Wild Ale

Want to try your hand at brewing an uncarbonated ale with enough acidity to refresh and complexity to intrigue? Here’s a recipe from Austin’s Jester King for a lambic-inspired beer that’s ready to drink in just a few months.

At the 2022 World Beer Cup, California’s Wild Fields won four gold medals—a feat no craft brewer had achieved. But those who’ve followed the career of Ryan Fields aren’t entirely surprised—his studious approach has been paying dividends for years.

On the industrial eastern edge of San Diego County, a group of self-described delinquents have embraced a bit of SoCal outlaw culture with Burning Beard Brewing. The secret sauce? Being authentic and embracing fun, while painstakingly improving everything.

San Diego’s Societe Brewing has long had a reputation for being brewers’ brewers, with dual-core IPAs expressing different sides of the West Coast coin, and a wild beer program designed around drinkable, funk-forward, lower-acidity beers.

Laffler has a reputation for strong opinions, and in true form he pulls no punches in this episode with honest, bombastic takes on brewing philosophy and techniques.

Brewers are forging their own paths from the long-traveled spontaneous-fermentation road. Where they will end up is anyone’s guess, but it’s shaping up to be a remarkable journey.

While the thought of ale spontaneously fermenting in coolships might conjure thoughts of the country, you’re more likely to find it in cities across America.

When it comes to making barrel-aged beers, a growing number of breweries are looking to wine producers and their tools to help with the process.

Since any general “top breweries” list will inevitably be dominated by breweries who make IPAs, we asked our readers about their favorite beers and brewers in these eight specific styles.