Full Sail Unveils Japanese Rice, West Coast Session Lagers for 21st Anniversary

Full Sail Brewing Company in Hood River is marking Session Lager’s 21st birthday with two new Session-branded lagers, a retro packaging refresh and a planned in-person celebration, the brewery announced March 3, 2026. The company said the revamped Session lineup will move away from the original short stubby 11.2-ounce bottle into 12-ounce cans bearing throwback graphics, and that the beers will be available beginning this spring in draft and 12-ounce cans in 6-packs and 15-packs throughout the Pacific Northwest and Colorado.

The two new releases are explicitly named Session Japanese Rice Lager and Session West Coast Lager. Garrett Meier, Full Sail’s vice president of operations, described the Japanese Rice Lager this way: "For the Japanese Rice Lager, we used the Japanese hop Sorachi Ace to bring defined lemon zest and fresh herbal character over a lean, rice-driven body and dry finish." Meier positioned lager production as precise, saying, "Lager brewing is a technical discipline, fermentation control, raw material selection, and balance are everything."

Meier’s notes on the West Coast expression emphasize a very different grain and hop bill: "The West Coast Lager takes a different approach, all-malt structure layered with loads of Anchovy and Mosaic hops to deliver bright citrus, tropical aromatics, all supported by a balanced bitterness." The phrase "Anchovy and Mosaic hops" appears in the company-supplied copy; Full Sail materials repeat those hop names as written.

Packaging and heritage are central to the announcement. Full Sail and outlets republishing the release stressed that Session originally debuted in 2005 in a distinctive red-and-white short stubby 11.2-ounce bottle, and that the new can artwork is intended to "harken back to the bold label first used when Session debuted in 2005." IMBOLDN noted, "Gone is the stubby bottle; instead, the beer will be packaged in 12-ounce cans that carry the throwback graphics."

Pat Tiernan, Full Sail’s CEO, framed the product strategy around drinkability and occasions: "Session is 21 years strong, and we’re not standing still. The new lagers show exactly where we’re headed, bold flavor, easy drinking, lower ABV, and built for real-life occasions from the backyard BBQ to the weekend outdoors, all within a new look that honors our history and reminds people why they fell in love with it in the first place. Whether you’re in a lawn chair or on a mountain peak, it’s the perfect beer for the experience."

Full Sail plans a "Session Celebration" at the Hood River Brew Pub in early May with the new brews on tap, live music, raffles, and special food and beer pairings at what the brewery calls "one of the best views of the Gorge in town," and the press copy invited readers to check the brewery’s Beer Finder for local availability. The announcement reiterates Full Sail’s history, noting the brewery began brewing on the Hood River bluff in 1987 and introduced Session in 2005.

Secondary coverage adds awards and historical claims with some inconsistencies: CraftBeer.com cited figures such as 35 gold medals for Session beers and 150 gold medals for Full Sail overall, and attributed a CEO quote to Irene Firmat that differs from the Pat Tiernan attribution in Full Sail’s release. Those award tallies and the differing CEO attribution appear in external write-ups alongside Full Sail’s primary March 3, 2026 announcement; the brewery’s core release and the Brewers Association reposted the Meier and Tiernan quotes that anchor the product and packaging details. The redesigned Session and the two new lagers will roll into draft lines and store shelves beginning this spring in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado, with the Hood River celebration slated for early May.