>by Paul Marko

Let’s face it, many craft beers are very high in alcohol. There’s just no getting around it. From double IPAs to barrel aged stouts to imperial wheat beers (isn’t America great?)—the flavorful stuff we’ve come to know and love is often a minimum of 8% ABV. Not your daddy’s beer in more ways than one. Have 3 or 4 of any of these beers and you might just be calling in “sick” the next morning. Luckily, many breweries are now understanding that there’s a time and place for the high-test AND the sessionable beers too. A beer “session” is when you’re having more than one of the same beer—and probably three, four, or even more. Resurgence Session IPA is your ticket to session happiness. At 4.3% ABV it’s barely above an American adjunct lager for alcohol content, yet it’s flavor profile is right where you want any IPA to be. Seemingly heavy on the mosaic hop, Resurgence Session is dry, slightly dank and highly drinkable. As with all quality session beers, as soon as you finish your first you’re looking to start on your next one. In the parlance of our time, let’s use the term all the cool beer kids are using these days...this beer is crushable! But please, oh please, don’t call this beer “thin.” It’s not a 2X IPA—it’s not supposed to be, folks. Session IPA is lighter in body for precisely all the right reasons. Grab a growler, sit on the deck and session up!

>by Chris Groves Certified Cicerone ®

0ne of the last places I’d ever think to be having a beer in just happened yesterday. Surrounded by miles of white marble and blue business suits, I had the pleasure to be part of the New York State Brewers Association thank you reception in The Well of the Legislative Office Building in Albany. Whats all this business and politics about? The demand you readers have for beer, especially locally [NYS] made is astouding. Figures from an economic impact study done in 2013 were released just this past fall which showed an impact $3.5 billion dollars on our state. That’s a lot of scratch! That’s bigger than the GDP of at least a dozen small countries! If you want to picture the amount of beer being produced, think of Niagara Falls flowing beer for a solid 35 seconds. Neat! 20 breweries from across the state were in attendance with highlights from Rare Form Brewing, Lake Placid Brewing, Greenport Harbor Brewing and C.H. Evans. Everything from a honey tinged summer ale to a mixed fermentation farmhouse saison were there, showing the huge array of great beer that comes out of our state. I continue to say it, as NY residents, we are a lucky bunch to have such solid beers available to us at all times. Next time you’re beer shopping, take an hour and think about the impact you’ve made. You did this, you demanded this, so...thank you! Raise a glass to New York for kicking butt.