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.
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John Blichmann joins me this week to discuss the evolution of home brewing equipment from the late 1980’s to the current day. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support […] Smoothie sours are attracting a whole new audience of beer drinkers that otherwise would not make their way into a brewery.
The post Cheesecake and Ice Cream and Blueberry, Oh My: The Allure of Smoothie Sours appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
To reach the broadest possible demographic, breweries are embracing kosher certification.
The post Keeping Kosher in Craft Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
In honor of Veterans Day, we’re highlighting a few veteran-owned breweries from across the United States.
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Visiting Denver for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) tops the bucket list of many beer lovers around the world.
The post 10 Reasons to Attend the Great American Beer Festival appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Back Home Beer brings to life Iranian and Middle Eastern ingredients and flavors, and celebrates the communal joy of brewing and bonding with one another over beer.
The post Transporting Beer Drinkers ‘Back Home’ with Middle Eastern Flair appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Craft or not, our beer-drinking moms showed us from day one that beer isn’t just a man’s drink.
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Here are five small breweries that have opened since 2020. If you haven’t heard about them yet, it’s likely you will soon.
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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.
Our resident home brew guru helps you see through the haze and dishes up one of his recipes to try for yourself.
The post John Palmer on putting the haze in hazies appeared first on Beer & Brewer.
In a way, purchasing the Black Elks’ building was like coming home for Ken Carson. The building sits in a part of Albuquerque, N.M., he describes as “the ’hood.” Carson once lived here before moving to the more affluent Northeast Heights in the 1960s, where he attended high school with only three other Black students. […]
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This week I present a design case study for developing a Marzen beer recipe. Along the way I describe my thought processes as I work through creating and brewing a new recipe. Designing a Marzen Beer Before I start a new beer, I sit down and describe what I’m trying to accomplish. This beer was […] As the craft industry’s demographics change, what can Beer City USA teach us about how history impacts beer today?
The post A Walk through History and Race in Beer City USA appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Our batch analysis/QC at Sapwood Cellars is pretty basic. Mostly it's me finding time each weekend to taste a recent release (ideally side-by-side a comparable example from another brewery). I write up tasting notes, include feedback I've gotten from other people, and recipe/process tweaks for next batch.
Part of my routine is to scroll through Untappd to see if I can spot any common threads to the compliments or complaints... but I don't put a huge amount of stock in the average score (see this post). Blind rating by a skilled tasting panel is the gold standard... but having a large/diverse group of beer drinkers give you feedback has value as well! With four years of Untappd scores for our IPAs at my disposal, I thought it would be interesting to see which hops "the beer drinking public" preferred in Sapwood Cellars IPAs and DIPAs!
All IPAs and DIPAs
Pairing Hops
Part of my routine is to scroll through Untappd to see if I can spot any common threads to the compliments or complaints... but I don't put a huge amount of stock in the average score (see this post). Blind rating by a skilled tasting panel is the gold standard... but having a large/diverse group of beer drinkers give you feedback has value as well! With four years of Untappd scores for our IPAs at my disposal, I thought it would be interesting to see which hops "the beer drinking public" preferred in Sapwood Cellars IPAs and DIPAs!
Cheater Hops IPAs
We started this series of IPAs when we opened to showcase our favorite hop varieties. We recently released #22 (Citra-Motueka). All of the batches were 6.5-7.5% ABV, with similar malt bills (American pale barley, chit, wheat, and oats), fermented with an English-leaning yeast, and dry-hopped post-crash at 3-4 lbs/bbl. The table below is the average Untappd score of all batches dry hopped with the variety listed.
The table below include all 65 "big batch" IPAs and DIPAs we've released that don't contain adjuncts (although I did include Phantasm beers). These are diverse in terms of recipe construction, alcohol strength, and dry hopping rate. As a result, the scores are a bit more prone to bias compared to the Cheater Hops data set.
For some batches you'd expect to see a high rating due to pairing two great hops together (e.g., Nelson/Galaxy or Mosaic/Citra). Both varieties score well across all our beers, so no surprise combing them results in a well-rated IPA. More interesting is sorting by the average standard deviation for the hops included. This shows which combinations rated higher than expected given the average scores for those hops across all beers. Snip Snap (Citra/Galaxy), Cheater Hops #22 (Citra/Motueka), Shard Blade (Mosaic/Galaxy), Cheater Hops #13 (Mosaic/Simcoe), and The Dragon (Nelson Sauvin/Mosaic/Hallertau Blanc) were all in the top-10 "overachievers." These hop blends follow different approaches either "leaning into" a particular flavor (fruity, or winey) or balancing fruity with a danker variety.
Rounding out the top-10 are two all-Simcoe (Cheater Hops #12 and Drenched in Green), two all-Mosaic (Fundle Bundle and TDH Trial #1), and an all-Nelson beer (3S4MP). Certainly a sign that these hops can shine alone compared to Citra and Motueka which are highly rated in blends, but haven't exceled in single-hop beers (despite our best efforts). Of course you need a great lot of hops for this to work; the bottom-10 also includes single-hop beers featuring: Simcoe (Cheater Hops #9), Nelson Sauvin (Cheater Hops #11), and Mosaic (Fumble Bumble)!
Two beers with Galaxy and Nelson (Cheater X and X2) each had a standard deviation close to 0. They still rate well, but no better or worse than expected across all beers with Nelson or Galaxy.
Surprisingly three of the bottom four included three varieties Cheater Hops #7 (Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic) Cheater Hops #6 (Motueka, Mosaic, Simcoe) False Peak (Idaho 7, Sultana, Citra). Blending hops can create a generic "hoppiness." These beers may have been missing a distinct "wow" aroma for people to grab onto.
Take Aways
The high/low scores for different batches brewed with the same single hop variety really drives home how unreliable this data likely is. Without multiple batches hopped with the same hop combination, it is impossible to say with certainty if a beer scored well because of aromatic synergy or a delicious lot of hops. Luckily several of the top-rated combinations are beers we have brewed multiple times.
The data does suggest to me that using one or two varieties for the dry hop is the best bet for making the most appealing IPA unless you have something very specific in mind. Often when breweries use a large number of hop varieties in a beer it is to promote consistency (batch-to-batch and year-to-year). It would be interesting to expand the data set to include beers from other breweries. That would produce data that is less specific to our particular brewing approach, hop sourcing, and customers' palates.
Help Provide Data
Architect and author Neil Ginty talks about some of his favorite breweries that give you a front row seat to the brewing process.
The post Form & Function: Brewery Visits with an Architect appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
At several breweries in the UK, people who have learning disabilities have proven themselves to be effective and valuable employees when given the opportunity to show what they can do.
The post Brewers with Learning Disabilities: Equity in the Workplace appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
From brewery hotels to campgrounds, quirky Airbnbs to luxurious resorts, this is your guide to planning a craft beer weekend getaway.
The post AirbnBeers: Breweries with Hotels, Inns, Camping and More appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
This week I describe base malts and their use in beer brewing. The Base Malt Group Base malts are the most widely used in beer brewing as they make up the vast majority of any malt bill. Many beer styles like IPA were traditionally made with only base malts, and you can brew a large […] 
This week I take a look at the concept of mixed yeast fermentation – using more than one strain of yeast to brew your beer as well as some of the strengths and pitfalls. Mixed Yeast Fermentation History Thanks to modern science, most of us use a single strain of yeast when we brew our […] 
This week I though I would share a case study in beer recipe design to explore how I approach beer recipe design and some of the critical decisions made along the way. I will be designing a robust porter, which is one of my favorite beer styles. Defining the Robust Porter Before I start on […] 
This week I take a look at what type of water is best for extract beer brewers. I make the case that distilled or RO water may be the best choice for extract brewing. Water Chemistry for Extract Brewers Advanced all grain brewers go through a lot of effort to get their water profiles right […] 
The home brew guru talks mastering the use of chocolate and coffee plus details a recipe to try at home.
The post John Palmer’s Mexican mocha stout recipe appeared first on Beer & Brewer.
You know the saying: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Well, beer’s always been there for fish, but only recently have chefs around the country sufficiently established the pairings between seafood and suds to make them part […]
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This week I’m going to cover how you can run BeerSmith desktop in a variety of languages using the language files available online. With the worldwide popularity of our BeerSmith software, I often get users asking if it is available in non-English versions. Fortunately the software was designed with this in mind, so there are […] As if the countless American IPA iterations were not enough to satiate a hophead’s palate, a new one—dubbed Cold IPA—lingers bitterly on the horizon.
The post Is Cold IPA Really a New Beer Style (and Does that Even Matter)? appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
This week I take a look at the shopping list and inventory features available on BeerSmith Web. These features were added in March of 2022 to the web based version which you can try for free on BeerSmithRecipes.com from any computer, tablet or phone. The web based version provides a common view of inventory and […] 
Last week, Firestone Walker released a new beer called Hopnosis IPA. We received a press release and a few cans of the beer to try. Before I get into my thoughts on the new beer, it made me think back to all the IPAs I’ve had over the years from Firestone Walker. The Pre-Jack Days […]
The post The Long and Hoppy Road to Firestone Walker Hopnosis IPA appeared first on The Full Pint - Craft Beer News.
Fairbanks, Alaska, attracts visitors hoping to capture sight of the aurora borealis. If you're hunting aurora, these Fairbanks craft breweries should be part of your adventure.
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Thanks for watching my video where i review a brand new mod from Manvap called the Gent Vape Mod Kit! Manvap Our Mission: To establish user-friendly high quality E Cigarettes and E liquid that are designed around you. We strive towards this goal with people-first engineering. At Manvap GENT 80W Vape Starter Kit has the