who don't believe us about the grayness, and does it in true style with what appears to be the gourmet's version of an Egg McMuffin and one of the greatest Belgian-style stouts in the world.

Jay at the Brookston Beer Bulletin traces the history of seasonality in brewing, and thus beer drinking, ending at the cul de sac known as HVAC circle, allowing for barleywine, anytime.

Rob at Sophisticated Brews comes right out and name-checks two of my all-time favorite beers in an undisguised bid for my eternal admiration. And I haven't tried the third one he'd mentioned, yet...

David from Musings Over a Pint admits what I fear may be my own weakness, the continual appreciation of a "big beer...like a quiet friend who will sit and 'just be there' while you relax and wind down from the day's activities," even while I'll equally admit that a "day's activities" for me might just be, um, "tasting beer."

Matt at Flossmoor Station Brewing Co. describes what could only be thought of as the Bizarro world of beer-drinking environments... those where you do not drink beer!

Meanwhile, the completely unrelated Matt at A World of Brews admits that even the rotation of the Earth, the gravitational pull of the Sun, and a good day of lawnwork cannot sway him from a love for IPA.

Wilson at Brewvana is apparently drinking the same Kool-Aid that's flowing around here, indulging himself in an appropriately-titled Dark Beer Summer.

Jon at Beer Obsessed admits that if it weren't for the fact that there's no such thing as summer in North Berkeley, he'd be cracking open sixers of Czech pils in no time. But since it's freezing...

Christina at Beer for Chicks goes for the gusto by admitting, against all odds, compromising her professional integrity, a disgusting, filthy truth.

Alan at A Good Beer Blog then goes and makes mention of skinny dipping with Christina in a way that makes me feel kinda funny.

And lastly, Troy at Great Canadian Pubs and Beer writes up a self-effacing yet perfectly solid post that features none other than the great, mysterious smoke monster objectified in my own post on the subject.

Phew! Be sure to check The Barley Blog for the next Session announcement, as Ray will be hosting our next meeting on Friday, August 1^st. Thanks all, for the excellent entries!


The Session is a blog carnival originated by Stan Hieronymus at Appellation Beer. If you contributed a post but don't see it above, that means it was likely devoured by my email client's spam filter, so feel free to comment to this post so that I can amend the roundup. For a summary of the Sessions thus far, check out Brookston's handy guide.