Hoppy Lagers (August-September 2016)

Grab your favorite märzen, Oktoberfestbier, or other malt-forward lager for an extra dollop of autumn in this classic dessert.

Grills and backyards are warming up, and the people demand tasty side dishes along with fresh beer. In this fresh-and-refreshing, Mediterranean-inspired potato salad, a splash of amber lager gives the cook—is that you?—an excuse to enjoy the rest of the can.

Ready to elevate your Independence Day grilling game? Grab a watermelon or two and try this refreshing, Mediterranean-inspired dish that pairs perfectly with warm weather, an open flame, and a fresh, cool helles.

Taylor Caron, the manager of Hops & Berries homebrew supply store in Fort Collins, Colorado, shared this recipe for a dry-hopped American light lager.

This recipe from Josh Weikert, author of the Beer: Simple blog is for a bare-bones, but crisp and flavorful, German Pils.

Grilled eggplant and a Belgian witbier join forces in this simple and refreshing Mediterranean-inspired dish.

“What Would Vinnie Drink?” His list is surprisingly devoid of the hoppy beers one might expect…

A refreshing and delicious pale ale can add depth and complexity to traditional polenta, served simply here with a couple of slices of prosciutto, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and garnished with basil and fresh cracked black pepper.

There’s a Pilsner for every palate as craft brewers take inspiration from the Old World.

These brewers went on and on about pilsner. Most brewers do.

Here are some tips for brewing darker beers without adding a roast or off-flavor to it.

To preserve the volatile oils in hops, you need to steep hops at a temperature below boiling. That’s where whirlpool hops additions come into play.

For Patrick Murtaugh and Eric McKay, the co-owners of Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, it’s all about relationships as they strive to incorporate local ingredients into their beers.

With the strong belief that local breweries play an important role in their communities, the founders of Other Half Brewing are filling a craft-beer void in New York City.

Thanks to a few drain-poured barrels of bad ale, Pilsners were born and became the most popular beer style in the world, showcasing the flavor potential of hops long before the first IPAs came on the scene, but giving brewers no place to hide faults.

Jeremy Myers, head brewer and co-owner of Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company (Croydon, Massachusetts) notes that there are no brewing salts added for mash pH adjustment. This recipe follows the Reinheitsgebot, so he uses acidulated malt.

A recent collaboration brew between Wolves & People farmhouse brewery and lager brewers Heater Allen offered the opportunity to try partnering homegrown wild yeast with a lager strain to produce a mixed-fermentation lager.

After saving the awesome yeast from his Start It Up! American light lager, Taylor Caron uses the yeast to brew this overly hoppy German Pils with something of a hybrid Bavarian malt bill and zealous Northern hops bill.

At the core of almost every hops-forward lager, Pilsner, or otherwise brewed in America is one of two families of industrial yeast strains.

Jeff Renner first brewed this beer when he began his investigation into what is now called pre-Prohibition lager. We’ve scaled it for a 5-gallon (19-liter) batch.

Whether you’re in the mood for a light and humorous romp through beer culture, a meditative look at the flavors in beer and food, or a step-by-step visual guide to brewing, these books have you covered.

Avoid introducing off-flavors into your extract-based beer by following these steps for steeping grains.

Arizona Wilderness Brewing explores the world through local flavors and far-flung friendships.

Ben Edmunds, head brewer for Breakside Brewery in Portland, Oregon, shared this recipe for their classic German Pilsner with an emphasis on late-kettle hops.

Hops-forward lagers may be the last genuinely unexplored area of beer composition and style: let’s enjoy it and help define it.

Seattle, Washington is home to such a wealth of breweries, taprooms, and lush waterfront scenery that you’ll want to take your time savoring all of the above. Put on your finest flannel, pull up a barstool, and let us pour you a pint.

Here's a fun pilot recipe that Hardywood Park’s Patrick Murtaugh and Eric McKay brewed and shared with us. It’s a great summertime beer that marries the refreshing nature of a Bavarian weissbier with the tropical/citrus aromatics of an American IPA.

Here are five brewers’ odes to Pivo…and (when pressed) some of their other favorite hoppy lagers.

The symbiosis between pro brewers and homebrewers runs deep—both rely on the other to continue to grow and survive. Instead of viewing the homebrewer as competition, pro brewers are happy to lend a helping hand in several ways.

This “portable draft system” offers an entertaining way to serve beer at home—just stick with growlers rather than bottles or cans, and go light when topping off your glass.

The “Love Handles” department in Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® is devoted to great beer bars. Here are the three beer bars that we explored in Issue 14 (August/September 2016).