John M. Verive
The Brewery Lab Is a Modern Shrine to the Brewing GodsIn the never-ending quest for quality, brewers turn to specialized instruments to build a better understanding of their raw materials, their processes, and their beer.
Dedication & the Gear of DecoctionIt doesn’t take a bespoke lager brewery to bring the subtle complexities of decoction to craft lager—but it does take some ingenuity.
Quercus Curious: On the Care and Feeding of Barrels in the BreweryThe old tech of the oak barrel still works beautifully in the brewery—but it does need a nice, solid thwack with the mallet now and then. Brewers are already janitors, plumbers, and microbiologists, among other things. Might as well add coopers to the list.
Gearhead: This Ain’t Your Dad’s Near-BeerAs demand grows for nonalcoholic craft beer, brewers and manufacturers are answering the call with a new wave of innovations—and the results have never tasted better.
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Fresher, Farther, Faster: Wet Hops, Beyond the HarvestHarvest-hopped beers are a seasonal delight no longer limited to breweries near the hop fields—nor even to the harvest season. Here’s a look at the logistics and tech that are expanding the harvest in time and space.
From Barleycorn to Beer: The Maltster’s Magic TrickBetween the farm and the brewery, much of beer’s flavor is born in the malthouse. Here we journey inside a traditional floor maltings—and inside a kernel of grain—to witness the daily toil and tools that turn a raw cereal into the soul of beer.
Gearhead: Dead Heads, Shockwaves, and the Search for the Perfect PumpThe beating hearts of a brewery aren’t glamorous and won’t impress casual visitors, but they can do a great deal to improve how brewers do their jobs. They can also make a lot of noise.
Gearhead: The Enviable Lightness of Craft LagerWhat does it mean to worship at the altar of crisp? For brewers, it means special attention to technique and to the cellar.
Gearhead: Yeast Just Want to Have Fun!Brewers don’t make beer, yeast do—but they also make a lot more yeast. Here’s a look at some of the specialized gear that brewers use to propagate and ensure consistent pitches from batch to batch.
Stainless Steel Is Forever: A Story of Well-Traveled GearSome brewhouses are forever, even if they don’t stay put—and more than a few have traveled their way around the country and even around the world. At each location, that unique set of equipment and the brewers who use it must form a connection that inevitably affects what we drink.
Home (Beer), Sweet Home (Gear)Among the many takeaways of the pandemic: Drinking beer at home can be a real pleasure. Here, our Gearhead considers some of the gadgets, equipment, and other improvements that can help make your beer-house a beer-home.
Dazed & Infused: THC in the BreweryLegal hurdles aside, there are also technical obstacles to getting the main psychoactive component of cannabis into beverages in a stable, predictable way. John M. Verive explains the challenge, the science, the gear—and why it’s coming to a brewery near you.