Brewing

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.

From the angel’s share to dilution, River North founder Matt Hess lays out some key considerations to keep in mind when you’re planning to age your beers in spirits barrels.

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.

From dextrose to brewer’s crystals, River North founder Matt Hess covers some of the key things to consider when choosing and adding sugars to boost the gravities of very strong beers.

From recipe design and ingredient choices to barrel-aging, blending, and packaging, River North founder Matt Hess and head brewer Matt Malloy share the methods and philosophy behind their unusually robust and flavorful award-winning beers.

A great helles is simple in composition—but simple can be surprisingly hard to get right, especially when there’s nowhere for mistakes to hide. It's a worthy challenge, and the payoff is a beer that pretty much everyone is happy to drink.

In centuries past, much of European brewing happened on the farm—and the choice of what to brew was as pragmatic as what to grow. With insights that could inform your next farmhouse ale, Lars Marius Garshol shares some truths about what those farmer-brewers planted, malted, and put into their beers.

Farmhouse brewing was once common across much of Europe, though documentation can be scarce. Here’s what we know about a surprising and little-known rural brewing tradition in northwest Germany.

Once derided as cheap adjuncts, sugars have become useful, flavorful tools for today’s creative brewers.

Today’s British brewers are melding traditional cask bitter with brighter, modern hopping for a crushable alchemy greater than the sum of its parts. Will the rest of us ever catch on?

Have those countertop, push-button homebrew machines gotten any better over the years? Let’s find out.

Evan Price, cofounder and head brewer of Green Cheek in Orange, California, explains the thinking behind using different chloride-sulfate ratios for their West Coast pilsners, IPAs, and double IPAs.

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.

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.

As NA beers grow as a category, specialized yeasts can be an accessible way for smaller breweries to jump into the fray. But which strain should you try first? Recent research aims to help you narrow it down.

A great one to enjoy by the autumn bonfire, this is a style that any smoked-beer enthusiast should know how to make—and it can be nearly as easy to brew as it is to drink.

Sometimes known as “kettle caramelization,” the Maillard richness of a boil reduction can add deeper malt flavor to any beer you brew—even if it’s not Scottish.

Beachwood co-owner and brewmaster Julian Shrago explains why it’s so valuable to expand your sensory knowledge and vocabulary.

Julian Shrago, co-owner and brewmaster at Beachwood Brewing in Los Angeles, explains how he first thinks about the flavors he wants in a beer before he begins thinking about ingredients.

Beachwood Brewing in Long Beach, California, has mastered a wide range of beer styles over the years and has the medals to prove it. In this video course, join brewmaster Julian Shrago as he charts the path from choosing an unfamiliar style of beer to brewing an example that can please the crowd and wow the judges.