With roughly 500 beers, ciders, meads, and kombuchas to choose from—our largest Extreme Beer Fest lineup to date—it’s not going to be easy to decide where to start.
Today, whiskey barrels and vanilla beans are no more extreme than an everything bagel. But brewers continue to find other ways to experiment, from mixed culture fermentation to Sour Patch Kids.
The rapid transformation and mutation of American craft brewing will undoubtedly persevere in the year ahead. Yet one thing always remains the same: the absence of boredom.
BrewLAB’s small size comes with a glut of flexibility, and with both owners serving as brewers, too, there’s no shortage of opportunity to live up to the California brewery’s name.
Learn the origin stories of the 11 current Trappist breweries, as told by the monks themselves, and go back in time with “Dr. Pat” to unearth and recreate eight ancient ale recipes.
At The Rare Barrel, a tiny, sours-only brewery in Berkeley, Calif., American sours push the boundaries of what Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pedioccocus, oak and time can do.
With little brand loyalty among craft beer consumers, knowing the brewer’s name or even the style seems less important than being drawn in by the creativity of an engaging brand name or story.
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.
When Hughes arrived at Flying Fish a decade ago, the brewery was producing 4,000 barrels in a year; now, it’s on track to top 18,000. Almost all of the brewery’s growth has been local.
American brewers have never exactly been constrained by German purity laws, but founder/owner Russ Springsteen and head brewer Corey Wentworth are taking experimentation and extreme beer to new heights in Traverse City, Mich., at Right Brain Brewery.
Long Trail lends a hand to citizens in need; brewers throughout the Northeastern US cope with floods; can extra bubbles give Foster’s a lift?; Yuengling expands distribution to the Buckeye State; and the world’s strongest fermented beer, fresh from a deer.
Robot serves a cold one; BrewDog ends history, t’ Koelchip starts the future; “Brewed” coming soon to a TV near you; Canadian football team eradicating beer snakes.
Even amidst the constantly buzzing news of special-release beers from exciting new breweries from Dallas to Denmark, let’s take a moment to remember the craft brewing pioneers and help them celebrate their achievements.
