Annie Johnson

Beer purists might look down their noses at the humble radler and other shandies, but crafting your own soda to blend with your own beer is a flavor-driven project any brewer can appreciate.

• Radler
• Shandy
• Fruit

A classic style in the American craft pantheon, this amber ale is Annie Johnson’s house beer—the one she’s brewed again and again to dial in her process and ingredients. (She also drinks it.)

• Beer Recipe
• American Amber Ale
• Amber Ale

Every brewer should have a house beer they use to get better—the one you could brew in your sleep to fine-tune your process, get to know your ingredients intimately, and dial in flavor and quality. For Annie Johnson, that beer is her throwback American amber ale.

• Amber Ale
• American Amber Ale
• Homebrewing

Here are two recipes in one: first the peach soda, which you can modify depending on your own chosen fruit, then an extract-brewed helles that you can blend to your liking.

• Beer Recipe
• Radler
• Fruit Beer

This is a go-to recipe for the winter holidays. It’s easy to brew and makes use of cranberries for some seasonal flavor. It also makes a tasty base for experimenting with Renée and various infusions, whether at holiday festivities or just messing around in the kitchen at home.

• Beer Recipe
• Fruit Beer
• Witbier

Infusing beer with fruit and other flavors between the tap and the glass isn’t just a relic of a time when craft beer was less mainstream—and, often, more fun. It’s also something you can do at home, today. Ready to get acquainted?

• No Rests for the Wicked
• Infusion
• Flavor Infusions

• Beer Recipe
• Pale Ale
• Pacific Pale Ale

Here’s how homebrewers can punch up their pale ales with the bright flavors of New Zealand hops. Plus: a method for getting a whirlpool-like flavor burst without having to whirl anything.

• Pacific Pale Ale
• Homebrewing
• Extract Brewing

From award-winning homebrewer Annie Johnson, this partial-mash recipe for a lightweight porter—at 3.5 percent ABV—demonstrates how you can pack plenty of malt flavor into a low-strength beer.

• Beer Recipe
• Porter
• English-Style Porter

Rich in malt flavor yet light in strength and easy to drink, lower-ABV stouts, porters, and other dark beers represent a wide-open playground for brewers at any level.

• Malt
• Stout
• Porter

When it comes to smoked malt, there are far more options for all-grain brewers than for those who rely on extracts. This partial-mash recipe maps out just one way to get it done.

• Beer Recipe
• Rauchbier
• Smoked Beer

Don’t let them tell you an extract brewer can’t brew a good rauchbier. While smoked-malt extract is a rarity, there are ways to get creative with our smoke and dial it in to make a lager that can convert the skeptics.

• Smoked Beer
• Rauchbier
• Extract Brewing