Chile Beer

Used with care, quality sansho pepper can deliver potent citrus character with only the slightest Sichuan-like tingle. From Open Air Brewing in Kobe, Japan, this Sansho Gose won gold at the 2025 World Beer Cup.

Mike Rybinski, brewmaster at ZwanzigZ Pizza in Columbus, Indiana, shares this recipe for the American imperial stout that won gold at the 2022 and 2025 World Beer Cups—plus, notes for the ghost pepper variation that also won gold at the Great American Beer Festival in 2017.

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.

This fresh, vibrant, spicy Thai dish is a powerhouse of flavor, from its lime-driven acidity to its fiery chiles, crunchy peanuts, and briny little sea creatures. Should you put it in beer? Yes, obviously, you cowards.

From Aslin Beer in Alexandria, Virginia, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for the watermelon version of their paleta-inspired El Frutero, featuring additions of sea salt, habañero, and lime.

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.

In New York City, Talea is leaning into a crowd-pleasing focus on easy-drinking, low-bitterness, fruit-forward beers—including this Spicy Marg sour ale that the team first brewed for Women’s History Month in March this year.