Category: Beer News

Barrel-aged beers are almost a subculture when it comes to the craft beer world. Commonly bold and intense, these beers command attention with their complexity, robust taste, and often high alcohol content.

When envisioning a beer that’s been aged in a barrel or inspired by another non-beer beverage, initial thoughts usually turn to bourbon or whiskey. But there are plenty of beers on the market that have been carefully aged in rum barrels, brewed with the addition of wine grape must, boosted from spending time in a tequila barrel, or even inspired by the ancient Japanese beverage sake.… Read the rest “Beyond Bourbon: Wine and Spirit-Inspired Beers”

At a community center in the industrial city of Orange, N.J., Joe Mettle and Roger Apollon, Jr. proudly stand in front of an arched stained-glass window before class starts. The two former New Jersey charter school teachers and craft beer connoisseurs are the founders of EEB, which stands for Entrepreneurship and Equity in Brewing, a 10-week training program that provides Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), and other underrepresented individuals in craft brewing an opportunity to learn how to brew, and in turn, run a business.

This inaugural semester of EEB offers classes in brewing history as well as tasting and evaluating beer (and the necessary vocabulary).… Read the rest “EEB: Opening Doors to a More Inclusive Brewing Community”

When Bhavik Modi walked into his first ever sales meeting for his new craft beer line, he wasn’t alone. Tiffany Wooten, a veteran sales representative from brewery incubator Pilot Project Brewing, was by his side, convincing the team at high-end contemporary Indian restaurant ROOH Chicago to serve Azadi Brewing’s cardamom golden ale and Kesar mango IPA.

“I was confident in our recipe and the quality of the beer,” Modi says. “But I was nervous about the mechanics of beer sales, like the terms, how these tastings typically go, and other logistical details.… Read the rest “Pilot Project: Launching Brands and Lowering Barriers in Craft Beer”

“The adventure offered by following the guidance of medicine men and women, ancient homebrewers, and our farming ancestors—all the while taking divergent paths to find surprising new flavors—is the intoxicating heart of why we make beer.”—Scratch Brewing Company, The Homebrewer’s Almanac

Nearly 10 years ago, Scratch Brewing Company set out to make beer with ingredients from the land in a way that modern American craft brewing hadn’t seen much of before: locally sourced not as a limited offering, but as principle. “Carrying on the heritage of ancient traditions brings us closer to the long life cycle of the plants we briefly live with side by side,” the Scratch team declared in The Homebrewer’s Almanac.… Read the rest “The Localization of Beer Marches On”

His recent published study on hop terroir backs up what brewers have known anecdotally—that where a hop is grown can have significant impact in flavor and aroma. But just how much impact is possible, and what causes it?

Tom Shellhammer’s research has been crucial for helping brewers, as well as barley and hop growers, gain deeper understanding of brewing ingredients and how they actually work. As a food science professor at Oregon State University, he’s led critical studies, including a well-known study on hop creep. His latest project is a wide-ranging, multiyear study to understand the impact of terroir on hops, and the results of the first year of the study have just become available.… Read the rest “Podcast Episode 258: Tom Shellhammer of Oregon State Finds Fertile Ground…”

After years of exponential growth, craft breweries are now ubiquitous to beer drinkers in every corner of the country. Now these same craft lovers are starting to take notice of the craft ingredients that make their beer special.

Hops, perhaps the key flavor component of most brews, grow throughout the U.S. Dozens of small craft growers supply small breweries with local, high-quality hops. These farms are often family-run, community-centered, and count their acreage in double-digits vs. thousands.

As with craft brewers and drinkers, the relationship between farmer and customer is key.… Read the rest “Craft Hop Growing in the U.S.”

Spring had just sprung the weekend I spent in Boise, Idaho for the Treefort Music Festival. Surrounded by the snowcapped Boise Mountains, I was told that spring had arrived super early this year. The bounty of craft beer flowed freely within the festival’s ale fort, inspiring me to search out some of the nation’s other festival planners with craft beer on their palates.

Summer is here, y’all! I don’t know about you, but I plan to raise my fair share of pints wherever I go, including some of the most unique ways to celebrate the craft.… Read the rest “A Toast to Summer: Festivals, Patios, and Benefits”

Food insecurity is a growing issue in this country. Defined by the USDA as a “lack of consistent access to enough food or an active, healthy lifestyle,” food insecurity affects 10.5 percent of households in this country. That equates to 38.3 million people.

Enter Fibonacci Brewing in Mount Healthy, Ohio, whose owners not only recognized that their corner of the world has several food-insecure residents but also have been taking action to help the community. In 2019, the brewery opened a farmers market and a year later, introduced two programs that make buying fruits and vegetables more affordable.… Read the rest “How This Nanobrewery Is Fighting Food Insecurity in its Corner of the World”