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When it comes to building big flavor into smaller, session-strength beers, smoke is fire. These five picks from the pros are sure to make sparks fly.

• Five on Five
• Smoked Beer

Looking for weekend grilling ideas? From our deep Cooking with Beer archive: You don’t need a smoker for this slam-dunk rib recipe—but you can include a smoked porter, if you want.

• Cooking With Beer
• Pairing Beer & Food
• Ribs

Despite opening in the throes of the pandemic in late 2020, Austin’s Meanwhile has bet big on a sprawling beer garden and well-appointed taproom, quenched by World Beer Cup and GABF medal–winning pilsner, helles, and San Diego–style IPA.

• Podcast

Josh Pfriem, cofounder and brewmaster of pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Oregon, explains what they love about their 34/70 lager strain and classic step mash.

• Video
• Video Tip

As it always does, the recent Craft Brewers Conference offered glimpses of where brewing may be going, whatever your scale. From terpenes to Dynaboost to new yeast strains, here are a few finds from the trade-show floor have us excited about what’s next.

• Editors’ Picks
• Hop Products
• Terpenes

From Tom Beckmann, owner and brewer at Goldfinger Brewing in suburban Chicago, here’s a recipe for their smoothly smoky collab with Fair State Brewing Cooperative in Minneapolis.

• Beer Recipe
• Rauchbier
• Smoked Beer

The idea that “all beer used to be smoky” doesn’t quite hold up, even if smoky malt must have been common in many places. Smokeheads, meanwhile, can tell you another possibility: The beer was smoky because people liked it that way.

• Smoke
• Smoked Beer
• Smoked Malt

From Cervecería Hércules in Santiago de Querétaro, here’s a taste of summer from Mexico featuring a global blend of American, British, German, and New Zealand hops.

• Beer Recipe
• Blonde Ale
• Pale Ale

Fuller’s Brewery in west London no longer brews this dark mild—and hasn't done so regularly since the 1990s—but brewing manager Guy Stewart shares this recipe for a revived, all-malt version that briefly reappeared in 2010.

• Beer Recipe
• Mild
• Dark Mild

In his quest to understand the impact of every ingredient in their ever-widening family of hazy IPAs, no test is off-limits for Burlington Beer founder Joe Lemnah. From malts and adjuncts to the impact of yeast strains on surprisingly classic hop combos, the Burlington team haven’t stopped learning and tweaking in their pursuit of optimized flavor.

• Podcast

Yeast is often forgotten when we talk about crafting artisanal fermented beverages. Learn how these remarkable organisms can elevate your beer—or cider or spirits—game.

• Sponsored

Josh Pfriem, cofounder and brewmaster of Oregon’s pFriem Family Brewers, details the thinking and process behind the brewery’s delicate, award-winning lagers inspired by traditions in Mexico, Japan, and beyond.

• Video
• Full Video
• Lager