I was on the road returning my son to his mom yesterday, so please pardon this belated beer blog. But on to happier occasions.

I am delighted to report that the Thanksgiving ale I mentioned last week turned out to be closer to a barleywine, with a lovely alcoholic warmth at the back of the mouth and roasty-toasty-licious at the front, thanks to all that chocolate malt.  It only takes one of these beers to send you on your way.

And yet, sometimes that’s exactly the opposite of what you want in a beer. Don’t get me wrong: i love barleywines and other big beers just as much as anybody else, but when it comes to session beers, these high alcohol bell-ringers can be a little much.  If I had my druthers,  my Thanksgiving ale would have been a little lighter on the alcohol content.  

Per Beer Advocate (linked above)

Any beer that contains no higher than 5 percent ABV, featuring a balance between malt and hop characters (ingredients) and, typically, a clean finish – a combination of which creates a beer with high drinkability. The purpose of a session beer is to allow a beer drinker to have multiple beers, within a reasonable time period or session, without overwhelming the senses or reaching inappropriate levels of intoxication. (Yes, you can drink and enjoy beer without getting drunk.)

I love a good session beer, whether it’s a pale ale, an ESB, or a lager.  But my favorite session beers are brown ales. Easy to make, easy to drink, and in this period of high-priced and scarce hops, easy on the wallet for homebrewers.  Brown ales tend to be maltier than other ales, and even though their alcohol by volume (ABV) is relatively low, they’re very warming, great during the winter months.

I was just digging through my book of recipes (aka, that pile of paper in the kitchen) and I can’t find my brown ale recipes, so I’ll just offer this off the top of my head. Again, this 5-gallon recipe assumes you boiled and cooled 3 gallons of water the night before, and assumes that lie me you’re using extracts and whole grains. Share some of your favorite brown ales (and other session beers) in comments!

3/4 pound cracked crystal malt (60 degrees L)
1/2 pound cracked chocolate malt (or similar)
3.3 pounds Amber malt extract
3.3 pounds dark malt extract
2 ounces Fuggles, Styrian, or Kent Golding Hops, 1 hour
1 tsp Irish malt (15 minutes)
Wyeast #1028, 1098, or any of the British/English strains. It’s hard to go wrong.

Steep your cracked grains for half an hour in 3 gallons of 160 degree water.  After a 1/2 hour, stir in your extracts and bring to a boil.  

When the water reaches a rolling boil, set your timer to one hour and add all of the hops.  Brown ales tend not to have that much in the way of aroma hops, but if you want some aroma, maybe buy an extra ounce and throw it in at the same time you throw in the Irish moss. “Relax,! Have a homebrew,” as Papazian would say. Which, by the way, you should do at the 15 minute mark.

Cool the wort rapidly, then pitch the yeast into the fermenter. Pour the cooled wort in, splashing vigorously to aerate, seal, and jam in the airlock.

Brown ales ferment quickly and there’s often no need for secondary fermentation.  The beer should be ready to bottle or keg within a week and a couple of days.  Enjoy!