Glossary
Session beer
Beer low enough in alcohol, and balanced enough, to drink several of over an evening — conventionally under about 4.5% in British usage and under about 5% in American.
Also called sessionable, session.
Trade usage. Established by practice in the trade rather than by any formal definition.
The British sense is older and stricter, and rests on the idea that ordinary bitter and mild were the beers you drank all evening. American usage attached the word to hoppy styles, producing "session IPA" as a category.
The concept is about balance as much as strength: a beer can be 3.8% and still too intense to drink four of.
Related
- Ordinary bitter — The archetypal British session beer.
More vocabulary
Brewery tap · Brewpub · CAMRA · Contract brewing · Craft beer · Cru · Microbrewery · Real ale · Small beer
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Last reviewed 2026-08-16.