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‘Sessionability’ is beer’s new buzzword, says Greene King

23 April 2024 By Jessica Mason

Beers you can drink again and again or ‘session’ are becoming a big trend amidst the rise of no and low alcohol, according to Greene King.

Speaking to the drinks business, David Spencer, head of marketing for the Old Speckled Hen family at Bury St Edmunds based Greene King Brewery said: “In terms of moderation and sessionability, we are seeing this across the category and this has manifested itself in the growth of non-alcoholic beer, but also in lower abv styles.”

Spencer explained how this can be witnessed by looking at Nielsen Scantrack data, which illustrated how “in 2024, 17.8% of traditional ale value has been from brands below 3.5%”. According to Spencer, this “exemplifies the growing desire for those sessional beers” as well as creates a “need for brewers to consider their range to complement this”.

The observation follows Greene King’s launch this month of Old Session Hen, a 3.4% ABV “easy-drinking” golden ale that is a variant of its Old Speckled Hen beer brand.

Spencer told db that “tapping into this trend, we [Greene King] wanted to expand the Old Speckled Hen range with an ale that really hit this drinking preference and so Old Session Hen was born and is already proving a success with consumers”.

Old Session Hen has been brewed with Harlequin and Cascade hops and will be available in 500ml bottles exclusively in Morrisons, on promotion for £1 or via the Greene King webshop

Last October, independent Yorkshire brewer T&R Theakston highlighted how British beer was poised to replace ‘aggressive’ New World flavour trends. Part of the reasoning, according to Theakston’s was to tap into the balance and sessionability that naturally-irrigated British hops offered, a testament to the nation’s changing seasons and rainfall gifting Britain’s hop farms with stocks of flavour and aroma hops that deliver hop-forward brews with “balance” over citric assertiveness.