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Over the past few decades, Victor Novak has earned his reputation as an award-winning brewer at breweries such as Dock Street, Taps, and Golden Road. Now, as innovation director at California’s Figueroa Mountain, he’s leaning into his love of classic lager styles as well as progressive fruit beers.

• Podcast

A little bit of history, a touch of science, and an introduction to brewing solutions that will change the way you brew forever.

• Sponsored

With more than 1,000 cideries in North America—most quite small—it can be hard to know where to start. Here are five tips from the pros.

• Cider
• Perry
• 5 on 5

Temescal, Prison City, 1840 Brewing, and others share their stories about making clean sours with Berkeley Yeast’s Galactic strain.

• Sponsored
• Sour beer

As with farmhouse ales, not every farmhouse cider is made on the farm. Yet the evocative word tends to accompany certain traits—and there’s plenty that should appeal to drinkers looking for old-fashioned flavors with a sense of place.

• Cider
• Cidermaking
• Farmhouse

The secret to making consistently award-winning cider is, of course, great fruit married to thoughtful design and flawless execution, and for this multigenerational family of apple growers from Colorado’s Western slope, anything less than the best wouldn’t do justice to their beloved fruit.

• Podcast

From cofounder and brewmaster Matt Cole and his team at Fat Head’s in Ohio, here’s a recipe for the Bavarian-style weissbier that’s won three gold medals in the past four years.

• Beer Recipe
• Hefeweizen
• Weissbier

Take a revolutionary leap forward in brewing technology with hop-derived, variety-specific extracts that reflect the truest expression of hops.

• Sponsored

Steve Parker, cofounder and head brewer of Fidens in Albany, New York, lays out their approach to blending hops for hazy IPA, as well as what they look for when selecting varieties such as Citra, Simcoe, and Strata.

• Video
• Video Tip
• IPA

Fat Head’s Brewery in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, has won more than its share of medals over the years. One of its most decorated beers is Goggle Fogger, the Bavarian-inspired hefeweizen that’s won three major gold medals in the past four years. Here’s how its pieces fit together.

• Ask the Pros
• Hefeweizen
• Weissbier

Perhaps the oldest way of preparing grain for brewing, drying malt in the open air was traditional for lambics, white beers, and various rustic ales scattered around Europe, Africa, and beyond. Today, brewers and maltsters interested in history, terroir, and old-fashioned methods are taking their malt back out into the sun.

• Malt
• Wind Malt
• Air-Dried Malt

From Philadelphia’s lager-centric Human Robot, here’s a recipe for a Czech-style amber lager that came to life almost by accident—and one that uses a method they call “enhanced decoction.”

• Beer Recipe
• Czech-Style Amber Lager
• Amber Lager