Superstorm Sandy, giving us Ohioans an excuse to drink good beer and worry about New Yorkers

Monday night Ben and I sipped Edmund Fitzgerald porters from Great Lakes Brewing and listened to the icy rain pummel our windows. We were waiting out Superstorm Sandy with candles, matches, and more beer within reach. The Mighty Fitz, to this day on the floor of Lake Superior, proved less seaworthy than Ben and me. Central Ohio has not been hit hard, though there is snow on the ground and the promise of even stronger winds and more rain. All this hubbub about the east coast being wiped off the map initially made me a little skeptical, but I worried for all my friends out there anyway — so I texted them to remind them to stock up on beer before the stores were down to Natty Light.

Since we’re headed into the winter storm season early, here’s some advice about how to stock up before the next one hits. You never know how long you’ll be stuck inside with the same increasingly-smelly friends and family members, so you should always prepare for the long-haul. While I usually gravitate to beers of heavy gravity, high alcohol content is, in this case, a detriment. What you really need is a session beer.

Session beers are often defined as well-balanced beers of 5% abv or lower. They do not hit your tongue with violence, nor do they leave you puckered. Essentially, they are easily-palatable brews gentle enough to enjoy for hours without worrying about sloppily embarrassing yourself. They come in handy not just for potential stormy marathons, but also for lengthy afternoon BBQs and family reunions where one of your uncles is already “that guy.”

Technically then, most cheap beer on the American market would fall into the session category — Bud Light, 4.2%; Coors, 5%; MGD, 4.8%; Miller High Life, 5% — so I would like to point out the word “enjoy” in the paragraph above. Being the snob that I am, I thusly sweep these beers out of the picture and focus on beers rich with flavor and light on advertising budgets.

While many think first of lagers or ESBs, the term “session beer” encompasses many stouts and porters as well. Both typically have a low abv (Guinness is only about 4.2%) and are balanced beers by definition. The impenetrable darkness of these beers often belies how they actually feel in your mouth, which is to say, considerably lighter than those snow clouds on the horizon. Both are also stupendous coffee and chocolate delivery methods; the warm brown notes of all these vices brew up into one deviously delicious potion. Smoked porters have become rather hip now too, or so I’ve been told, and I advise not passing up the opportunity to give one a try.The full character of the beers is released as they warm, so let them sit out of the fridge for a few to get their full flavor. Keeps your fingers warm this way, too. When it’s snowy outside, there is little better than a tall pint of black beer — I’ll take a white head of foam over marshmallows any day. So, bring it, Winter.