New in DC: House in Session Ale

Churchkey #2
‘Churchkey #2’
courtesy of ‘Hans Bruesch’

DC is a political town, always has been, always will be. And now, even our beer is political, with the release of Schlafly Beer’s House in Session Ale. Unlike our politicians, however, this beer was the result of a word not usually in many of their vocabularies: cooperation.

Formed as a collaboration between Greg Engert from ChurchKey, Greg Jasgur from Pizza Paradiso and Sam Fitz from Meridian Pint, and brewed at Schlafly in St. Louis, House in Session is an American session ale, dry-hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe hops, and coming in at 4.2% ABV. At ChurchKey, House in Session is also available in a cask version.

I’m gonna take a minute to out myself here and reveal a shocking secret. I’m a huge beer snob/geek, but I’m generally not a fan of hoppy beers. I can appreciate an IPA, but its not my first choice; I would much rather drink a barleywine or something malty.

That being said, I really enjoyed the House in Session draft. There’s a ton of hops on the nose and up front on the tongue, but it finishes super clean, with hardly any of the bitterness that I don’t like in most hoppy beers. In addition to the hops, there is also a really nice malty element that balances the hops, and some lemon/citrus and herbal notes. All in all, House in Session is an eminently drinkable session beer that would be perfect for summer day drinking.

The release celebrates the continued growth of American craft beer and the introduction of the The Small BREW Act, a piece of bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) that is already co-sponsored by 17 Senators. A companion bill is set to be introduced in the House later this month by Representatives Gerlach (R-PA) and Neal (D-MA). The same bill enjoyed substantial support in the last Congress with over 130 Members of the House and 25 Senators co-sponsoring the bill.

For more information on the BREW Act, check out the American Brewers Association.

Photo courtesy of
‘Churchkey #16’
courtesy of ‘Hans Bruesch’

Addison is a fourth generation Washingtonian, actually born and raised within city limits of DC. He currently resides in Arlington and works in DC as a government lackey. Addison can be reached at addison (at) welovedc.com

3 thoughts on “New in DC: House in Session Ale”

  1. The brewery behind Schlafly beer is called the Saint Louis Brewery. Not “Schlafly Brewing Company”.

  2. Interesting preference – I love hops and barelywines (and stouts and sours and…). I especially love hoppy barleywines! (Hog Heaven, Climax, Bigfoot…)

  3. @Nick I changed it to reflect what their press release said: “Schlafly Beer”

    @Chris What can I say, I like what I like. I’ve actually been on a huge sour kick lately – I got a couple bottles of Rodenbach Vintage 2008 that were particularly awesome.