Wednesday, March 14, 2012

[A Beer a Day] Wanderer Session IPA | North Peak Brewing | Traverse City, MI


Lake Michigan, IMO.

The greatness of this beer is in its first descriptive word: Session.

Session beers offer sustained drinking: typically your Millers and Lone Stars of the beer world.  It implies that one or two or a drinker's dozen won't work you over during tailgate season.  The common denominator of these types of beer is the low ABV -- there for sustained drinking without a trip to the emergency room, and then eventually, County.  But typically, you give up flavor in lieu of extending your drinking session.

But North Peak -- and recently, other Midwest brewers like Founders -- have developed a way to combine the greatness of these two ideas.  A session IPA is exactly what one would prefer when watching the sun take 48 hours to set on Lake Michigan, as I was attempting to do here before the northern summer chill took over my sensibilities.

Beer tastes infinitely better on the lake, as it turns out.  Growing up, I didn't have the luxury of partaking in this ritual.  We could only take our beer to the desert and start a fire -- and in place of a lake, its a suitable replacement -- but let me remind you, fire does not have the same thirst-invoking qualities.

Therefore, Lake Michigan, IMO.

As in, find a session craft beer and a lake.  A warm one.

ABV: 4.2%
Acquired: Ludington (MI) Market

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