Your chicken deserves better.
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Your chicken deserves better.
The post Beer Can Chicken, But Make it Craft appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Ice cream soda floated into our collective consciousness 150 years ago. Now, a beery take on this fanciful beverage is winning converts.
The post A Dreamy Pairing: Beer & Ice Cream appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
The fourth-largest producer of hops in the U.S., Michigan has become a unique test subject for the future of American hop production—and craft beer itself.
The post The New Nobles: Michigan Hops appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Regardless of customs, environs, or condiments, beer is there to make a burger better.
The post Meat & Malt: Beer Makes Burgers Better appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
My book, American Sour Beers, is turning ten next month! I wrote it from the perspective (and experience) of a homebrewer. I wanted to experiment and learn. I really didn't know much about brewing commercially, creating consistent blends, adapting recipes as a barrel program matured, developing flavors that would sell etc. Looking back I have to ask, did my book help launch 1,000 barrel programs, without providing the knowledge brewers actually needed to succeed?
Over the last decade American craft brewing had an explosion of breweries ramping up barrel-aged sour production, followed by a pretty rapid decline (including multiple mid-sized breweries closing their programs and sour-focused breweries closing). Part of that is the inherently less-predictable nature of mixed-fermentation (when you order a cherry sour beer, what are you expecting? Kriek, cherry juice, cherry vinegar etc.). Compare that to a bourbon-barrel vanilla-bean stout where you have a pretty good idea of what the intent was. I suspect at least part of it was the oversaturation of the market combined with the high prices.
Despite brewing my first sour beer in 2006, becoming a brewery consultant in 2011, writing a book in 2014, and opening a brewery in 2018... I haven't been consistently happy with the barrel-aged mixed-fermentations I made until the last couple years. I certainly never released a beer that I thought was bad, but there were certainly had batches that were too sour, muddled, under/over carbonated, or just didn't "pop." During that time we've also released some amazing beers that I still love!
At Sapwood Cellars we've relied on our local club members, and the people who walk in the door to buy ~10,000 bottles of barrel-aged sour beer a year. That may sound like a lot, but it's less than 5% of our production (and we're a pretty small brewery). There really hasn't been much interest in barrel-aged sour bottles in our limited distribution range. They tend to be beers that sell best when you can explain them directly to the drinker, rather than just have them sitting on a shelf! If only there was a way I could talk directly to beer drinkers interested in sour beer...
The first installment of the club is $146 (including shipping) for one 500 mL bottle each of six beers:
Growth Rings 2023: Three-year-blend of barrel-aged Sours, essentially our cuvee of bases, barrels, and microbes showing off our house character. This one isn't refermented with wine yeast, so the dregs would be a good option if you are looking for microbes! It was the second highest-rated "Gueuze" on Untappd in 2023!
Barrels of Rings: Our pale ale base, mixed-fermented in wine barrels and then dry hopped right before bottling. Citrusy-funky with restrained acidity.
Jammiest Bit: Our homage to Hommage, a barrel-aged sour on loads of sour pie cherries and red raspberries. Fruity, funky, tart etc.
Botanicia: A blend of pale sours aged in gin barrels that we then infused with dried limes and quinine. A weird play on a gin-and-tonic... but with a lot more acidity and funk!
Elliptical Orbit 2023: A continuation of the "Dark Funky Saison" series still with my original collaborator and homebrew buddy Alex. For this one he roasted Geisha coffee beans and we infused the barrel-aged dark sour with Geisha cascara (dried coffee cherries).
Fruit of Many Uses: We sequentially racked the same barrel-aged tart/funky base onto second-use Chardonnay wine grapes, cherries, raspberries, and white nectarines. All of the fruit was whole/local.
Over the next couple weeks I'll be posting my detailed tasting notes on each of the beers, along with recipes, lessons learned, and suggestions for brewing something similar at home! I'll repeat for each club release, assuming enough people sign-up for the club to make it viable.
Over the last five years it isn't "one simple trick" we learned that improved our beer. It's the accumulation of 100 little things from ingredient selection, to blending, to process refinement, to equipment that we've figured out. It's sitting down with each beer, drinking, thinking, taking detailed notes, and iterating. So much of it is not doing it by myself, having Scott, Ken, and Spencer to push to do things I wouldn't have (Botanica was Ken's baby, and Barrels of Rings was Scott's). Both are delicious, and they are certainly beers I would not have brewed if it was all up to me!
Brandon Hernández combed the desert and laid out a stellar septet of breweries to visit in Las Vegas.
The post Vegas (Beer), Baby! appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
In addition to music venues, bodacious barbecue, and epic tacos, this booming metropolis is The Lone Star State’s leading locale for incredible craft beer.
The post Three Beer-Filled Days in Austin, Texas appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Bière de garde is a malty style of beer that is undiscovered to many. Translated to "beer for keeping," the style was traditionally brewed in Northern France and is known for its malt-focused, toasty taste, and slight sweetness.
The post Bière de Garde: ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’ appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Many breweries are adding on a whole new aspect of the business: a coffee roastery or shop sharing the same space as house-made beers.
The post Coffee & Beer: A Dynamic Duo appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Pairing produce with beer — with delicious results. A look at the glorious interplay between farmers market fare and craft beer.
The post A Great Beer for Greens appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Any beer can be a camping beer, of course, but here are some suggestions for cooling down after a hike or warming up around the firepit.
The post The Great Outdoors: Beers to Enjoy while Camping appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Join our HomeBrewer editor Jake Brandish as he gets into some fudgey, dark chocolatey, caramely goodness.
The post Recipe of the week: Scottish mild ale appeared first on Beer & Brewer.
The Brewers Association Mentorship Program has successfully finished four cohorts. Selected participants complete a 12-week program with mentors from various parts of the industry.
The post Pursuing a Passion: Mentorship Program Fuels Participants appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
The non-alc brand's Coffee Run Stout is their first dark beer and just second limited release.
The post Heaps Normal release new non-alc stout appeared first on Beer & Brewer.
Here are five small breweries that have opened since 2020. If you haven’t heard about them yet, it’s likely you will soon.
The post Five Young Breweries You’ll Be Hearing About Soon appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Cocktail-inspired beers allow brewers to get more creative while providing craft beer lovers with even more variety and diversity.
The post Flavor Forward: Cocktail-Inspired Beers appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
American craft breweries are known for their ability to strengthen community connections. These three breweries are case in point.
The post Beyond the Beer: Three Breweries Serving Their Communities appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Many chefs are finding the sweet spot for beer and smoked food, managing the level of smoke intake for a more pleasurable meal.
The post Smoke and a Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.