Category: Beer News

The connection between the craft beer world and ski culture is undeniable. Whether it’s a refreshing, crisp lager or a bold, barrel-aged stout to relax with by the fire, a good beer is often a perfect way to celebrate a day on the slopes.

This is especially true for areas of the country where skiing is a part of daily life.

“With ski culture being so central to our community here in Jackson, it has become synonymous with the spirit of aprés ski as well,” says Roundhouse Brewing co-founder Gavin Fine.… Read the rest “A Beer & Ski Lover’s Guide”

In the constantly expanding universe of beer styles and flavors, a unique type of brew has slowly been gaining popularity: cocktail beers. These brews, inspired by classic cocktails, allow brewers to get more creative while providing craft beer lovers with even more variety and diversity. The end results are brews that replicate a wide range of cocktails, from the light and fruity Paloma to the booze-heavy Old Fashioned.

One of the pioneers of the movement is California’s Firestone Walker, which has been making cocktail-inspired creations since 2017. Their series of barrel-aged brews is spearheaded by barrel meister Eric Ponce, himself a lover of complex craft cocktails.… Read the rest “Flavor Forward: Cocktail-Inspired Beers”

For the first time in eight years, San Diego will host the largest annual gathering of recreational brewers in the country, Homebrew Con, from June 22 to 24. With roughly 150 operating brewhouses and 200-plus brewery-owned venues, America’s Finest City is a fine locale for this beer-centric event, but those same stats render it challenging for out-of-towners to wrap their heads around the region when planning their imbibing itineraries.

To help attendees plan and ensure they visit breweries of exceptional repute and historical significance with beers matching their personal tastes, here’s an overview of the communities surrounding the convention site with vital information on breweries and tasting rooms in each.… Read the rest “Suds Surfing in San Diego: Craft Beer Mecca Hosts Homebrew Con”

Spring is here, and menus are changing. Asparagus, fava beans, English peas, spring onions, ramps, tender spring lettuces, and the freshest beets, radishes and scapes are taking over for their brief time at center stage on restaurant menus. Whether pickled, raw, roasted, marinated, fried, pureed or grilled, the flavors come through clean and bright. Spring is also the time to enjoy all the young, fresh cheeses that are meant to be eaten within days of being made.

Considering the bounty of all that comes in spring, I’d like to suggest a pairing word for the season: Simple.… Read the rest “Spring Means Simple and Balanced”

A lot has happened across the U.S. since the COVID pandemic shifted lifestyles in 2020. While much of the country was shut down during the pandemic, a handful of breweries were opening their doors or planning to open when the only thing certain was uncertainty.

Fast forward to 2023, and with most of the country reopened, the public able to resume tasting room visits, and brewers getting used to their new normal, a few breweries have managed to make a name for themselves, garnering attention and accolades despite only being open for less than three years.… Read the rest “Five Young Breweries You’ll Be Hearing About Soon”

Jerry Franck, an Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker from Luxembourg, grew up near the country’s border with Belgium, but only rarely visited. Decades later, Belgium became the backdrop for one of his most ambitious projects: investigating the evolution of the centuries-old lambic brewing tradition.

At the start of the 20th century, there were more than 70 brewers of lambic ale in the city of Brussels, but by the1960s, only five or six remained. Bottle Conditioned, which contemporaneously premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) in California and DOCVILLE International Documentary Film Festival in Belgium in March, and played at the American Documentary Film Festival in April, is an aggregation of four years of footage, analogous to the brewing and blending culture of lambics.… Read the rest “The Coolship Has Landed: Film Elevates the Art of Lambic Brewing”

Imagine a backyard barbeque in Northern California in the 1990s. Kids in sun-worn fluorescent bathing suits cannonball into the deep end of the pool. Adults grill hot dogs and chat. A woman sits in a flimsy, plastic chair, her curly, jet-black hair surrounding her head like a halo. When she opens her mouth to laugh, red lipstick yields to an orange-slice smile with a charming front-tooth gap. She’s got a cigarette in one hand and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in the other, nestled inside a chunky foam koozie. That’s my mom, and the bright green of that label of my youth stays with me today.… Read the rest “Cheers to Our Beer-Drinking Moms”

What’s the appeal of a brewery? Of course, the easy answer is the beer. But that’s just one component of the sum of a brewery’s parts. When you go to enjoy that beer or seltzer, have you taken the time to look at your surroundings? What, if anything, makes this place unique?

These five U.S. breweries all make good beer. But for folks who have been there, they know that they’re in for an experience that doesn’t just stop there. There are stories behind each one, and they go beyond the beverages they serve.… Read the rest “Five Unique Places to Drink a Beer”