Subscriber Content

Westbound & Down director of brewing operations Jake Gardner won’t tell you how to write your West Coast-style IPA recipe. But he will tell you how to make yours better—with more pronounced hop aroma and flavor that lasts longer in the package.

Ayla Kapahi, head brewer at Borderlands in Tucson, Arizona, shares this recipe for their easy-drinking wheat beer with German aroma hops, some light fruity esters, and a Southwestern twist: the addition of prickly pear.

“This refreshingly crisp cold IPA takes inspiration from our friend and former Firestone Walker brewer Kevin Davey,” Sam Tierney says. “It can be brewed two ways: one with rice adjunct to lighten the body, or another with a lower-FAN, extra-pale German pilsner malt for similar effect.”

First brewed for Notch’s 10th anniversary in 2020, this is a 10°P pale lager in the Czech tradition—low in strength yet full of flavor. The beer is triple-decocted, open-fermented, naturally carbonated, and “lagered forever.”

From the production team at Creature Comforts in Athens, Georgia, here’s a recipe for their clean, crisp, easy-drinking American lager that won gold at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.

Described as “an ultramodern meditation on the relationship between hops and yeast,” this hazy pale ale—double dry-hopped with Mosaic and Motueka, and fermented with Omega’s thiolized Cosmic Punch—won gold at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.

Remember brut IPA? Lenka Straková does. The brewmaster at Pilsner Urquell’s experimental Pivovar Proud shares this recipe for a strong yet light-bodied, fruity-and-floral barrel-aged ale that borrows some tricks from brut IPA.

This pilsner from Twin Barns Brewing in Meredith, New Hampshire, near the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, thrilled our blind judging panel and became one of our Best 20 Beers in 2022.

Crooked Stave founder and brewmaster Chad Yakobson, one of the industry’s foremost experts on Brettanomyces, leads this in-depth course on brewing and fermenting funky, farmhouse-inspired beers.

Dry and spicy yet hop-forward, this lemongrass-laced saison from Oedipus in Amsterdam recently took home its third World Beer Cup medal.

From Wild Fields in Atascadero, California, here’s a recipe for a brown ale that won gold medals at both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup in 2022.

From Reuben’s Brews in Seattle, here’s a recipe for a modernized take on amber ale that features plenty of hops in the whirlpool and a broad, malty foundation.

“Paragon is our barrel-aged barleywine produced like a vintage,” says Mike Murphy, brewmaster at Lervig Aktiebryggeri in Stavanger, Norway. “Every year is the same but slightly different due to blending, subtle differences, and other variables. We stick to the same base recipe, and the yeast [and] aging do the rest.”

“Mecha Red is a modern amber ale intended to be malty and caramelly, but not a sticky caramel bomb,” says Van Havig, cofounder and master brewer at Gigantic in Portland, Oregon. “It’s mildly fruity from hops and esters and finishes with a hint of chocolate.”

From Obelisk Beer of Astoria, Oregon, comes this prototype homebrew-scale recipe for a black barleywine that combines flavorful aspects of both barleywine and stout.

Brewed since 1988, when Rogue Brewery got its start in Ashland, Oregon—home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival—here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for the OG of American oatmeal stouts.

With the English tradition of stock ales and barleywines firmly in mind, here’s an original recipe from Randy Mosher. Note the options for oak-aging and Brett—but however you brew it, this is one to lay down for months or years.

Sapwood Cellars cofounder, brewer, and ”Mad Fermentationist” Michael Tonsmeire shares his expertise in all things fruit—sourcing, selecting, processing, blending, brewing, barrel-aging, and more.

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.”

With thanks to Brian and Doug Coombs and Matt Van Wyk, cofounders of Alesong in Eugene, Oregon, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for the base beer that they use for their co-fermentations with local fruit.

From Foam Brewers in Burlington, Vermont, comes this recipe for a mixed-culture plum beer—also featuring lavender and lemon zest—that gets its vibrant hue from the addition of butterfly pea flowers.

The Cellarmaker Training Bines IPA that we named one of our Best 20 Beers in 2022 was one of five that came from five different breweries in an unusual collaboration project. Now, you can brew it on your own system.

With thanks to Todd DiMatteo and his team at Good Word Brewing in Duluth, Georgia, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for the rum barrel–aged barleywine that became one of our Best 20 Beers in 2022.

With thanks to Greg Browne, head brewer at Art History in suburban Chicago, here is a recipe for their Czech-style dark lager, inspired by the beer at the famous U Fleků brewpub in Prague.