Joe Stange

Whether you want to brew a more convincing Czech-style lager, or you simply want to borrow a few tricks to shape the kind of beer that seems impossible to stop drinking, here are some elements to consider.

• Czech Lager
• Lager
• Svetly Lezak

Developed by the team at the Barth Haas campus in Beijing, this refreshing (and convincing) nonalcoholic cucumber gose gets lactic acidification followed by fermentation with a special yeast for low-/no-alcohol beers.

• Beer Recipe
• Gose
• NA Beer

It used to seem so simple—know your hops and when you add them to the boil, and you’ll know how bitter your beer will be. Now, thanks to IPA’s evolution and lots of new research, bitterness is getting … complicated. Here are key takeaways to help you dial it in.

• Brewing Theory
• Bitterness
• IBUs

From our Love Handles files on the world’s great beer bars: Chicago’s Beer Temple serves a smartly chosen mix of craft classics and contemporary standouts, all with extra care.

• Love Handles
• Chicago
• Beer Bars

The wider world has known about sahti for a few decades now, but many attempts to brew it have little to do with the real thing. For those who want to make something much closer to the Finnish farmhouse tradition, Mika Laitinen explains the basics.

• Brewer's Perspective
• Sahti
• Finland

From our Love Handles files on the world’s great beer bars: In Singapore’s Chinatown district, this hawker’s stall in a food market is pouring the city’s best rotating selection of beers from near and far.

• Love Handles
• Singapore
• Asia

For a bright, fruity flavor that’s special to Mexico and the American Southwest, consider the humble prickly pear. (Just watch out for those spines.)

• Special Ingredient
• Prickly Pear
• Field Beer

Festivals are back in full force, but who has time to hit them all? Here’s a rundown of our favorite, most interesting, and most compelling festivals—those that drive excitement about well-crafted beer and underscore the important place that beer holds in bringing us together.

• Festivals

Exotic but familiar, the tropical plant lemongrass is far from being one of the traditional beer ingredients … yet its flavor and aroma fit right in with the others.

• Lemongrass
• Special Ingredient
• Saison

For those willing to take on a dark, low-strength, smoked beer, this historic Danish style may be the way to go. Yet there’s a question you must answer for yourself: How traditional do you want to make it?

• Skibsøl
• Smoked Beer
• Historical Beer

Heater Allen’s head brewer and the inventor of cold IPA are joining forces to launch lager-centric Gold Dot Beer in McMinnville, Oregon.

• Lager
• Oregon
• Gold Dot Beer

You might see the tea in Thai restaurants or trendy cafés or spas—a striking blue or purple liquid, steaming from clear mugs or iced in glasses. And, guess what? That potent color also works in beer.

• Special Ingredient
• Flowers
• Tea