Trading its vagabond ways for a sleepy town in Michigan, Transient Artisan Ales has made a name for itself with oak-aged Saisons, wild ales, and an “obligatory” IPA.
Hermit Thrush Brewery in Brattleboro, Vt., Christophe Gagné showcases local microorganisms by nurturing house cultures of wild yeast and bacteria and embracing spontaneous fermentation.
Often wort’s journey is a short one, moving from one nearby tank to another. But it can be a complicated journey, too, from snaking through a 328-foot, creek-crossing pipeline at Industrial Arts Brewing to a second life in a “small” beer made from its second runnings.
While anachronistic, the coolship is now used by more than two dozen breweries across the US to create spontaneously fermented ales in the Lambic tradition.
Trading sprawling fields for rooftop gardens, urban farm breweries from Los Angeles to Chicago and New York bring a new kind of authenticity to farmhouse-style beers.
At Draai Laag’s brewhouse in western Pennsylvania, Dennis R. Hock embraces the wild critters floating through the air to create beers that could only come from Pittsburgh.
While some German brewers make beer that flouts the Reinheitsgebot, many more are committed to brewing within its strictures while employing creative tactics, like adding hop varieties that mimic flavors of prohibited ingredients.
The distance between Peekskill’s old and new homes is only two-tenths of a mile, but their differences are dramatic. The latter features a 15-barrel brewhouse and a 16-draft taproom on the first floor, with a 65-seat restaurant and another 16 drafts pouring on the second floor.
Jeff O’Neil and the Berardi family are transforming a four-story stone building into an artisan brewer’s dream-workshop, complete with a gravity-fed system, a “gnarly” cellar, a “spider-filled, Old-World approach to barrel aging” and—wait for it—maybe even a coolship.
Allagash’s Rob Tod recalls visiting spontaneous Belgian breweries with a group of American brewers, and wondering whether their techniques could be imported to the US.
Shaun Hill runs his brewery with a profound sense of purpose. He brews his beers with well water from the farm that’s been in his family for generations.
Arguing that Lambic should only be made in Brussels or Payottenland is as unsustainable as saying that lagers should only come from Bavaria or Bohemia.
Koelschip? An Allagash Lambic? Allagash Brewing Company explores new American craft beer territory with their authentic, spontaneously fermented Lambic.
