Table Beer

From head brewer Éloi Deit and his team at Brasserie Dunham in Dunham, Quebec, this saison recipe features the catkins of the green alder—also known as dune pepper.

Bubbling up through Québécois gastronomy and into the brite tanks of craft brewers, this foraged spice is gaining wider fame and winning fans—and it grows freely across much of Canada and the northern United States.

From Dan Wye, head of the Origins project at Fyne Ales in Cairndow, Scotland, here’s a recipe from one of his mixed-culture wine chimeras—containing no grapes, but with flavors inspired by sauvignon blanc wine from France’s Loire Valley.

With conjecture based on archaeological findings, here’s a recipe for a mixed grog—in this case, an ale that includes herbs, honey, and fruit—of the sort that well-to-do, Bronze Age Danes might have enjoyed on special occasions and then (literally) taken to their graves.

From Chicago’s Burning Bush Brewery, this amber ale includes two types of basil grown right there on their patio next to the Chicago River.

Beer and pizza are fast friends, as everyone knows. But how well do “pizza leaves” work in beer? Let’s find out.

From Scratch in Ava, Illinois, this saison recipe features 131 ingredients, all told—their use informed by deep expertise in what to forage, what to grow, and how the different components can safely be used to contribute worthwhile flavors to beer.

Scratch in Ava, Illinois, has won a national reputation for its combination of foraging and flavor finesse. Here’s how the brewery’s duo ended up putting 131 different botanical ingredients into one (very tasty) beer.

This rich amber ale, featuring layers of roasted orange spice mingling with hops, is a vamp on the English winter warmers that are stronger, darker, and toastier than pale ales or bitters.

Featuring dried shrimp, salted crabs, fish sauce, fresh lime juice, tamarind paste, tomatoes, peanuts, and bird’s eye chiles, this one’s not for vegetarians... or anyone with a peanut allergy... or a shellfish allergy... or anyone who doesn’t like “spicy.” But that’s Thai food for you.

From owner and head brewer Rich Nuñez at Radicle Effect Brewerks in Rock Island, Illinois, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for the local cult favorite they release only twice per year—four kegs, and it’s done.

This plant from the ginger family can add subtle spice to your beer—or turn it so gold that it could have been brewed at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

Topher Boehm, cofounder and brewer at Wildflower in Marrickville, Australia, shares this recipe for their low-strength yet satisfying ale—an ideal framework for conveying a sense of place via local malt and a foraged house fermentation culture.

With local malt and a mixed fermentation culture foraged and harvested from native Australian flowers, Wildflower is focused on producing satisfying table beers with a true sense of place. Cofounder and brewer Topher Boehm explains their approach.

Checking in at just 3.2 percent ABV, Bourgeois Daydreams is the delicate, aromatic table beer at Chicago’s saison-focused Is/Was Brewing. Cofounder and brewer Mike Schallau describes it as “a balance of rustic grains, fresh-hop character, yeast esters, and a sprinkle of Brett funk.”

Simple yet dazzling, farmhouse-inspired beers on the lower end of the ABV spectrum present brewers—and drinkers—with an enthralling riddle.

The recipe for this globe-spanning collab—a ginger-laced hefeweizen with influences from Brazil, Germany, Japan, and the United States—comes from Freigeist’s Sebastian Sauer and his friends at Japas Cervejaria in São Paulo.

Gorilla Brewing in Busan, South Korea, shares this recipe for a tart and spicy celebration of a cherished local staple.

It can be a polarizing dish for those who didn’t grow up with it, but there are some affinities between certain styles of beer and this fermented Korean favorite. Can you brew with it? Of course you can.

The beers of Wunderkammer get their own rustic character via locally foraged ingredients, mixed cultures that include Brett, and a stripped-down, old-fashioned process featuring direct-fired kettles and fermentation without strict temperature control.