Dubbed Beervana in the 1990s, Portland is still setting the standard for craft beer excellence.
The post Finding Beervana in Portland, Oregon appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
Secret
Across the U.S., breweries are transforming cabins, lodges, and inns into boutique stays that go beyond the pint—immersive getaways where beer, place, and hospitality come together.
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Brunswick brewery Keeper Brewing is continuing its focus on crafting one style of beer, the Pilsner, as the category grows in demand. 
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. This week I take a quick look at the major hop alpha acids and the role they play in brewing
Beer & Brewer has partnered with Sydney Beer Week to present the 2024 Beer & Brewer Awards at a live ceremony on 20 October. 
Breweries are invited to submit their best can design of 2024, with entries closing on 7 August and winners announced on 12 September. 
The 2024 financial year was a difficult period for craft beer, but the industry has developed strategies to cope with further challenges. The market is responding to the growing demand for flavorful, well crafted non-alcohol beer.
The post The NA Way: The Rise of Non-Alcohol Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
From Irish stout to hazy pale ales, Beer & Brewer rounds up the best non-alcoholic beers for Dry July. Regardless of customs, environs, or condiments, beer is there to make a burger better.
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The awards were dominated by Australian breweries Stone & Wood and Brick Lane Brewing, as well as New Zealand’s Garage Project. A new wave of Asian American brewers is putting their heritage at the heart of their craft.
The post Redefining Craft Beer: Asian Americans Brewing Up Heritage appeared first on CraftBeer.com.
The Sunshine Coast brewery claimed Grand Champion Beer at the RNA Royal Queensland Beer Awards for the third year. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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First batch of Mr.Beer. Bavarian Weissbeir, I did a dry hop method, tastes like a very light IPA. Hadn’t seen any videos that were not three years old so i figured i would deliver.