High Gravity Beer What's The Point?

[latham]

Hey Army,

I see all these styles and read about them that sound so enticing. However how can you drink 6 Pints of a 6.5% beer let alone 8%. For those of us with no self contol can someone tell me does the alcohol content make a huge difference in flavour. I want to drink beer that tastes great from 5.00pm to 8.00pm but have a family and I don't want to let them down either. I read about IPA's(currently reading Mitch Steele's book) and how great they are but at 6.5% I cant drink ten of them. Can I reduce the base malt, Mash out at 77C etc and still have a great beer.

By the way I think the South Africans are going to kill us in the cricket!!

Latham
West Oz
Australia

[dannypo]

Here's an idea, don't drink 10 beers a night. If you are drinking 10 5% beers everynoght you my friend have a problem.

[latham]

May have exaggerated on the personal drinking numbers but I am really asking If alcohol makes the difference on a Beer Taste. I am not interested in a Beer @ 7.5%.

[snowcapt]

If you dont want a high gravity beer, dont drink them.
I look at them this way: They are great for special occasions, they store well, and can age beautifully.
They are great to share- not chug.

[spiderwrangler]

Alcohol does contribute to flavor and mouthfeel. A 12% stout isn't meant to be drained like a Zima, it's meant to be slowly sipped and savored. If you're drinking from 5-8pm, any one high gravity beer could take up a good chunk of that time. That being said, if you are looking for session beers, look to the UK styles, most are created to be beers you could spend a night drinking at the pub, and often rely on an increased malt presence to keep the beer interesting. An other option that is becoming more popular here in the states is to make hoppy session beers... making a 4-5% beer, but hopping it like an IPA.

[BDawg]

+1 on "session" versions of other styles.
I sat a BOS last weekend and the winner we picked was a "Session CDA".
It was a really nice beer, about 4% or so and PACKED with flavor.

That said, I will often opt for 1 or 2 glasses of a high gravity beer and spend the rest of the night having other lower gravity beers so I won't end up in the klink. Besides, to me, drinking the same beer all night is pretty boring. My favorite entry on a pub's beer list is the sampler.

[brewinhard]

I prefer both. I always like to brew up some strong ABV% styles and in between while they are aging, I will brew up my low gravity session beers (ie bitters, ESB, irish red, lagers, etc) to tide me over in between waiting for the big daddy's to age.

[Adam]

I'm not into the heavy beers. I like a good 3.5-4.5% beer. There's a few beers I really like that are more than that. Anchor Porter is 5.6% and I think Bell's Porter is a bit above 5%. Might have a light beer, one or two porters, then a glass of water and call it a night. The Germans like to brew dunkelweizen for a 5-5.5% beer and that's tolerable for a few beers, especially if we're talking about Franziskaner dunkelweizen.