Strong Ale

A classic style in the modern American pantheon, this hop-and-malt-forward strong ale serves as a great starting point for experimentation—for example, by subbing in your favorite hop varieties.

This celebration of malt and American hops is one that should evolve nicely as the weeks pass, the bitterness rounds, and malt comes into the fore.

From Cloudburst founder-brewer Steve Luke, here’s a homebrew recipe for the West Coast double red that won gold at the 2025 World Beer Cup.

When beer gets high enough in alcohol content, it can pose a threat to can lining and affect how we perceive carbonation. In this clip from their video course, River North founder Matt Hess explains how and why they bottle in glass and adjust for carbonation.

For River North’s coffee-infused beers, it’s whole beans, fresh and medium-roasted. In this clip from their video course, founder Matt Hess explains the method.

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.

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.

Here’s a recipe from mid-19th-century Scotland that makes a point: British milds weren’t always dark and low strength.

Brewed with barrel-aging in mind, this barleywine-style ale from Lumberbeard Brewing in Spokane, Washington, leans heavily into locally malted triticale—an unusual wheat-rye hybrid.

Fresh and malty with plenty of English hop character, this is a great one to enjoy on those long winter evenings to come.

Typically, gammeltøl was brewed in March for drinking in the autumn, but the Danish tradition of brewing this strong, smoky raw ale has virtually died out. You can help revive it.

The defining traits of a Ukrainian golden ale are its golden hue, a relatively high ABV, and a smooth, sweet finish balanced by soft bitterness.

While their all-grain friends cope with gummy stuck mashes, here’s a recipe that extract brewers can employ for a strong, elegant, aromatically fruit-forward wheatwine.

Courtesy of Moor Beer owner Justin Hawke, here is a homebrew-scale recipe based on their dark, rich, highly acclaimed old ale—“Christmas in a glass, all year long.”

Moor Beer’s Old Freddy Walker is among the most acclaimed strong ales in the United Kingdom, often medaling among the barleywines and old ales that compete for Champion Beer of Britain. Its brewer, however, hails from California. Here, Moor owner and head brewer Justin Hawke explains how Moor and Freddy came to be—and he offers advice on brewing a great old ale.

This recipe for a dark, spiced holiday ale is ideal for serving either cool or warmed and mulled, with many more variations possible on fruits and spices.

Forget what you think you know about Scottish “wee heavy.” Courtesy of founder Gareth Young, this is Glasgow-based Epochal’s historically rooted take on a strong stock ale: huge, heavily hopped, and matured for months with hops and Brettanomyces.

You think you know Scotch ales? Based in Glasgow, Epochal Barrel Fermented Ales specializes in mixed-culture beers matured in oak, inspired by Scottish brewing tradition. Here, founder and brewer Gareth Young explains the surprising history and process.

For those who like it dark, strong, and contemplative, here’s a partial-mash extract recipe for a Trappist-inspired ale that can be cellared for many months, with a drinkability belies its strength and complexity.

Belgium’s dark, strong ales are among the most complex and impressive beers in the canon—yet extract brewers can tackle them as well as anyone, as long as we pay attention to a few key points.