At its current growth rate, there’s more than one small brewery opening every day in the US, with many existing breweries experiencing double- and triple-digit growth.
New French beer tax elicits outcry from EU brewers; Oskar Blues partners with community college for hands-on brew course; German courts rule to allow two different Duff beers; study claims hop compound may help fight common cold; and Westvleteren XII finally released to much fanfare, some controversy.
With soap varieties like Surly Furious with Amarillo hops, Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison with orange peel and Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat Stout with crushed oats and Sumatra coffee beans, the term “shower beer” might just take on a whole new meaning.
A group of young scientists in Germany have managed to brew a beer with added flavors that doesn’t break the Reinheitsgebot, the 1516 purity law. By tinkering with the genes in yeast, students at the Technical University of Munich have engineered the microorganisms to impart additional flavors and substances to their beers, like lemon and caffeine.
If the last 10 years have been marked by limit-pushing and attention-seeking behavior, craft brewers have overachieved. The next five years will be defined by simply trying to make enough beer to satisfy the pent-up demand.
The demands of a busy brewing season and a busy life make it difficult to keep a home brewery spic and span. Stay organized with a simple, eight-step methodology.
Pierogies are a Slavic-style dumpling. The simple dough has no yeast and can be complemented with savory or sweet filling. These bite-sized treats can be enjoyed as an appetizer or a wonderful dessert.
By putting the emphasis on beers, the notion of preparing a fine dinner for guests becomes much less intimidating. The winter is a terrific time for hearty, beer-braised main courses, and after hosting your own beer dinner, you’ll be all the wiser on beer pairings with food.
In a city that’s standing out from behind the shadow of a certain macrobrewing behemoth, places like Bailey’s Range are introducing locals and tourists alike to all their burgeoning craft-beer scene has to offer.
Sean Lawson can brew, at most, around 600 barrels of beer per year. He is his only employee. He distributes his beers to a handful of local bars, bottle shops and farmers markets. Despite all that, his brewery, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, has built a cult following of beer drinkers clamoring for all the IPA and Maple Stout he can produce.
Rather than starting from scratch in a warehouse space on the edge of town, co-owners Jason Spaulding and his wife, Kris, repurposed the early-1900s funeral home chapel and livery stables to house their small, niche brewery in the East Hills neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Commonly referred to as the “Paris of South America,” Buenos Aires is a sprawling metropolis that deserves its rank among the world’s greatest cities. The beer market may still be dominated by AB-InBev’s Quilmes, but forgo these ricey lagers and syrupy Stouts, and head off the beaten path to Buenos Aires’ true beer bars.
This year, nanobreweries proved they’re here to stay, while “gypsy” brewers continued to produce some of the best beer in the market. New breweries capitalized on the session beer movement. And in a saturated market, some plucky startups opened on the strength of a niche concept, like Bière de Champagne.
Michael Brawley is one of many independent retailers who were shut out of the much-anticipated release of a one-time shipment of Westvleteren XII to the US.
