The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry. You can find more information on The Session on Brookston Beer Bulletin.
This time around, Mark Lindner SMaSH! No, he’s not the Hulk, he’s talking about “single malt and single hop” beers. Frankly, this is not a topic I’m particularly well versed in, so I’ll just vamp on some of his questions:
Are they trendy? When would they be considered to be trendy? Have you seen/had a variant (x-infused, fruit, …) single malt and single hop beer? More than one?
This does appear to be trendy amongst a relatively small segement of homebrewers, but I wouldn’t peg it as a more general beer trend. I’ve apparently had a couple of these without even realizing it, which says something. It feels like a trend requires people to be seeking out these beers because they are SMaSH, which isn’t something I see much of…
What purpose do SMaSH beers fill? For you, personally, and/or generally. Do they offer anything to drinkers, especially non-brewing drinkers?
There are four main ingredients of beer (water, barley, hops, yeast), so strictly controlling two of them reduces the variables, making it an interesting experiment, especially when part of a series. This can go multiple directions, highlighting a particular malt, hop, or even yeast or water, depending on what you vary from batch to batch. This does sorta depend on having a series of SMaSH beers to compare, but comparative drinking is something I enjoy and can be illuminating for novices or experienced lushes alike.
Do they fill a niche in any beer style space? One that matters to you? Are they a “style,” however you define that?
The great thing about niches is that you can never have too many, so even if I doubt that this will break out into the mainstream, this has a place (again, as mentioned above, doing a series of these could be illuminating). This isn’t really a “style” unto itself though, as evidenced by the fact that you can find wildly divergent SMaSH profiles out there (then again, it’s not like some established styles are particularly coherent – I’m looking at you, saison!)
Have you ever had an excellent one? As a SMaSH beer or as a beer, period.
I’ve only had a handful (that I know of) and they’ve been decent enough, though I can’t think of anything that really melted my face. That being said, I’d be willing to bet I had a great one that I didn’t even realize was SMaSH…
Do you brew them?
I have never brewed a SMaSH beer. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility and I like the idea of working within restraints, but at the same time, I don’t brew often enough to really get the most out of the idea.
Are there any styles besides pale ale/IPA that can be achieved via a single malt and single hop beer? (How about achieved versus done quite well.)
Absolutely! You could achieve this sort of thing with various lager styles (maybe a Kolsh?) or Belgian styles. In fact, as mentioned above, I’m virtually certain that I have had SMaSH beers that would fall under those styles that simply don’t advertise the simplicity of their recipes (or that weren’t made with SMaSH in mind, but nonetheless qualify as SMaSH anyway).