Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion Brewing, turned a homebrewer’s dream into America’s first modern craft brewery, inspiring generations with his resourcefulness and bold vision.
The post Celebrating the Life of Jack McAuliffe appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
In California, craft beer and wine are both power players, but a refreshing beer at the end of the day seems to be a popular thirst-quencher whether your line of work is fermenting grapes or grains.
The post It Takes a Lot of Beer to Make Good Wine appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
In a sea of juicy IPAs and lip-puckering sours, spice feels almost radical: an antidote to sweetness and a rebuttal to predictability.
The post Spicy Beers Are Catching Fire appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Cider’s explosive growth runs parallel to that of beer, driven by creative makers reimagining what cider can be.
The post The Surge of Cider appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
As drinkers diversify and tastes evolve, forward-thinking brewers are doing what they’ve always done best—experimenting, adapting, and creating new ways to connect through craft.
The post Craft Breweries Take a Shot at Whiskey appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Brewers are looking at how AI can improve efficiency and the overall brewing experience. But it's not yet poised to replace humans.
The post How AI Is Changing Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Tali Warnock from the South Australian Brewing Club shares the recipe to her Scottish Light. Tali Warnock from the South Australian Brewing Club shares the recipe to her Scottish Light. Tali Warnock from the South Australian Brewing Club shares the recipe to her Scottish Light. Tali Warnock from the South Australian Brewing Club shares the recipe to her Scottish Light. 
One of the classic styles, and one of the most fabulous beers steeped in history, Kölsch is often underrated and overlooked. 
John Keske, President of Melbourne Brewers, has been kind enough to share this mouthwatering recipe of his award winning Kölsch. John Keske, President of Melbourne Brewers, has been kind enough to share this mouthwatering recipe of his award winning Kölsch. 
John Palmer guides you through brewing this delightful beer, that is widely praised but far too often poorly replicated. John Palmer guides you through brewing this delightful beer, that is widely praised but far too often poorly replicated. Don't call it a comeback: Detroit's vibrant craft beer scene mirrors the city's own renaissance.
The post Celebrating Detroit’s Craft Beer History appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Frenchies Brewery Head Brewer Sam McDonough spoke to Beer & Brewer about his decade in the industry, working with some of Australia’s most well-known craft breweries. Outer Range Brewing Co. is renowned for its IPAs and outdoor spirit. It was no surprise when its founders decided to open another brewery—but choosing to do it in the French Alps made quite the impression.
The post French Twist: Colorado’s Outer Range Opens Outpost in Alps appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Mitch Steele joins us from New Realm Brewing to discuss what has changed in IPA brewing in the 12 years since he wrote his classic book on IPAs. 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 […] 
A group of previous investors and passionate supporters have banded together to buy the Gold Coast brewery. 
To the delight of many, Chuck Hahn has come out of retirement to start a brewery with his son, Scott. 
2024 Queensland Royal Emerging Queensland Brewer Daniel Thomsen on his dedication to learning and his work at Slipstream Brewing. 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!
