Josh Weikert

While the recipe is big for a Czech pale lager—it’s really 14°P rather than the typical 12°—it drinks well below its strength and makes a bright showcase for that floor malt and ample Saaz hops.

• Beer Recipe
• Pilsner
• Czech Pale Lager

Crisp, dry, herbal-bitter, and clean, this is a lager you’ll want to have on tap all year long—but especially as the weather starts to warm.

• Make Your Best
• Pilsner
• German Pilsner

Kentucky common is a smooth, drinkable, light-amber hybrid that’s closer to Kölsch, cream ale, and California common than it is to Jack Daniels.

• Make Your Best
• Kentucky Common
• Common

At last year’s World Beer Cup, the team at Atlas Brew Works brought a gold medal home to the nation’s capital with Silent Neighbor—a “pumpernickel stout” brewed with rye and blackstrap molasses. Here’s how they put it together.

• Stout
• American Stout
• Export Stout

This rye riff on the classic American IPA is plenty hop-forward but with a more substantial grist than most. Rye’s an excellent ingredient that pairs beautifully with bright, clean hop flavors.

• Make Your Best
• IPA
• Rye IPA

Trial and error led to a winning combo of grist and hop bill in this recipe, and the result is a fun and interesting rye rewind on the ubiquitous IPA.

• Beer Recipe
• IPA
• American IPA

Last year was a great one for dark beers from Incendiary in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While their Schwarzbier earned its spot on our list of Best 20 Beers in 2023, this porter also nabbed gold at the World Beer Cup. So, what makes it tick?

• Porter
• Brown Porter
• Ask the Pros

This light and quenching smoked wheat beer remains a relatively obscure platypus in the style canon. Lichtenhainer is undeniably odd yet easy to brew and lots of fun to drink.

• Lichtenhainer
• Make Your Best
• Smoked Beer

Easy to forage and easy to use, spruce tips can add a range of flavors to your beers and be used in a variety of ways—and the best time to harvest them is just around the corner.

• Foraging
• Spruce Tips
• Spruce Beer

Amarillo and Simcoe lead the way in this session IPA recipe from Josh Weikert’s Make Your Best series.

• Beer Recipe
• IPA
• Session IPA

Fruit beers—they ain’t all thick smoothie sours. Out of Gainesville, Florida, Swamp Head’s Tropical Vibes is a bright, sunshiny, highly drinkable example of excellence in the form of a fruited wheat beer. We asked them what makes it tick.

• Fruit Beer
• Tropical Fruit
• Fruited Wheat Beer

This one is fast and easy—great for new brewers looking to practice and build their confidence—yet it also offers great depth of flavor and a striking appearance. Surprisingly light and refreshing, the dry stout works well in any season—or, brew it soon to have it ready for St. Pat’s.

• Make Your Best
• Stout
• Dry Irish Stout