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Before her @ratmagnet Instagram stories and the industry reckoning that followed, Brienne Allan was, and remains, very much a brewer. Her chosen six-pack—all lagers, all decocted—are all beers that have played pivotal roles in her professional journey.

• Pick Six
• Lager
• Decoction

It’s not easy to prioritize the planet and its people alongside the product, but even small steps taken by small breweries can have a big impact. Water use is one area where breweries can make an outsized difference.

• Gearhead
• Water
• Sustainability

Pale lager adds a soft, bready sweetness to a bright fish preparation and piquant, Mediterranean-inspired sauce.

• Cooking with Beer
• Fish
• Helles

Partly inspired by Flying Dog’s Numero Uno, this lager has a bready, tortilla-like backbone with some lime-like Motueka hops for a refreshing edge.

• Beer Recipe
• Mexican Lager
• Pale Lager

In France near the Belgian border, family-run Brasserie Au Baron fuses the character of local ingredients, a distinctive house yeast, and the traditions of both saison and bière de garde.

• Podcast

Early adopters of Hopsteiner’s Salvo™ hop extract are enjoying its aroma benefits while yielding more beer from each batch.

• Sponsored

Tim Sciascia, cofounder and head brewer at Cellarmaker, walks us through their typical boil and whirlpool hop additions for pale ales, as they aim for the desired level of bitterness while avoiding any vegetal off-flavors.

• Video
• Pale Ale
• Hop Additions

Here’s the idea: Take advantage of a lactic acid–producing yeast and aseptic fruit puree to make the brewing of a tart, tasty fruit beer as simple as possible.

• Beer Recipe
• Fruit Beer

Long dismissed as gimmicky and relegated to a bit part, fruit beer has never gotten the respect it deserves. Yet the craft of brewing with fruit is poised to enter a golden age, with a bag full of tricks and seeds planted to grow much wider appeal.

• Fruit Beer
• Homebrewing Tips
• Fruit

From our Love Handles files on beer bars we love: This is one of Belgium’s longest-running beer cafés, with a deep selection and plenty of bric-a-brac to admire over an ale and a snack.

• Love Handles
• Turnhout
• Belgium

Firestone Walker beers have twice won Best in Beer nods from our editors, and they always rank high among Readers’ Choice picks. We asked Sam Tierney, innovation brewer at the Propagator in Venice Beach, to ponder what it means to strive for “the best.”

• Innovation
• Quality
• Firestone Walker

This wife-and-husband brewing team in Wallonia blend their Belgian and Brazilian roots with a deep love of tradition and a spark of contemporary creativity.

• Podcast
• Belgian Beer
• Saison