Thirst for Life.

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OR BR
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Surly Brewing Co. head brewers, Jerrod and Ben,
unwind after brewing 2017 SurlyFest,
made with 100% Weyermann® Specialty Malts

USE WHAT THE PROS USE

Read more about the SurlyFest brew day

and Weyermann® Specialty Malts

bsgcraft.com
PRO PERFORMANCE
NANO SCALE
1 bbl Brewhouse | 1 bbl Unitank

ENGINEERING
BETTER www.SsBrewtech.com/nano
BEER
 | CONTENTS: OCT/NOV 2017 |
FEATURES

64
A Novel Approach to
DMS Reduction, Part 1
If you want to brew a very, very, light colored
100 percent barley beer but are concerned
about DMS, take heart. Intrepid homebrew
experimenter Taylor Caron has hit upon the
idea of a pre-boil “DMS rest.”

69
Spiced Beer
70 | Brewer’s Perspective: Spice
Lessons
Formulating, sampling, describing,
reformulating, sampling again—the
lessons Forbidden Root’s BJ Pichman
learned perfecting first Forbidden
Root and later Fernetic are equally
useful when making a beer with just a
few spices or, in fact, one with none.
74 | Brewer’s Perspective: Bring-
ing the Heat
Spice in beer is nothing new, but
as farmers seek to create new chile
peppers to bring to market, brewers
are busy trying to figure out how to
incorporate them into lagers and ales.
Matt Brophy talks about the spicy in-
spiration behind Flying Dog Brewery’s
“The Heat” series.
76 | Spice Is the Spice of Life
So, how do you make a spiced beer?
“Brew a beer and add spices.” If only
80 it were that simple! Spice opens up an
enormous range of flavors to us, and
Josh Weikert shows you how to deploy
64 74 various spices to get something you’re
going to love drinking!
80 | Fake It When You Make It!
Josh Weikert takes you on a rapid-fire
journey through a range of spices and
herbs that enhance, augment, imitate,
and/or intensify both traditional beer
flavors and beer-adjacent flavors.
85 | Spiced Beer Reviews
Our blind review panel of judges
surveys Golden & Blonde Ales, Pale
Ales & Lagers, Amber & Brown Ales,
Belgian-style Ales, Sour & Mixed
Fermentation Ales, Stouts, and
Barrel-aged Stouts, all brewed with a
variety of spices.

BEERANDBREWING.COM |3
| CONTENTS |

34

THE MASH
11 | Stats, “Make Your Best”
Highlights
18 | Holiday Gift Guide
(SPONSORED CONTENT)
28 100
TRAVEL
26 | Love Handles
28 | Beercation:
Queens, New York

BREAKOUT BREWERS
34 | J. Wakefield Brewing
38 | Holy City Brewing
42 | Abnormal Beer Co.

PICK SIX
48 | Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Founder Ron Jeffries chooses a
6-pack of expressive and personal
beers that he’ll never be stuck
on an island with . . . because he
doesn’t do boats.
42
BREWING 56 52
52 | Ask the Experts
56 | Gearhead: Beachwood’s
Coolship

THE BUSINESS OF BEER

100 | Keepers of the Craft
By pursuing their ambition and
following their heart, Colorado’s
Purpose Brewing and Cellars
and the thousands of small and
independent breweries like it play
a much bigger role in keeping
the “craft” in beer than even the
industry’s largest brewers. Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® (print ISSN 2334-119X; online ISSN 2334-1203) is published eight times a year in
January, March, May, July, August, September, November, and December for $29.99 per year (eight issues) by Unfiltered
MORE Media Group, LLC at 311 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524; Phone 888.875.8708 x0; customerservice@beerand
103 | CB&B Marketplace brewing.com. Periodical postage paid at Fort Collins, CO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address
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108 | Chill Plate
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4| CRAFT BEER & BREWING

| RECIPES IN THIS ISSUE |

SPICED BEERS
Abnormal Beer Co.’s Adjunct-Ready
Imperial Stout
Derek Gallanosa
Page 44

Campobello Maple Brown Ale

Josh Weikert
Page 83

EVERYTHING ELSE
Der Falke Kellerbier
Josh Weikert
Page 14

Muddy Creek Porter

Josh Weikert
Page 16

Holy City Brewing’s Pluff Mud Porter

Chris Brown
Page 40

D-Lite Festbier
Taylor Caron
Page 66

| CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE |

RECIPE PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM; CONTRIBUTOR PHOTOS: COURTESY CAT WOLINSKI; COURTESY STAN
HIERONYMUS; COURTESY BRAD SMITH; COURTESY EMILY HUTTO; COURTESY JOSH WEIKERT; COURTESY PATRICK DAWSON

Cat Wolinski is a
Brooklyn-based freelance
journalist and beer writer.
She is the curator/editor
of the Brooklyn Beer
Book and Queens Beer
Book (Brokelyn-QNS); the
NYC brew news columnist
for the print beer news-
paper, Ale Street News,
and she contributes to
many publications online.
She also has a beer
blog, Beer Affair. Find her
on Instagram and Twitter
@beeraffair.
6| CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Stan Hieronymus has Brad Smith started Emily Hutto is a Josh Weikert took up Patrick Dawson is the
been writing about beer BeerSmith, LLC in Colorado-born travel homebrewing in 2007 as author of Vintage Beer,
for more than twenty 2003 and has grown writer with an affinity for a way to stay sane during A Taster’s Guide to Brews
years, including three his business to be the fermented beverages. graduate school. He is a That Improve over Time,
books popular with most utilized brewing She’s the author of founding member of the a book that guides
homebrewers—For the software in the world. Colorado’s Top Brewers Stoney Creek Homebrewers, the taster through the
Love of Hops, Brew Like He is the author of Home and a contributor at has medaled in every BJCP apparent mysteries of
a Monk, and Brewing Brewing with BeerSmith, many craft-beer and beer style, is a BJCP Grand cellaring beer; and The
with Wheat. His most and he is the developer food-centric publications. Master Judge and Certified Beer Geek Handbook:
recent book, Brewing of the BeerSmith Brew- Find her ethnography at Cicerone, and is a two-time Living a Life Ruled by
Local: American-Grown ing software. Brad is an emilyhutto.com. Eastern Pennsylvania Beer. When not thinking
Beer, is a field guide to expert homebrewer with Homebrewer of the Year. or writing about beer, he
brewing with foraged an MBA, MS, and PhD in He leads a double life is sleeping.
ingredients. Engineering. as the jet-setting author
of the Beer: Simple blog
(beer-simple.com).
| EDITOR’S NOTE |

Editorial Director Jamie Bogner

One door closes, and another one opens. We launched this
media company back in 2013 with a small but incredibly powerful
crew. Over time, a few things have changed—we added more issues,
we launched events, online classes took off, we bought a bar, we sold a
bar, we released books, we released apps, and we launched the creative
agency side of our business. But through it all, the anchor of the con-
tent side of our business has been our managing editor, Trish Faubion.
Any business is only as good as the people who work for it, and
Trish is one of the best—an experienced editor, a savvy production
director, and an eagle-eyed perfec-
tionist. Our stories are clean and
consistent because Trish is fanatical
about getting it right. From her
adamant adherence to the proper
usage of the word “hops” to her
love of the Oxford comma, she has
made sure we communicate clearly,
honestly, and correctly.
It’s bittersweet for me to an-
nounce that this issue will be her
last as a full-time staff member of
Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®, as
she’s reached the point where she is
ready to retire and spend more time
with her dog, her quilts, and her garden. On a personal level, we
couldn’t be happier for her—she’s earned this—but it won’t be the
same without her here in the office.
On the other side of the coin, we’re thrilled to welcome experienced
author and editor John Holl to the Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®
family. John most recently helmed competing title All About Beer
magazine, and in the spirit of cooperative competition that’s so com-
mon in craft beer, we’ve been friends for a few years now. When the
opportunity presented itself to bring him on board, we didn’t have to
think twice, and you’ll find a few stories from John in this issue.
Change is a constant throughout the world of craft beer, and we’ve
been lucky to keep a core team in place for as long as we have. The in-
dustry as a whole continues to change and evolve at a pace that can be
difficult to keep up with, but these challenges are opportunities when
viewed through the proper lens. We can’t dwell on the way things
used to be or long for the simpler times. Our respect for the past and
the rich history it holds is important, but it invariably exists in tension
with a desire toward progression, and the most interesting place to
be is that intersection of past practice and leading techniques with a
cultural acuity to creatively push the conversation forward.
As one door closes, another one opens, so raise a glass with me
and toast the fine work that Trish has done for us (and all the sto-
ries and classes you all enjoy). She’ll be dearly missed. Then raise
your glass again in a welcome toast for John and drink to the future,
the new stories, and the new memories we’ll make. We hope you
enjoy this issue. We made it for you.
Managing Editor Trish Faubion
Senior Editor John Holl
Contributing Editor Tom Wilmes
Writers Stan Hieronymus, Brad Smith, John M. Verive,
Josh Weikert, Justin Burdick, Cat Wolinski, Emily
Hutto, Taylor Caron, Jester Goldman
Photographers Matt Graves (www.mgraves
photo.com), Patrick Phillips, Brian Casse, Nickie Stone
Illustrator Ansis Puriņš
Tasting Panel Cy Bevenger, Kyle Byerly, Matt
Burton, Jesse Clark, Greg Crum, Hermen Diaz, Jester
Goldman, Matt Kunze, Ted Manahan, Andy Mitch-
ell, Eric Reinsvold, Rob Reinsvold, Greg Simonds,
Anne Simpson
Publisher Haydn Strauss
Sales Director Mary KinCannon
Sales Manager Blake Osmond
FOR MEDIA SALES INQUIRIES, please call 888.875.8708 x2 or
email advertising@beerandbrewing.com
Customer Success Manager Rachel Szado
RETAILERS: If you are interested in selling Craft Beer &
Brewing Magazine® in your shop or brewery please contact us at
sales@beerandbrewing.com or 888-875-8708 x705.
Marketing & Social Media Jordanne Bryant
Find us:
Web: beerandbrewing.com
Twitter: @craftbeerbrew
Facebook: facebook.com/craftbeerandbrewing
Instagram: craftbeerbrew
Pinterest: pinterest.com/craftbeerbrew
Editorial and sales office:
311 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524
888.875.8708
Subscription Inquiries:
Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine
311 S. College Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80524
subscriptions@beerandbrewing.com
888-875-8708 x0
Customer Service:
customerservice@beerandbrewing.com or
888-875-8708 x0
We invite previously unpublished manuscripts and materials,
but Unfiltered Media Group, LLC accepts no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts and other materials submitted for
review. The editorial team reserves the right to edit or modify
any material submitted.
Contents copyright © 2017 Unfiltered Media Group, LLC, All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
in whole or in part in print or electronically without the written
consent of Unfiltered Media Group, LLC. All items submitted
to Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® become the sole property of
Unfiltered Media Group, LLC. The opinions and claims of the
contributors and advertisers in Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®
are not necessarily those of the Publisher or Unfiltered Media
Group, LLC. Printed in the U.S.A.
Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® is published by

Unfiltered
Media Group, LLC
Cofounder & CEO John P. Bolton, Esq.
Jamie Bogner Unfiltered
Cofounder & CCO Jamie Bogner
Cofounder & Editorial Director MediaStrauss
COO Haydn Group, LLC
Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Cofounder Stephen Koenig

UNFIL UNFILTERED UNFILTERED

8| CRAFT BEER & BREWING TERED

MEDIA
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GROUP LLC
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GROUP, LLC
GROUP, LLC
 WE PRINT
EVERYTHING
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TO SUCCEED

INDUSTRY LEADING QUALITY & TURNAROUND TIMES

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50%

Fastest
Growing
40%

Beer Styles
It’s common knowledge that IPA is the largest selling beer craft-beer style at more than
25 percent of beers sold, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Thanks to data released by
the Brewers Association, we can track the fastest growing craft-beer styles (as measured
by sales revenue), to see what’s bubbling up as the next big thing. Styles are ranked
below by year-over-year percentage growth rate, 2015–2016.

30%

20%
Saison / Farmhouse Ale

10%
Belgian Wit
Golden Ale

Pale Lager
Pilsner

Wheat

5%
Pale

Amber
IPA

Ale

Lager

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 11
| THE MASH |

New Gear!
EDITORS’ PICKS BEERSLANGING

Otterbox Elevation 64
Stainless-Steel Growler
$69.99, otterbox.com
The stainless-steel growler market is getting
more and more crowded by the day, so man-
ufacturers have to deliver new killer features
to rise above the noise. Otterbox is no stranger
to innovation—and they aren’t scared of
manufacturing challenges—so they’ve sand-
wiched a copper sleeve between the inside
and outside stainless-steel walls of their new
Elevation 64 growler to improve insulation.
The lid seals tight, and the growler keeps beer
fresh and carbonated, so this one will see
more use in our regular growler rotation.
Coolbot Walk-In Cooler
Controller
$329, storeitcold.com
We’re kicking off a project to build our own DIY
walk-in cooler, inspired by the folks at Coolbot—
their small controller is designed to fool wall-unit
air conditioners into operating well below their
intended temperature zone. In the meantime,
we’ve talked to our friends who use these in full-
fledged commercial operations, such as the folks
at Outer Range Brewing in Frisco, Colorado, and
they’ve reported bulletproof performance under
challenging conditions. If you’re looking to build
a small walk-in at home or your business, the
Coolbot is an affordable and effective way to do it.
Language
for Beer
Geeks
A quick and humorous key to
deciphering the slang terms
thrown around in the world of
Beer Geekdom.
>> Collab
verb
A glorified excuse for brewers to drink
beer together and socialize under the
guise of creating a marketing buzz by
combining the hype of two breweries.
Most often actually brewed by an assis-
tant brewer from a recipe that typically
consists of an untested combination of
two better recipes. “Once we started drink-
ing barrel-aged stouts at 9 a.m. on collab
brew day, we knew the only time we’d
actually spend in the brewhouse was for
the grain-out photo for Instagram.”
>> Painting the Tape
verb
As defined by the financial industry, a
market manipulation whereby traders
attempt to influence the value of a beer
by buying/selling/trading it among
themselves to create the appearance of
interest. “No one had heard of that brew-
ery until a couple of local homers started
painting the tape after their latest release.”
For many more obscure beer terms,
visit beerandbrewing.com and search for
“beerslanging.”

TRENDING ONLINE

Top Stories on BeerandBrewing.com

340 of the Become a Kettle Kegging Your The Pilsner
Best IPAs, Sour Expert Homebrew Landscape
Blind-Tasted Almost every craft Video Brewing a Pilsner
and Ranked brewery has some- Learn everything requires technical
Never before in thing tart and tangy you need to know skill and flawless in-
the history of beer on its beer list, thanks to start kegging your gredients. They are
have new ideas, in part to kettle sour- beer. This video so much more than
style variations, and ing. Reap the same breaks down keg boring light beer,
progressive tech- benefits at home to systems part-by-part, and the American
niques taken root brew a refreshing so you can learn drinking populace is
and spread through Berliner weisse, a why and how kegs (finally) catching on.
the industry at such complex gose, or a work, how to trou- Lager is no longer
a breakneck pace. balanced fruit sour. bleshoot kegging a dirty word in the
Here are the results Meet your new issues, the right way craft-beer world.
from our panel of friend, Lactobacillus. to force carbonate,
BJCP-certified judges. and more.

12 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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| THE MASH |
HOMEBREWING
Make
Your Best…
It’s one thing to follow a beer recipe, but it’s an entirely different
beast to know the whys and hows and everything in between
for the type of beer you’re brewing. By Josh Weikert
Kellerbier
Kellerbier merges the best of British cask ale with German malts
and hops in a unique lager style. It has an atypical flavor profile
that, depending on your finishing steps, can represent itself as a
kind of German ESB or a Continental IPA.
Style: Strictly speaking, Kellerbiers are cold-fermented and are
generally served young and unfiltered. Many are also served with
low levels of residual CO2, having been matured in vented casks.
Kellerbier is essentially an amber lager that differs from Oktober-
fest in the relative intensity of its bittering, flavor, and aroma hops
character. It is also unique in that a touch of acetaldehyde and
other “green” beer flavors are not necessarily considered a fault.
Ingredients: There’s a trick to this style in that you want a rich,
obvious malt-forward character and a nice amber color, but you
don’t want any caramel or roasty flavors. To get a nice,
bready, non-caramel malt character, I use Vienna
and Pilsner as a base, in a 2:1 ratio. To deepen
the color (without adding roast) and the
flavor (without adding caramel) I
add trace amounts of Carafa II and
Melanoidin malt.
In hopping, the goal is about 35
IBUs and medium-high levels of
hops flavor and aroma. To get
there, I use a 1:1 blend of Haller-
tau (for a healthy dose of floral
hops flavor) and Northern Brewer
(for a wild, dry-bark note).
For yeast, I like a true lager strain to
avoid the impression of sweetness that
esters can impart.
Process: Mash and boil as usual. Pay
particular attention to your late-hops timing—
you want to ensure a noticeable level of hops flavor
and aroma, so if you’ll be doing a whirlpool, be sure to
factor that time in. You want 30 minutes of contact time on the
flavor hops and 10 on the aroma hops.
Pitch the yeast and hold at 50°F (10°C) for the first five days, then
start increasing the temperature. Once you reach terminal gravity,
package it up! For Kellerbier you want that bit of yeasty breadiness,
“young” flavor, and maybe a hint of that “green” beer flavor.
I serve this beer at just less than one volume of CO2. The result
should be an eminently drinkable amber lager that has a soft,
rounded mouthfeel and a ton of light-malt flavor, accentuated by
floral-spicy hops flavor and aroma. It’s a unique beer, and I highly
recommend trying it this way at least once!
14 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
MAKE IT
Der Falke
Kellerbier
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.012
IBUs: 35
ABV: 5%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
6 lb (2.7 kg) Vienna malt
3 lb (1.4 kg) Pilsner malt
4 oz (113 g) Carafa II
4 oz (113 g) Melanoidin malt
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.38 oz (11 g) each Northern Brewer [8% AA] and
Hallertau [4.5% AA] at 60 minutes
0.38 oz (11 g) each Northern Brewer and Hallertau
at 30 minutes
0.38 oz (11 g) each Northern Brewer and Hallertau
at 10 minutes
YEAST
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager)
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mix with 3 gallons (11.2 l)
of 163°F (73°C) strike water to reach a mash
temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold this tempera-
ture for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings
are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge the
grains with 4.3 gallons (16.5 l) and top up as nec-
essary to obtain 6 gallons (23 l) of wort. Boil for 60
minutes, following the hops schedule.
After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fer-
mentation temperature, about 50°F (10°C). Aerate
the wort and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 50°F (18°C) for five days, and then
allow to free-rise, but not higher than 64°F (18°C).
Upon reaching terminal gravity, cold crash and
bottle or keg the beer, and carbonate to about 1 vol-
ume of CO2 for “cask-feel” lager or 2 volumes for
more conventional carbonation.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Drink this beer as soon as it’s carbonated! Keller-
bier is, by tradition, a “young” beer and should
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
be consumed early, rough edges and all. Some
versions exhibit signs of incomplete fermentation
(acetaldehyde, for example) but here we’re relying
on the Vienna malt to provide a nice raw graini-
ness. Don’t worry if it isn’t clear yet: hazy versions
of this beer abound, and you needn’t take any
particular steps to clear it up!
 INTRODUCING
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INCREDIBLY FRESH. PERFECTLY DELICIOUS.

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| THE MASH |
HOMEBREWING
Make Your Best, cont’d
American (Robust) Porter
One of my favorite styles to revisit is the robust porter (sometimes called
American porter) because it can showcase almost any set of flavors you
want. Brew one up now, and it’ll be perfect for your winter social events!
Style: Porter is one of the oldest styles, referring to dark ales made
with brown malt originally in London and around England. It is a beer
that should feature a rich character from its grist, a bite from black patent
malt, significant bittering and flavor hops, and a touch of alcohol warmth.
Ingredients: Start with the base malts: Maris Otter and Munich—you
want about 50 gravity points from them. Then add equal amounts of me-
dium crystal malt and pale chocolate malt and about half that amount of
black patent malt. If you want to really ramp up the richness, you might
also consider a little melanoidin malt, but to my palate it comes across
as slightly oily. I also recommend adding flaked barley to promote head
retention and a creamy mouthfeel.
You want an aggressive hopping regimen that’s fairly evenly balanced
across the bittering, flavor, and aroma additions. I like a tri-blend of
East Kent Goldings, Styrian Goldings, and Fuggles added in equal parts
in three additions, with a small amount reserved for dry hopping. This
should give you plenty of bitterness and an earthy, spicy hops character
that meshes perfectly with the rich-but-sharp malt flavors.
For yeast, use Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III) for its great fruity esters
(when fermented at the right temperature).
If you’re working with slightly hard water, you might also consider
¼ tsp of baking soda to round off the dark malt flavors.
Process: Mash at your center-line, everyday temperature because
we’re not shooting for a particularly fermentable (or unfermentable)
wort. Let the crystal and flaked barley do their job, and you shouldn’t
have any body issues.
For fermentation, treat this as you would any ale. Start cool to inhibit
diacetyl production and prevent the production of fusel alcohols. After
72 hours or so, let the temperature rise by a few degrees and hold it
there for the rest of fermentation.
Use the reserved hops for a very, very light dry hopping after
about a week in the fermentor. This adds to the nose by bright-
ening the existing hops flavors and aroma, but it also adds
a touch of fresh, resiny, grassy hops aroma. Three
days of contact time should suffice.
You should be ready to go within 10
days, and then you can package and
carbonate. This beer needs a bit of
carbonation to fill it out and cut down on
any perceptions of excess sweet-
ness so aim for a hair under two
volumes of CO2.
This London ale brewed with En-
glish and German ingredients with
an American-sized level of hopping
serves as a great base for winter
specialty or spiced beers—remove
the aroma hops and replace with your
specialty ingredient(s) as desired.
16 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
MAKE IT
Muddy
Creek Porter
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.015
IBUs: 40
ABV: 6.6%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
8 lb (3.6 kg) Maris Otter
1.5 lb (680 g) Munich Malt
1 lb (454 g) British Medium Crystal malt (65L)
1 lb (454 g) British Pale Chocolate malt
8 oz (227 g) flaked barley
8 oz (227 g) Black Patent malt
HOPS SCHEDULE
1 oz (28 g) East Kent Goldings [5% AA] at
60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Styrian Goldings [5% AA] at 30
minutes
1 oz (28 g) Fuggles [4.5% AA] at 10 minutes
Reserve 0.25 oz (7 g) of each hops addition for
dry hop (see below).
YEAST
Wyeast 1318 (London Ale) Yeast
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mix with 3.9 gallons (14.8 l) of
163°F (73°C) strike water to reach a mash tempera-
ture of 152°F (67°C). Hold this temperature for
60 minutes. Vorlauf until the runnings are clear,
then run off into the kettle. Sparge the grains
with 3.3 gallons (12.7 l) and top up as necessary
to obtain 6 gallons (23 l) of wort. Boil for 60
minutes, following the hops schedule.
After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below
fermentation temperature, about 63°F (17°C).
Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 64°F (18°C). After 72 hours, let the
temperature rise to 68°F (20°C) and hold. After
7 days, add the small dry hops charge and wait
an additional 3 days (or until all activity in the
airlock ceases). Crash the beer to 35°F (2°C),
then bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to
about 2 volumes.
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
Instead of using the hops separately as listed,
I blend them into a pile of Anglo-Bohemian
hops and divide up the pile.If you want to
“Americanize” the flavor profile, substitute
Northern Brewer for the 30-minute addition
and something piney for the 10-minute, and
adjust for the alpha-acid difference to yield the
same 40 IBUs.
Flash Pasteurization System: 20-50hl/hr; PU range = 10-200 PU

Everything in control.
Cellar Solutions & Systems for the
Craft Brewer

VT Cheddar Made
With Craft Beer
Is Our Specialty

www.co-kellerworks.com

(970) 449-5181 info@co-kellerworks.com ®

Order gift boxes online for your beer lover!

vermontfarmstead.com
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 17
 SPONSORED CONTENT

Holiday
Gift Guide
Give friends a beer, and they’ll drink for a day; give friends one of these fantastic
homebrewing and beer-related gifts, and they’ll be your drinking buddies for a
lifetime. Build and share your own wish list at beerandbrewing.com/gifts.

PERFECT DRAFT
BEER ON THE GO
The new one-gallon TrailKeg
is perfect for taking great
draft beer with you wherever
you go. With vacuum insula-
tion, CO2 pressurization, and
a clever ball lock fitting that
allows you to attach a draft
faucet or a party tap, you can
enjoy cold, carbonated draft
beer miles from the nearest
kegerator without having to
haul heavy kegs or bags of
ice. trailkeg.com

GET PUMPED!
Pumps make your brew day flow so much
easier, and this first pump designed spe-
cifically for homebrewing makes priming
and cleanup a breeze. From the built-in
valve to the stainless-steel removable
tri-clamp pump head, every detail was
considered. It’s the new gold standard!
blichmannengineering.com/products/
riptide-brewing-pump
WELCOME TO
FLAVOR TOWN
For the finest-quality herbs
prepared specifically for
brewers, look no farther than
San Francisco Herb Co. With
a wide variety of everything
from anise to wormwood,
offered in multiple formats,
finding the perfect flavors for
your creative beers has never
been so easy. sfherb.com

READY, SET, DRINK

This craft-beer six-glass set from Luigi
Bormioli features two each of three of
their most popular designs—IPA, wheat
beer, and the stemmed taster. They’re
built sturdy to withstand frequent washing
and include light etching inside the glass
bottoms to promote nucleation for a
consistent head. shop.luigibormioli.com/
products/birrateque-ipa-wheat-tester-
craft-beer-glasses-6-piece-set

18 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

 SPONSORED CONTENT

SIMPLY THE BEST

Newly redesigned from the ground up, Spike
Brewing’s conical unitanks are fully loaded
with top-notch features, come in just about
every size a brewer could wish for, and are
absolutely beautiful to boot. The removable
lid plus sanitary welded tri-clover fittings
(no weldless fittings) allow you to boost
pressure as high as 15psi, allowing for
dual-use as a brite tank—a killer feature
for tanks in this price range!
spikebrewing.com

LOUNGE LIKE A PRO

Get your holiday on in style with a cus-
tomized fleece lounger from Grandstand.
Whether you’re day drinking, watching
the game, or looking to make a grand
entrance at that next bottle share,
nothing says “I value comfort above
all else” like a branded onesie.
Available in sizes small through
3x. egrandstand.com

THE SMOOTH MAKE CLEAN UP

TASTE OF NITRO
Forget the draft lines, tank,
and maintenance. The
12 oz NitroBrew Kettle system
has everything you need to
pour wicked good, freshly
nitrogenated beer and coffee
in a flash. Did we mention it’s
dishwasher-safe?
nitrobrew.com
A PIECE OF CAKE
From the squeaky-clean
folks at Five Star Chemicals
come PBW and B.S. Remover,
two formidable products
brewers shouldn’t be without.
PBW does the work of a
cleaning crew, working off
caked-on ick and grunge
with an alkaline formula,
and B.S. Remover uses
an acid-based formula to
remove organic deposits that
alkaline cleaners can’t break
down. Together, they’ll clean
anything!

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 19
 SPONSORED CONTENT
| HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE |

STAY COOL...OR HOT!

Controlling temperature is
one of the keys to making
great beer, but older methods
like ice baths are prone
to mistakes and putting
fermentors inside of fridges
eats up space fast. Brew
Jacket’s Immersion Pro solves
that problem with dual-stage
sanitary solid state heating
and cooling from inside
the vessel—where it really
matters. Use it with your
favorite fermentor—either
drill out your own lid or buy
one pre-drilled from their
store! brewjacket.com

NIBBLE ON YOUR
FAVORITE BEER
This holiday, send that
beer lover in your life this
gift pack from Vermont
Farmstead Cheese Company.
With three varieties of cheese
made with The Alchemist’s
Heady Topper, Lawson’s Sip
of Sunshine, and Harpoon
IPA, plus a bottle opener and
crackers, you can’t go wrong!
vermontfarmstead.com

ONE TANK TO RULE

THEM ALL
Homebrewers can now
ferment, condition, and even
serve beer by getting in on
the same stainless-steel
unitank equipment from SS
Brewtech that was formerly
only available to pros...
at the perfect 10-gallon
homebrew size. Beautifully
designed and constructed.
You’re certain to find more
uses for these than you ever
imagined! ssbrewtech.com

BRAND LIKE A PRO

JakPrints offers everything
a brewery might need to
extend its brand. From
apparel to printed growl-
ers to business cards,
stickers, menus, and
table tents, JakPrints
has your branding
needs covered.
jak.ink/beer

20 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

 SPONSORED CONTENT

LEAVE THE BULKY WHEN YOU WANT

WALLET AT HOME IT ALL
Fold up some cash, then tuck There isn’t much the Growler-
your IDs and your favorite Werks uKeg growler doesn’t
brewery’s loyalty card into have. Insulated? Check.
the super sleek Spine Wallet Automatic CO2 regulator?
and you’re all set. The handy Check. External sight glass?
bottle opener is built in, Check. Customizable tap,
making this an essential tool stunning design, and fresh
in your night-out arsenal. beer all the time? Check,
spinewallet.com check, and check! You’ll be
the life of the party when you
show up with a uKeg, and the
THE BEST OF BOTH only question you need to ask
WORLDS yourself is “64 oz or 128 oz?”
The geniuses at Craft A growlerwerks.com
Brew have come up with
an innovative solution for
simplifying the homebrewing
process. The Catalyst
Fermentation system handles
fermentation and bottling for
you—all you need is a kettle
and a spoon. Its Trub Trap
makes harvesting yeast a
snap, and its wicked-smart
design is mess-free (this is
one case where gravity actu-
ally is your friend). And as if
that’s not enough, the tank
is dishwasher safe. Enjoy
the convenience of a conical
with the visual benefits of a
carboy! craftabrew.com

GO INCOGNITO
Bottlekeeper’s innovative and insulated
housing keeps your beer bottles cold,
safe, and out of sight of prying eyes. It
might look like your average water bottle
from the outside, but inside, the screw-on
lid reseals your open bottle and keeps it
in perfect shape, sip after sip. Available
in a variety of sizes for everything from
longnecks to bombers. bottlekeeper.com

SHINE IT UP
Don’t relegate yourself to the mass-
produced liquors on the market. Get
in touch with your inner artisan and
handcraft your own with the 1 Gallon
Copper Moonshine Still Kit. Trick it out
with optional accessories, click to buy,
and you’ll be making your own within a
week! clawhammersupply.com

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 21
 SPONSORED CONTENT
| HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE |

MINIMUM SIZE, BREWING GOES

MAXIMUM EFFECT
You never want to be that
person who doesn’t have
a bottle opener, and with
Pangea Designs’ ultra
minimalist offerings, there’s
no excuse to not carry one.
From the tiny Pico to the mul-
tifunction Pickpocket and the
entertaining Beertop Delta,
there’s a model for everyone.
pangea-designs.com
ELECTRIC
From turnkey panels to DIY
kits, Electric Brew Systems
has everything you need to
go electric. With options from
manual control to BCS app
automation, you can get as
hands-on or future-proof as
you like. These panels are
the best in the business,
so buy with confidence.
ebrewsupply.com

THE BEST $99 TAKE BETTER

BREWING UPGRADE
YOU CAN BUY
The editors of this magazine
chose it as an Editors’ Pick in
the annual gear guide, and
when you see how simple it is
to control heating elements
or cooling apparatus with
the Uni-Stat III, you’ll never
ferment with anything else
again. tempstatcontrols.com
CONTROL OF YOUR
FERMENTATIONS!
The new pro model conical
fermentor from Grainfather
features a built-in heating
element and a glycol-ready
dual wall jacket (glycol
chiller sold separately)
that allows homebrewers
to ferment like the pros for
a surprisingly low price!
grainfather.com

22 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

 SPONSORED CONTENT

BEER CAPS ACROSS

AMERICA
Beer Cap Maps’ 8-foot wide
puzzle map of the U.S. is a
showstopping piece for base-
ment bars, beer geek hang-
outs, and local taprooms.
Start drinking now—the 979
caps it requires to fill every
hole might take you a while!
beercapmaps.com
BOTTLE OPENERS FOR BBQ FANATICS
Are you a beer fan who spends as much time in front of a grill or
smoker as you do with a beer in your hand? Celebrate both loves
with these new BBQ-themed bottle openers. Both ship with strong
magnets so you can attach them to your grill when not in use.
bbqpelletsonline.com
LABELS, BEGONE!
You could soak your bottles,
spend hours peeling labels
off, and even more time
dissolving all that pesky
glue. Or you could just use
the LabelNator, which rids
bottles of their labels fast-
er than you can order a
cold one at the brewery.
labelnator.com

INTEGRATED
SYSTEM, ENDLESS
OPTIONS
The Ruby Street Fusion 25
uses 25-gallon pots to make
half-barrel batches a breeze.
Customize it to your heart’s
content, and they’ll build it
to suit—they even offer an
all-electric model suitable for
indoor brewing.
rubystreetbrewing.com

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 23
 SPONSORED CONTENT
| HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE |

BREWING WITH
STEALTH
You won’t necessarily blend
in to your home brewery
wearing a hat or holding a
pint glass from Home Brew
Camo, but that’s not the
point now, is it? This unique
pattern is built from the gear
we love, so wear it with pride.
homebrewcamo.com

THE RIGHT TEMP

EVERY TIME
Whether you’re tracking the
temperature of a brisket in
your smoker or the IPA in your
fermentor, the Tappecue will
let you know what’s happen-
ing from a smartphone or
computer no matter where
you are! tappecue.com

BREW, FERMENT,
CONDITION, SERVE
Forget time travel. Pitch
your yeast and have clear,
cold beer in 7 days with the
Vessi Beer Fermentor and
Dispenser. And you’ll love
that this unit handles all
the fermenting and pouring
duties for you! getvessi.com

WHERE MEAT AND

BEER MEET
Drinking beer can work
up quite an appetite, so
satiate it with the ultimate
drinking snack—jerky made
with craft beer. Northwest
Bierhaus Jerky offers four
different flavors made with
beer—IPA, Hot IPA, Dark Ale,
and Hot Dark Ale. And if there’s
a wine drinker in your life, they
even have a few wine-soaked
variations as well.
northwestbierhausjerky.com

24 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

 SPONSORED CONTENT

WHERE THERE’S COOLER, FASTER CHEESE LOVES BEER

SMOKE
Add delicious smoked flavor to
your food while you grill with
the Smokin Wedgie and wood
pellets! This stainless-steel
basket is built tough to last
long, and the clever wedge
shape makes it easy to tuck
into the corner of your char-
coal or gas grill, giving you
the flavor of a smoker with the
convenience of a grill.
thesmokinwedgie.com
The Exchilerator counterflow
wort chiller gets the job
done fast—much faster
than an immersion chiller
and without the cleaning
headaches of a plate chiller.
You know it’s important to
get your wort through that
dangerous infection-prone
temperature zone as quickly
as possible, and this one
does it in a fast and sanitary
way. exchilerator.com
Beer and cheese are a combination for the ages, and Cypress
Grove has made it even easier to create a pairing event at
your brewery taproom. Drop them a line, and they’ll send out a
full event box (table tops, poster, pairing guides, and enough
cheese for 30 people). You supply the beer, the crowd, and your
own tasting notes. Enjoy a great event, made easy by one of the
great cheesemakers of North America! cypressgrovecheese
.com/pairings/beer-and-cheese-pairings.html

KEEP IT CLEAN
Get the cleanest, fastest
fermentation imaginable
while taking the quality of
your beer to the max with the
14G FastFerment. Harvesting
yeast is a snap, and tossing
trub couldn’t be easier. And
better yet, you’re left with
beer that tastes amazing be-
cause the fermentor’s unique
design minimizes contact
with oxygen. fastbrewing
.com/14gfastferment

THE WORKS
Don’t get nickel-and-dimed
by the cheap, incomplete
starter kits on the market.
The Hoptech Starter Home-
brewing Kit has pretty much
everything a new brewer
needs to get going, start to
finish. hoptech.com

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 25
| LOVE HANDLES |
Eddie’s PiwPaw WÜRSTBAR
Roadhouse Beer Heaven
Warwick, New York
This craft-beer bar and restaurant is
a neighborhood gem in the Hudson
Valley’s Warwick.
What it is: Venturing out of New York
City doesn’t mean distancing oneself
from culture when one is traveling to
the Hudson Valley, a 150-mile stretch be-
tween Yonkers and Albany that claims the
epicenter of New York State’s local food
and drink movement. In Warwick, about
fifty miles from the City on the New
Jersey border (and accessible by bus from
Port Authority), Eddie’s Roadhouse has
been serving up craft culture since 2010.
Why it’s great: A family establishment
with a penchant for the local, delicious,
and fresh, Eddie’s Roadhouse is both a
beloved haunt for Warwick residents and
a familiar oasis for those passing through.
On tap, expect brews from hyper-local
Hudson Valley brewers such as Equilibri-
um (Middleton), Rushing Duck (Chester)
and the eponymous Hudson Valley (Bea-
con), along with borough darlings such
as Grimm and Other Half. Eats feature
inventive apps (eggplant meatballs, potato
nachos), a savory selection of burgers and
sandwiches, and hearty entrees made to
order. —Cat Wolinski
DETAILS
Hours: 12 p.m.–12 a.m., Tuesday–Thursday;
12 p.m.–2 a.m., Friday–Saturday; 12 p.m.–9 p.m.,
Sunday.
Address: 18 Main St., Warwick, NY
Web: eddiesroadhouse.com
26 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Warsaw, Poland
American-style craft beer’s home away
from home in Warsaw
What it is: This extraordinary taproom is
casually ensconced among the restaurants
and dance clubs just off one of Warsaw’s
main drags. The ninety-five tap handles
offer a staggering set of choices, from
double IPAs to Russian imperial stouts.
The majority are brewed within Poland,
but there are a smattering of imports.
Since too much is never enough, PiwPaw
Beer Heaven also has a huge cooler full
of bottled selections. PiwPaw has three
different bars in town, plus one in Łódź,
but this one has the most taps on hand.
Why it’s great: Many small European
breweries are embracing American craft-
beer styles and innovation, but PiwPaw
truly is Beer Heaven. The Polish brew-
eries represented here demonstrate how
well they’ve learned; the Vermont IPA
from Autybrowar is on point, and even
the wild experiments such as a peated
Belgian Tripel are quite tasty. The average
0.5 liter costs $4–5, but you can also build
your own sample tray for about $0.30
apiece. Best of all, this heaven is never
closed. —Jester Goldman
DETAILS
Hours: All day, every day.
Address: Foksal 16, Warsaw, Poland
Web: piwpaw.pl
Jersey City, New Jersey
Meat and beer come together in a well-
thought-out Czech-inspired concept that
combines house-made sausages and
a carefully curated beer list that draws
from some of America’s best craft brew-
eries and the world’s best-known brands.
What it is: From the bar/restaurant
group behind other forward-thinking but
historical-looking spots in New Jersey,
such as the Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten
and Pilsener Haus & Biergarten in
Hoboken, comes WÜRSTBAR, a small
neighborhood bar that focuses on simple
but flavorful. The sausages go beyond
the brat, and the beer list looks heavily to
European styles for inspiration.
Why it’s great: In a word: sausages. In
the age of mass-market everything, it’s
refreshing (not always the word associat-
ed with meat) to get the genuine article.
From venison to rabbit, duck, lamb,
and more, there’s a taste associated with
whatever your mood or the beer with
which you want to pair something. The
beer list changes daily, usually with a few
PHOTOS, FROM LEFT: CAT WOLINSKI, JESTER GOLDMAN, JOHN HOLL
small-production offerings from the likes
of Two Roads (Stratford, Connecticut),
Blackberry Farm (Walland, Tennessee),
and others. But the best deal is the
0.5 liter of fresh-tapped Pilsner Urquell
for $4.50 during the elongated happy
hour. Simple is beautiful. —John Holl
DETAILS
Hours: Noon–midnight, Sunday–Thursday;
Noon–2 a.m., Friday & Saturday.
Address: 516 Jersey Ave., Jersey City, NJ
Web: wurstbarjc.com
| BEERCATION: QUEENS, NEW YORK |
New York’s
Melting Pot
Gets Brewing While Brooklyn may be the borough best known around the world, not many places in the
country can rival the rich culinary intricacies of Queens, New York. The original “melting
pot,” dubbed the most diverse place in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, is an
interwoven community of many global cultures that in recent years has formed a diverse craft-
beer culture. By Cat Wolinski
MORE THAN FIFTY DISTINCT neigh-
borhoods make up Queens County: As-
toria, in the north, is home to New York’s
“Little Egypt,” with many residents origi-
nating in the Mediterranean and Middle
East; further central, Ridgewood is largely
inhabited by Latino and Hispanic families;
QUEENS stretching up past JFK Airport, Jamaica is
BY THE NUMBERS: predominantly African American; Flushing
claims one of the largest Chinese popula-
15
tions outside Asia; and back northeast in
& BREWPUBS
BREWERIES
Bayside, Italian, Irish, and Germans and
their American descendants reside.
In this densely populated, immensely
diverse community of immigrants and
their offspring, a collective entrepreneurial
3
spirit is evidenced throughout, visible and
palpable in the many bars and restaurants
throughout the borough. In fact, with
MEDALS
the exception of Brooklyn Brewery’s 1988
GABF
debut, Queens is really where New York’s
craft-brewing revolution cranked into gear.
It all started in 2012, when SingleCut
Beersmiths, in Astoria, and Rockaway
Brewing Company, in Long Island City,
opened their doors, and residents’ eyes
and minds, to locally brewed beer.
Astoria–Ditmars
SingleCut Beersmiths, located at Asto-
ria’s northernmost tip in a middle-class
28 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Clockwise from top
left » Rockaway Brewing in
Long Island City; Singlecut
Beersmiths rocks Astoria’s
northern reaches; the Local
channels dive-bar coziness
into a neighborhood favorite;
Transmitter Brewing epito-
mizes “urban farmhouse.”
neighborhood known as Ditmars, brought
rock-and-roll and bold beer to a location
better known for its supermarket across
the street. The music theme is somewhat
subtle for those not well-versed in guitar
riffs, lyrics, and lingo, but more obvious
than the oft-obscure beer names (Softly
Spoken Magic Spells, Weird, and Gilly)
are the blatant flavors they provide: West
Coast–inspired, East Coast–interpreted
hops bombs take center stage here in a
robust portfolio of IPAs and IPLs. (For
something softer on the palate, the 19-33
Pilsner, named for the brewery address
as well as Prohibition’s end, pleases hop-
heads and basic beer lovers alike.)
The century-old Bohemian Hall and
Beer Garden has been slinging Czech
food and beer since 1910; the backyard bar,
with its massive square footage and pleth-
ora of picnic tables, proves a good place to
catch a European football match. Astoria
Bier & Cheese–Ditmars, sister location
to the original about a mile south, offers
upward of 150 types of cheese, more than
forty charcuteries, and 350 or so beers
PHOTOS: PATRICK PHILLIPS
in bottles, cans, and on draft, available to
drink on site or to go. For a candlelit date
night, head to Crescent & Vine, a wine
bar that regularly features live jazz. Walk a
few more blocks west and you’ll hit Bow-
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 29
| BEERCATION: QUEENS |
Worth a Day Trip:
Flushing
For those here for more than the beer, Flush-
ing Chinatown is a cultural and culinary
experience not to be missed. Along with
hidden secrets of amazing cheap food, other
excursions are nearby, such as Flushing
Meadows Corona Park, famous for hosting
the 1964 World’s Fair (as well as a climactic
scene in Men in Black, and the theme song to
1990s television show, Kenan & Kel, featuring
Coolio). The Queens Museum has an al-
ways-interesting roster of rotating art exhibits,
such as the recent Rolling Stone biopic, and
the Museum of the Moving Image is a great
place for film geeks.
30 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
ery Bay Bar, a reclamation, whiskey- and
farm-to-table-focused boutique bar named
for the forgotten body of water and beach
resort now home to LaGuardia Airport.
Astoria–30th Avenue
Running west-east on a downward slant
across Astoria’s middle section is the in-
vigorating 30th Avenue, where one could
spend the entire day bar hopping (with
plenty of opportunities for snacks and
shopping along the way). Starting from
the subway train entrance and moving
east, standouts are Judy & Punch, a craft
beer– and cocktail-focused pub with a per-
fect people-watching storefront window
as well as a pleasant backyard. William
Hallet offers family-friendly, but still chic,
comfort food in a dimly lit setting; Black-
birds boasts daily happy-hour deals to pair
with its brews; and for the traditionalists,
Max Bratwurst Und Bier is the spot for
German brats, platters, and classic Euro-
pean lagers in hefty mugs.
Worth the short walk southward from
30th Avenue is the Local, a loveable pub
that manages to marry the comfortable
vibes of a dive with clean environs and a
virtuous craft-centric beer selection. Take
your pick from the twenty taps mixing
locals, regionals, and rarities, then stay for
a chat with the friendly staff, and if you’re
lucky, the even friendlier locals known to
close down the bar at dawn.
Astoria–Broadway
Calling those who love all things artisanal
is the Queens Kickshaw, a great place for a
break and a drink, be it beer, cider, or coffee;
the grilled cheese menu is also advisable.
Oliver’s beckons nearby with floor-to-ceiling
windows, open on warmer days, and a ro-
bust menu of appetizers, entrees, and beers,
an ideal setting for a bite and a breeze.
The original Astoria Bier and Cheese
(next door to its predecessor, Astoria Wine
and Liquor), is an absolute can’t miss
Above » Grab some
barbecue at John Brown
Smokehouse; Below » LIC
Beer Project is worth the
out-of-the-way trip.
for those who seek craft beer, meats, and
cheeses in a casual cafe setting. Barbeque,
beer, and whiskey await in the rustic-
meets-industrial Strand Smokehouse.
Astoria–35th Avenue
The last leg of Astoria before Long Island
City offers a quiet respite with a handful of
clever craft-beer and food options. Rest-au-
Rant, or RaR Bar, offers tapas-style snacks to
pair with beer or wine; Snowdonia sets the
stage for Welsh food and craft brews; and
Sunswick 35/35, the area’s original craft-beer
bar, is easy to miss but not to be overlooked:
better-than-expected pub grub and an excel-
lent selection of brews hide inside.
For those missing the glory days of
college, Studio Square, an event space and
beer garden that’s spacious and modern
inside and out, draws a younger crowd
with its booming music and clubby vibe.
A few minutes’ walk off the path, but
still nearby, is Iconyc, which recently
debuted its taproom focusing on farm-
house-style brews.
Long Island City
Long Island City is arguably the most
densely-packed brewery district of New
York City, and it shows no sign of stop-
ping. Better yet, most breweries and bars
are easily accessible in a day or so on foot
(even easier by bike).
Transmitter Brewing distinguished
itself as one of New York’s best breweries
when it stepped onto the scene with its
yeast-focused, refined farmhouse ales in
large-format bottles. Each beer is designed
with a traditional yet inventive approach,
and the taproom, though small, is worth
the squeeze to taste what’s fresh (and take
home some bottles).
Alewife offers a constantly rotating,
oft-humorously written, beer menu and
tasty fare, though the space can get hectic
and less attentive. Relative newcomer, Bi-
erocracy brings a Bavarian-style beer hall
into a modern setting with its circular bar
and slightly pricier brat and beer options
(note the luxury condos looming nearby).
Beer-conscious bars and restaurants are
aplenty heading up and around Vernon
Boulevard: Woodbines for Irish bites and
whiskey flights; Alobar for inventive dishes
(plus about 100 whiskies) that have earned
the restaurant Michelin Bib Gourmand
PHOTOS: PATRICK PHILLIPS
awards; John Brown Smokehouse is a
destination for casual, counter-style Kansas
City-style BBQ starring succulent meat
candy and sloppy sides atop lunch trays
and checker print tablecloths. Expect a line.
| BEERCATION: QUEENS |
Backtrack to Rockaway Brewing Company
(its original location; recently, the company
also opened a new location in the place of its
namesake), where English-style beers have
evolved into more American and East Coast
styles (Da Beach, Hawaiian Pizza). Practical-
ly next door, Fifth Hammer Brewing, in its
buildout at press time, is expected to open
its doors in late 2017. Between them is the
Gutter, a grungy bowling alley bar originat-
ing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that got a
facelift in Queens; the fresh space offers a
great group activity opportunity.
The outlier, in terms of bar-crawl geogra-
phy, is LIC Beer Project, a brewery worth
the 20-minute trek (or short ride) north.
The impressive space—enormous by New
York City standards—is home to the city’s
only coolship, and the brewery pours a
steady supply of Belgian-style wild ales and
saisons along with plenty of crowd pleasers
such as their Kölsch and bright, hazy IPAs,
which are also available in cans.
Finally, look for the neon green-bor-
dered “BEER” sign and coordinating door
around the corner for Big Alice Brewing,
one of New York’s smallest, but most
spirited, beer makers, having hundreds of
experimental one-offs under its proverbial
belt. Monthly nonprofit partnerships also
help them stand out from the crowd.
Ridgewood
Ridgewood is New York City’s next craft-
beer frontier, with trendy establishments
32 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
starting to pop up around every corner.
Bridge & Tunnel Brewery was the first
brewery to arrive, proudly boasting a DIY,
mom-and-pop aesthetic and authenticity.
Craft Culture, which celebrated its grand
opening in June, brings a brightly lit, mar-
ble-white bar and tasting room/bottle shop
to the area, focusing on local beers from
Queens and Brooklyn, as well as some far-
ther-reaching brews, with small plates, such
as spicy, crispy empanadas, that reflect the
neighborhood. Julia’s offers a smaller selec-
tion of local beer, emphasizing organic wines,
homemade crackers, and other snacks.
Pioneer beer bars here are the Monk, a
Belgian-style (and Belgian bottle–stocked)
beer cafe with light bites, and Onderdonk
and Sons, an unassuming beer and wine
bar worth a late afternoon beer, burger,
and fries combo.
Then, head to Glendale, where Finback
Brewery, the Kickstarter success story tucked
away in a quiet residential neighborhood,
is producing some of New York’s trendiest
beers. First timers will benefit from a custom
flight to witness Finback’s versatility-driven
styles spanning barrel-aged stouts and fruit-
ed sours to pale ales and IPAs.
Mikkeller, the Danish brewer that oper-
ates dozens of bars around the globe (plus
a brewery in San Diego), will be making
its East Coast debut at Queens’ Citi Field
stadium. Swing by before a Mets game or
visit anytime year-round to peruse sixty
brews on tap (by Mikkeller and others)
Left » Long Island City is a
craft-beer hotbed, and Fifth
Hammer is joining neighbors
such as Rockaway Brewing,
Alewife, and Transmitter
Brewing in the burgeoning
craft-beer neighborhood.
in a modern-design setting. Restaurant
collaborations are being planned to spruce
up the food menu.
Forest Hills, Bayside, and
Woodside
For the adventurous, Forest Hills is a simple
trip from Penn Station via Long Island
Railroad (LIRR) or via any entry point of the
subway’s E train. Here, Station House is
dressed to impress with a digital beer menu,
juicy burgers, platters, and poutines, and
nearby Austin Street provides the setting for
an aimless amble or shopping spree.
Another LIRR stop that’s basically sub-
urbia, only with more bars, is Bayside’s
Bell Boulevard. The craft culture hasn’t
quite caught on here yet, but Irish pubs
and family-style restaurants are nearly in-
finite (Maggie May’s, Donovan’s, Bourbon
Street). The unexpected champion here
is Press 195, a sandwich shop where you
can enjoy a mean panini (either from the
lengthy menu or custom ordered), Belgian
frites, and a craft brew in the backyard.
In Woodside, head to Unidentified
Flying Chickens for crispy Korean chicken
wings and craft beer in the basement.
The Rockaways
PHOTOS: PATRICK PHILLIPS
Finally, for the beach bums, there’s Rock-
away Beach. Rockaway Brewing recently
opened its surf-inspired second location
here just a few minutes from the shore. A
third location is planned for the future.
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| BREAKOUT BREWER: J. WAKEFIELD BREWING |

The Student
of History
Known for two distinct and different styles—the fruited Berliner and the
adjunct stout—Jonathan Wakefield has carved out a niche in southern
Lactobacillus and warm-fermenting yeasts.
Traditionally it’s served with a few drops
Florida with his flavorful, culinary-inspired brewing. By John Holl of either raspberry or woodruff syrup, but
Wakefield, who lives in a fruit-and-citrus
EACH YEAR ON DECEMBER 25, families Wakefield has accomplished a lot in a very lush region, had another idea.
gather around the tree, and at some short period, propelling parts of the industry
homes, among the presents are oblong box- forward, but so much of the success he has Creating a New Label
es that when unwrapped reveal a plastic jug, gained came from looking to the past. “[Berliner weisse] was a style no one gave a
some extract packets, and a few brushes. “During my homebrew days, I did a crap about, so how do you change the game?
The Mr. Beer kit is the impulse buy for the lot of research and background digging Did I want to go through the pain of making
beer lover in your life, conveniently stacked into ales that aren’t brewed anymore,” he and reducing a syrup? No. I thought ‘why
near the register of Bed Bath and Beyond. says, remembering making Kottbusser, a don’t we just put fruit in the fermentation,’
Most recipients will give it a try; some might German ale made from Kölsch yeast with and that changed everything,” he says.
even take up homebrewing as a full hobby oats, molasses, and honey. Or the Ken- He needed a name for the creation, and
graduating to better equipment; fewer will tucky Common he made while working at the term Florida weisse caught fire, as fans
actually use it as the impetus to go pro; and Cigar City Brewing in 2013. “It’s the old, began to line up even before he opened his
still fewer will have the impact that Jonathan dead styles that I find interesting.” brewery doors. At the inaugural What The
Wakefield has had on the brewing industry. It’s also what led him to Berliner weisse. Funk Festival held in Denver during the
He is the namesake of J. Wakefield Brew- While the German sour wheat ale is a 2013 Great American Beer Festival, fans
ing of Miami, Florida, the street-art deco- style that is currently enjoying a renais- lined up and snaked through the hall to get
rated brewery in the city’s trendy Wynwood sance around the world, until recently it a taste of his dragon-fruit weisse. They’ve
PHOTOS: BRIAN CASSE

arts district—the place that attracts beer had largely fallen into obscurity, save for a been lining up ever since at his brewery,
fans from all over the country in search of few purveyors around the globe. Typically which opened the following year.
two very specific styles: the fruited Berliner low gravity with little hops character, Ber- “To me, it was trying to create a label out
weisse and the flavored stout. liner weisse gets its character from both of an area,” he says. “The Florida weisse

34 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

 Clockwise from top »
While he’s known for fruit-
forward sour beers and big,
sweet adjunct stouts, Jona-
than Wakefield also has a soft
spot for forgotten historical
styles; Wakefield’s barrel-aged
beer releases drive huge
lines of South Florida beer
fans; Wakefield’s art-covered
walls are right at home in the
Wynwood neighborhood, which
is home to cutting-edge art
galleries and highly regarded
public street art.

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 35

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36 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
| BREAKOUT BREWER: J. WAKEFIELD BREWING |
thing stuck for a while. Now it’s not a new
thing, and everyone in the country does
it. It’s been localized to everywhere from
Michigan to California. So to me these
days, it’s a fruited Berliner, an Ameri-
canized Berliner. Fruit is kicked in to a
fermented quick-kettle thing.”
As beer drinkers increasingly flock to-
ward full flavored, abrasive, sour, tart, and
acidic beers, the addition of fruit directly to
fermentation makes sense and has mass
appeal. Because the base beer is relatively
simplistic, the fruit has a chance to shine,
and Wakefield has sourced from not only
local farms, but around the world.
“I have spared no expense,” he says, cit-
ing the apple variety from Oregon that only
grows in a certain valley. Or the Masumoto
peaches from California that he calls the
“king of peaches” that he had to “bend over
backwards” to get. But, he believes that he’s
the first one to put them into a beer.
Dragon fruit, thanks in part to how it turns
the beer pink, remains the most popular.
But if it grows on a branch or vine, Wake-
field is open to trying it. One ingredient,
however, that he won’t try again is highbush
cranberries. A few years back, he made a
collaboration beer with a Montreal brewer
and used the fruit that aren’t really cranber-
ries and grow in a tree in northern regions.
“They smell horrible, like feet but not
in the truffle way,” Wakefield says. “But, it
ultimately has a good funk to it. The beer
turned out okay, but not that great.”
The real issue was cleaning the tanks
afterward. The highbush cranberries have
a flat seed inside that makes up about 50
percent of the fruit; and after upward of
400 pounds of puree were used in the rec-
ipe, the seeds stuck to the bottom of the
tank, cementing and clogging the system.
It took the brewers hours of chiseling to
break up and take away the debris.
Hot Weather Dark Beer
The low-alcohol, tartly refreshing Berliner
makes sense for the hot Florida climate,
but the other style Wakefield is known
for—flavored stouts—might seem a little
out of character. In response to the ques-
tion, he recites the mantra of so many
other brewers: I make what I like to drink.
“Since my homebrew days, I’ve made
stouts, porters, and dark beers. Back then,
I’d throw coconuts into 5-gallon barrels,
and I’ve just carried it over,” he says.
Outside of IPAs, special stout releases
are still what customers line up for, and
on the days when Wakefield has a new
stout release, it’s not uncommon for folks
to arrive at midnight the night before and
camp out for the first crack at a bottle.
“We make good IPA, but we don’t have
that beer community [locally] for cases of
hazy IPA. Here customers see a 10, 11, 12
percent ABV beer, and that’s what they
want. They see it as the best bang for their
buck, and it may seem counterintuitive,
but people love drinking them even when
its ninety-five degrees out.”
Still a Homebrewer
Although Wakefield has a good number of
years under his belt as a pro, homebrew-
ers still approach him regularly for advice
to get into the business. He acknowledges
that it’s hard.
There were almost 2,000 breweries in
the country when he opened compared
to 5,500 today. He cites geography as
one of the keys to success, in that there
weren’t many breweries in his area when
he opened. But that card is less and less
playable for new brewers. It’s a tough road
to go pro these days.
So his advice: find a way to set yourself
apart. “It’s hard to be a trailblazer, but you
PHOTOS: BRIAN CASSE
need to find something that will captivate
customers and make people want to come
to your brewery. For us, that’s adjunct
stouts and the Berliner.”
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 37
| BREAKOUT BREWER: HOLY CITY BREWING |

The
Adventurous
Traditionalist
With an appreciation and respect for style guidelines, Holy City Brewing’s at only 5.5 percent ABV. That’s all by
Chris Brown produces some very traditional beers, but as the brewery has design. “The idea was to have something
grown, he’s loosened up, creating award-winning boundary-pushing beers to that you can drink year-round,” Brown says.
complement the food scene in Charleston, South Carolina. By Emily Hutto “This isn’t a big, robust porter. It’s subtle.”
That subtlety and its clean, crisp finish
CHRIS BROWN MAKES THE BEST When Brown and his three business make Pluff Mud a great food beer, too. It’s
Brown Porter in town—go figure. Unex- partners—Joel Carl and Sean Nemitz of a great complement to the small, inspired
pectedly, though, his town is one where Charleston Rickshaw Co., and Mac Minau- menu at Holy City that includes items such
you’d expect imbibers to reach for light lager do who came from the biodiesel indus- as a falafel burger, a buffalo chicken sand-
to sip on the beach, if they’re even choosing try—opened Holy City Brewing in 2011, wich, bread from a local bakery, and lots of
beer at all. Charleston, South Carolina, is a they were the fourth brewery in Charleston local cheese. “We’re getting more and more
foodie seaport city where wine is king. and only the seventh in the state. into our cheese game,” Brown says. “Porter
“The food scene is very sophisticated “To make a year-round porter was some- is a great pairing for cheese. Something like
here,” says Brown, explaining why most thing new for this area, unexpected for the Wensleydale cheese would be really good
of the state’s now fifty plus breweries are heat,” Brown says. “But our porter filled a with Pluff Mud. It has a little acidity and can
concentrated in Charleston. “It’s unique niche in Charleston. There wasn’t anyone have dried fruit in it that would pair nicely.”
PHOTO: NICKIE STONE

compared to the rest of South Carolina, doing that style, locally or regionally. It Holy City has a deep respect for porter,
with way more restaurants and bars than really took off.” Brown says. There’s always a nitro Pluff
anywhere else. It’s a food and beverage Pluff Mud Porter might be dark in color, Mud on tap, and there are two beer engines
town, and food towns attract breweries.” but it’s medium in body and easy to drink onsite that regularly serve porters as well.

38 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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BEERANDBREWING.COM | 39

MAKE IT
Pluff Mud
Porter
pluff mud (noun)—a mixture of dirt
and water indigenous to the marshes of
the South Carolina Low Country, with a
distinct odor that’s endearing to locals but
off-putting to others.
Charleston, South Carolina’s Holy City
Brewing’s second flagship beer was
an effort to bring the American porter
style to the Charleston market proper,
while also making a beer that stays
appealing as the mercury rises. Pluff
Mud Porter presents (and smells) like
a classic porter, with subtle choco-
late notes and a silky finish, but the
medium body and tame ABV keep it
refreshing at all times.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.012
IBUs: 22
ABV: 5.5%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
6 lb (2.7 kg) 2-row
2 lb (907 g) Crystal 20
1 lb (454 g) Crystal 60
1 lb (454 g) Munich 2 (20L)
0.5 lb (227 g) Carafa 2
HOPS SCHEDULE
1 oz (28 g) Great Northern Brewer
hops at 30 minutes
YEAST
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale)
DIRECTIONS
Mash with 3.3 gallons (12.5 l) for one
hour at 150°F (65°C), lauter, and then
sparge with 4 gallons (15.1 l) to yield 6
gallons (22.7 l) of wort. Boil for 60 min-
utes, following the hops schedule. Chill
the wort, pitch the yeast, and ferment at
68°F (20°C) for one week or until final
gravity is reached. When fermen-
tation completes, wait seven
days and then crash to 32°F
(0°C) and package,
carbonating to 2.5
volumes of CO2.
40 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
| BREAKOUT BREWER: HOLY CITY BREWING |
Holy City is also well-known for its Wash-
out Wheat, a German-style hefeweizen that
took home a bronze medal from the 2014
Great American Beer Festival in the South
German-Style Hefeweizen category. This
beer nods to Brown’s background as a Ger-
man-style brewer at Gordon Biersch—it’s
a simple recipe that relies heavily on yeast
to create its flavor profile. “We ferment a
German hefeweizen strain high to give off
more banana than clove,” Brown explains.
“This yeast has really particular flavor
profiles, and this is a beer style that really
lets the yeast shine.”
Washout Wheat and Pluff Mud Porter
belong to Holy City’s year-round canned
beer line alongside Chucktown Follicle
Brown hoppy brown ale, Paradise (an
American IPA), Overly Friendly IPA, and
Yeast Wrangler (double IPA). These beers
are available in cans across South Carolina
and in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Brown also crafts a draft-only Berliner
weisse called Strawberry Beards Forever,
the German-style Holy City Pilsner, a
Vienna lager, and a Helles, among other
German styles. His lineup has inevitably
included more and more IPAs as well.
“Now suddenly, we sell a lot more IPA,”
he says. “Our canned Overly Friendly IPA
has taken off, plus we make several other
American IPAs and a session IPA.”
The brewhouse at Holy City is different
from your average brewhouse, Brown says.
“It begins in a mash kettle, then we trans-
fer all the grain and liquid to the lauter and
then transfer the liquid back to the kettle
for the boil. This gives me more control
over my mash temperature. I can mash-in
lower and then raise [the temperature] as
opposed to infusion mashing where if you
miss the temperature, you miss. I step
mash almost everything for control.”
That control that Brown has over his
system is demonstrated in his clean
beer lineup and proficiency in brewing
a variety of diverse beers. In his first five
years, Brown brewed more than 1,800
batches on his 15 bbl brewhouse, some
true to style and some not. “Most of our
canned beers like Pluff Mud or Washout
Wheat are really traditional in style, but
if a beer stays in-house, I don’t have too
many rules. As we’ve grown, we’ve played
around a lot more. I have appreciation and
respect for style guidelines, but it wouldn’t
be fun if we did that all the time,” he says.
One of Brown’s outside-the-box beer
styles is what Holy City called an imperial
hefeweizen. “We had extra hefe yeast one
year that I didn’t want to dump, so I de-
signed and amped up a version of Wash-
out Wheat and pitched the remaining
yeast. It was a little boozy, but it still put
out a lot of banana. I love playing around
like that and seeing what happens.”
This imperial hefeweizen was named Bath-
room’s Outside to the Right. “Our brewery
is in a garage and the bathroom used to be
inside the building across from the produc-
tion floor. People would ask us where the
bathroom was twenty times a day ... I’ve been
wanting to name a beer that for a long time.”
Next up for the brewery is a series of
canned, small-batch kettle sours.
With a reverence for traditional beer
PHOTO: NICKIE STONE
flavors, an open mind to experimentation,
and a deep commitment to process and
technique, Brown continues to wow the
Charleston beer market and beyond.
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| BREAKOUT BREWER: ABNORMAL BEER COMPANY |

The Man
About Town
Derek Gallanosa is a noted man about San Diego. Brewer and beer geek,
he stands over a thriving business that not only includes Abnormal
Beer Company but also a winery and a restaurant known for stellar beer
When he’s not at the restaurant or his
brew house, Gallanosa is spotted around
town (or in the classroom where he teaches
dinners. Give the people what they want, he says. By John Holl beer marketing at San Diego State Univer-
sity) palling around with fellow brewers and
IT’S A TYPICALLY BUSY Friday night Abnormal lives up to its name. In a tasting offerings from around the country.
at The Cork and Craft, home of Abnormal city long known for beer, especially the “I’m inspired by other products, not
Beer Company, and Head Brewer Derek dank hops-forward West Coast IPA, the just with beer but with food as well. It’s
Gallanosa is making the rounds. Where owners also chose to open up a winery two different things,” he says. “Between
some brewers might prefer hanging back embracing the other California beverage trying styles that I already produce, I’ll ask
among the stainless and hoses, Galla- of note. Coupled with what they call the how I can improve upon it or how I can
nosa is very much a man of the people. “fine restaurant” experience, the business try something different. If it’s an unusual
Hopping from table to table, passing on does indeed stand out in a landscape style or recipe, I’ll see how [brewers] use
PHOTOS: JAMIE BOGNER

hellos, or sharing beer recommendations dotted with more traditional brewery or play with a base and then think about
with regulars, he seems to be most at tasting rooms—all while being located in how it will pair with our menu.”
ease when talking about beer, especially an office park twenty miles north of San On a late-summer morning, Gallanosa
theorizing on IPAs. Diego’s old town. is getting ready to debut a session IPA

42 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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MAKE IT
Adjunct-
Ready
Imperial
Stout
Derek Gallanosa of Abnormal Beer Co.
in San Diego brews this imperial stout
base before giving it treatments such
as vanilla, coffee, coconut, and more.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)

Brewhouse efficiency: 59%
OG: 1.110 
FG: 1.032 
IBUs: 40 
ABV: 10.3% Left » Abnormal keeps a
  dozen or more of its own
MALT/GRAIN BILL beers on tap at any one time,
which keeps Gallanosa and
13 lb (5.9 kg) 2-row malt team active on the brew deck.
2 lb (907 g) chocolate malt 
1.75 lb (794 g) flaked oats 
1 lb (454 g) Crystal 60L  “I didn’t want to release just another IPA in San
1 lb (454 g) Caramunich  Diego. We have a lot of IPA drinkers here, and a
1 lb (454 g) Patagonia Black Pearl 
0.75 lb (340 g) roasted barley  good chunk of them want variety when it comes
2 lb (907 g) light dry malt extract (DME)  to hoppy. I wanted something that I could drink,
2 lb  ( 907 g) Malto Dextrin 
0.5 lb  (227 g) rice hulls  too, and what I found was that most people think
 
HOPS SCHEDULE
a session is too thin, a little too watery. So I went
2.3 oz (65 g) Nugget [15.5% AA] for the middle, something with body that isn’t
at 60 minutes  quite a session, isn’t quite a standard.”
YEAST
2 packets Safale US-05 
later in the week. He is excited, in part, citrus and pine. And while Gallanosa hopes
DIRECTIONS because the recipe contains a bit of the that the well-versed drinkers will find
Use 1 quart (946 ml) of water per Old School. It’s a 5.9 percent ABV (be- pleasure in the pint, he says he was more
pound (454 g) of malt. Add all the base cause that counts as a session in Southern eyeing another category of customers.
grains at the bottom of the lauter/ California) IPA hopped with Cascade and “For the beer geeks, maybe this won’t
mash tun, then the specialty grains Simcoe that he calls an “IPA Light.” be as appealing,” he says. “But, we have
on top of that. It helps with lautering. “I didn’t want to release just another IPA people coming in to the restaurant with
Mash at 148°F (64°C) for 4 hours. Boil in San Diego. We have a lot of IPA drinkers fellow office workers for happy hour,
for 60 minutes following the hops here, and a good chunk of them want and this is built for that crowd. For those
schedule. Chill the wort, and pitch the variety when it comes to hoppy. I wanted people, it’s appealing, and, for those who
yeast. Aerate for 30–60 seconds on the something that I could drink, too, and what don’t know hops along with those beer
first day of fermentation to help bring I found was that most people think a ses- geeks who do, hopefully this is a teach-
down the final gravity a bit. Ferment sion is too thin, a little too watery. So I went able moment because I think people have
at 66°F (19°C) and on day 5 or for the middle, something with body that been going from IPA to Pilsner, and hav-
when fermentation begins isn’t quite a session, isn’t quite a standard.” ing this lighter style still gives the crowd
to slow down, raise In using more traditional varieties of what they want.”
the temperature hops, Gallanosa was already expecting the
to 70°F (21°C).   “oh, it’s hops” reaction to the aroma from What They Want
hardened IPA drinkers who prize the new- Gallanosa followed a path well-trodden by
er varietals that give off such aromas and fellow brewers. In 2007, he was at a friend’s
flavors as mango and guava as opposed to house where his friend’s father was home-

44 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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“Making beer that you like and making beer that
you like and that you can sell are two different
things. You need to be able to move the product.
After all, it’s a business at the end of the day.
It’s why feedback and demand lead to the
supply. The hazy [IPAs] coming out now are not
going away. While I still prefer West Coast IPA,
we’re making hazy now, and I have four on tap,
compared with three West Coast.”
brewing. Gallanosa was aware of beer, but
shocked to see that it could be made at
home. He bought a book and some equip-
ment and started brewing. After college,
he became an assistant brewer at Karl
Strauss—the long time San Diego brewing
powerhouse—and joined the sales team as
well. In 2014 he started at Abnormal.
Splitting his time between the brewery and
sales calls in those early days helped forge
his experience today. Every time he puts a
new beer on tap, he must consider how it
will sell, and while that has very much to do
with taste, it’s also the broader experience.
“Making beer that you like and making
46 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
beer that you like and that you can sell
are two different things. You need to be
able to move the product. After all, it’s a
business at the end of the day. It’s why
feedback and demand lead to the supply,”
he says. “The hazy [IPAs] coming out now
are not going away. While I still prefer
West Coast IPA, we’re making hazy now,
and I have four on tap, compared with
three West Coast.”
When unleashing that new style on his
customers, he looked to standard bearers
of the style—including Tree House
(Charlton, Massachusetts) and Monkish
(Torrance, California)—for inspiration but
Left » While Gallanosa’s
personal preference is for
West Coast–style IPAs, he’s
happy making tasty hazy IPAs
(such as the Turbidity double
IPA he’s sampling off the
tank here) to meet customer
demand.
didn’t ask for a recipe. Gallanosa says he
tried the beers and then developed them
to his taste, trying out different malt bills
(when making his first, his supplier ran
out of unmalted wheat, he says) and hops
before settling on recipes.
Experimentation is key, and flavor is per-
sonal. One thing he discovered was that
lupulin powder, a product becoming more
and more popular and prevalent, wasn’t
giving him the flavors he wanted.
“For the price you pay, it creates a lot of
yield, but the aroma suffers,” he says. So
he stays with pellets and has found that
varieties such as Mosaic and Idaho 7 give
the citrusy and stone-fruit assertiveness
he wants along with a certain pungency
that boosts a hazy IPA. Plus, “I don’t have
to use a lot to get a lot of flavor,” he says.
Finally, rather than crawling with a small
pilot batch, Gallanosa jumps right in with
twenty or thirty barrels. The demand is
there, so it’s best to have the supply.
Growth on the Horizon
Aside from IPAs, Gallanosa’s favorite style
is lambic, but he knows that it won’t sell at
the restaurant, at least not as much as the
hoppier styles. But with a new warehouse
space offsite, he’ll be able to start playing
around more with wild yeasts. He was
inhibited, obviously, in the past because
of fears of contamination to the winery.
The new location will let him slowly start
pushing spontaneously fermented ales
on his customers and begin adding them
to the beer dinners that Abnormal has
quickly become famous for.
Those dinners not only feature the
house beers, but Gallanosa also pulls from
the cellars of other local breweries, featur-
ing rare pours from the likes of Modern
Times and the Lost Abbey. In fact, the
dinners—usually limited to fewer than
fifty people—often sell out even before the
menu is posted.
Customers will give you one chance,
he says. If you deliver that first time,
they’ll trust you and come back again
and again.
Editor’s Note: After this issue went to press,
we learned that Derek Gallanosa had re-
signed from Abnormal Beer Co.
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| PICK SIX |

The Improv
Brewing Life
Jolly Pumpkin founder and brewing visionary Ron Jeffries is a free spirit
who embraces the joy of discovery from unanticipated results and a contex-
Taras Boulba
Brasserie de la Senne (Brussels, Belgium)
tual approach to everything from brewing to his marriage. These six beers
(plus a seventh of personal importance) embody that dichotomy of precision “Yvan de Baets is a fantastic brewer and
versus freedom and consistency versus whimsy. By Jamie Bogner a really nice guy, and the beer is just so
light, dry, refreshing, and hoppy. The way
“FOR THE RECORD, I don’t want to be peer brewers as he does from the beer he they use hops is different than anyone in
stuck on a deserted island,” says Ron Jef- brews himself. In that context, narrowing the United States, and if I could figure
fries. It’s not that he’s afraid of boats—he’s down a list to only six beers is hard work. out how they do that, I’d do that in at least
spent plenty of time on them—but that “I spent the past two days thinking about one beer because it’s absolutely delicious.
experience is exactly why he doesn’t want this list, and the first thing I did was copy That’s my one ‘copycat’ beer on the list.”
to risk it now. “Boats break.” all the beers that Jeffrey [Stuffings, of Jester
Thankfully, his 6-pack doesn’t depend King Brewery] and Vinnie [Cilurzo, of Rus- Any Beer
on being stranded on an actual island, sian River Brewing] put down. But then I Monkish Brewing, Torrance, California
as the exercise is purely theoretical. And scratched them all out because that would
that’s a good thing because Ron—a clearly just be copying their beers,” he says. “Henry [Nguyen] started by brewing a
pioneering figure in the world of Amer- His final list is part homage, part ode bunch of mixed-culture beers, and he still
ican wild beer and mixed fermenta- to the people who inspire him, and part does that (and does it really, really well),
tion—derives as much enjoyment from nod to a new generation of young, creative but what he’s done phenomenally well is
the relationships he’s developed with brewers. brewing a style of IPA he calls ‘Monkish

48 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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| PICK SIX |

Spon
Why Ron Doesn’t Like Boats Jester King Brewery, Austin, Texas

(or Being Stuck on Islands) “Another person who’s just as excited

about mixed-culture beers is Jeffrey Stuff-
“During the Culmination Festival (Anchorage, Alaska) last year, Henry [Nguyen] from Monk- ings. Spon is the best Jester King beer
ish and a few of the other brewers got into town a little bit before me. Gabe [Fletcher], who I’ve ever had. I’ve had a lot of different
owns Anchorage Brewing, and I have this thing where he loves going out on his boat, and versions of it—fruits that they’ve done—
he always wants me to go out on his boat. My response has always been, ‘I grew up with and Jeffrey and his team have really nailed
boats; Laurie [Ron’s wife] grew up with boats. Boats break. I’m not going out on your boat. I
respect you, but I’m not.’ the art of spontaneous fermentation. Spon
“Gabe’s response has always been, ‘My boat doesn’t break.’ I believe Gabe—he’s a very tal- is their coolship beer, and every single
ented man. So they all get into town a few days before I do, then I get into town and they’re bottle I’ve had has been so incredibly awe-
going to go out on the boat the next morning. Henry says, ‘You have to come out on the boat some. All the flavors are balanced and just
with us.’ I told him that I was just going to kick around town and maybe get some falafel, but perfect. I’m a pessimistic optimist, and
I was not going out on a boat. I really think that every bottle probably
“So they all go out on the boat, and what happens? Sixty miles out in the ocean, the boat
breaks. And they’re kind of screwed, but Gabe has a radio, so one of his friends—I think it was isn’t perfect, but every bottle of Spon I’ve
Crazy Ray, but I’m not sure—happened to be in the area and towed their boat to a little island had has just been phenomenal. I like the
way out in the ocean that happened to have a lodge and happened to have rooms available. straight-up Spon just a bit more than the
All the brewers drank all the beer on the boat and then proceeded to drink all the beer at the [fruit variations]. When I was down there
lodge, which happened to be some hipster beer like Pabst. They all went to bed, then Gabe in April, Jeffrey was really generous and
got up the next morning really early along with a couple of the brewers—I think it was Chase pulled out a whole lot of versions that I
Healey [American Solera] and Jean and Julie from Tired Hands—and they were going to head
back to port to get a part to fix Gabe’s boat. They took Crazy Ray’s boat back to the port, and hadn’t tried before, and I was blown away
Henry and a couple other brewers were stranded on this island with no beer for at least a day by every single one. We took a short video,
if not two. They had cell service, so Henry was texting me a lot. I was empathetic but had to but I don’t know if it was posted online.
say, ‘I can’t airlift you out of there. I can’t send you beer, but I can tell you that I told you so.’ ’’ We were tasting all the Spon, and there
“That didn’t make it any better for him, but I’m going to pass on the deserted island thing.” was a shot of all the bottles, and I said,
‘Jeffrey, thank you so much for inviting
me down here. It’s been a phenomenal
time brewing with you, but I just have to
IPA.’ Those beers are so absolutely deli- be my wife’s favorite IPA, and so it makes ask—what do you do in your spare time?’
cious that I don’t think I could live with- the list because I like it and she loves it. I’m And Jeffrey said, ‘In my spare time, I just
out them anymore. We did one together hoping, if I’m not on this so-called deserted like to listen to gangsta rap.’ So we have
called ‘Diverted Dreams,’ and the one island, she’s going to be with me.” that in common, too.”
he released recently called ‘Heart Turns
Cold.’ He has a lot of creative names, and La Folie Libida
these beers are absolutely delicious. I have New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado Jolly Pumpkin Brewing, Dexter, Michigan
a name for the next one that we brewed
together—I’m not going to say it because I “I put La Folie on the list because when I “This last one is a surprise, and it’s a beer
want it to be a surprise for him.” was going over this list earlier today with I brew called “Libida.” Libida Improvisa-
Lauren [Salazar, of New Belgium Brew- tionalle is a beer I brew for my wife. It’s
Blind Pig ing], she said, ‘This is basically just a list a testament to our willingness to live an
Russian River Brewing, Santa Rosa, California of your friends.’ Yeah, all these brewers improv life and deal with life’s challenges
are my friends. So I sort of hemmed and together as they come up. It’s something
“Vinnie and Natalie [Cilurzo] are so nice, hawed, and she said, ‘You don’t have to that’s really special to me—our relationship
and I love Blind Pig. It’s a phenomenal put one of my beers on your list,’ so I and that beer that I brewed to celebrate that
beer. When I go to a place that’s supposed said, ‘Well, you just said this was about relationship. It’s a hops-forward saison that’s
to have Pliny, and they have Blind Pig my friends, and we’ve been friends for a moderate in ABV. I’ve done two different
instead, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry; all while.’ I have some great memories of La versions of it so far, and because it’s about
we have is Blind Pig,’ I’m like, ‘Fuck yeah, Folie and Le Terroir when she was devel- improvisation, every batch is different. The
I like Blind Pig—not to be blasphemous, oping them, and they were coming out in one we just released is super Amarillo-heavy.
but I like it more than Pliny.’ ” champagne bottles. The fun and the joy It’s been really fun for me, now that
we had drinking them means it has to be the rest of the world is finding out about
Stone IPA on the list. She didn’t argue. whirlpool and late-addition hops, to be able
Stone Brewing, Escondido, California “The first time I tasted La Folie was to do something like that and bring out
when we were starting Jolly Pumpkin, and those huge tropical fruit notes from the
“Stone IPA is an iconic beer, like Sierra it was so great to see somebody else who Amarillo hops—the apricot and peach. It’s
Nevada is an iconic beer. I’ve been drinking found such joy in flavors and blending. I an ever-changing saison and a testament to
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, shoot, since the knew Lauren before I knew Vinnie, before our relationship and our life together.”
eighties when it came to Michigan? Ken I met Tomme Arthur, or Andy [Parker]
Grossman and his technical approach from Avery. Lauren was the first other “Those are my six (or seven) beers that
make sure the beer is consistent and great. sour-beer maker that I got to know. It was I would not drink on a deserted island
But we’re not talking about Sierra Nevada really exciting to find another person who because I do not want to be stuck on an is-
Pale Ale; we’re talking about Stone IPA. was as excited as we were about that kind land. I would definitely be happy to simply
Equally iconic, equally great. It happens to of thing—mixed-culture stuff.” have all six of those in my refrigerator.”

50 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
The best crafted beers deserve to be recognized. Register for
the 2018 Best of Craft Beer Awards today. Visit us on-line at:
BestOfCraftBeerAwards.com. Cheers to great beers!

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 51
| ASK THE EXPERTS |
ASK THE EXPERTS
On Using Dry
Yeast, Hops and
Dogs, and Mash
and Brewhouse
Efficiency
Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith homebrewing software and the voice behind the Beersmith
podcast, tackles questions about hydrating dry yeast, hops poisoning in dogs, and mash and brewhouse efficiency.
I have some packets of dry
yeast. Is it better to sprinkle
them on top of the wort or
hydrate them with water
first?
It is always better to hydrate your dry yeast
properly before pitching it into your wort.
Dry yeast cells are in a susceptible state in
that they cannot properly regulate com-
pounds passing through their cell walls
until they have been hydrated. For higher-
gravity worts, in particular, hydrating the
yeast before pitching is important.
To hydrate your yeast, I recommend
mixing the packet contents with about
25 ml of warm (104°F/40°C) water per
gram of yeast. I also like to mix in about
1.25 grams of Go-Ferm yeast nutrient per
gram of dry yeast. The Go-Ferm provides
nutrients that aid in hydrating the yeast
for an active fermentation.
You don’t want to shock the yeast by
changing the temperature too rapidly. Once
you have the warm mixture of yeast, Go-
Ferm, and water, you need to slowly bring
the temperature of it down to that of your
wort. To do this, add small amounts of wort
52 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
to your hydrated yeast and wait a few min-
utes between additions. Your goal in this
process is to move the yeast temperature
less than 10°F (5°C) at a time, and you can
pitch your yeast when the mixture is within
about 10°F (5°C) of the wort temperature.
If you follow the process outlined above,
you will not only provide the yeast cells
with proper nutrition for a healthy fer-
mentation but also minimize the chance
of shocking the dry yeast cells.
I heard somewhere that
hops are poisonous for
dogs. Is this true?
Yes, unfortunately hops can be quite
dangerous if ingested by dogs and, more
rarely, cats. Compounds in the hops can
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
cause a malignant hyperthermia, which
results in a rapid rise of body tempera-
ture. A dog’s body temperature, which is
normally below 102°F (40°C), can rapidly
rise to 108°F (42°C) or higher, potentially
resulting in permanent damage to the
organs and brain or even death.
The exact quantity of hops fatal to dogs
is not known, and some breeds, such as
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| ASK THE EXPERTS |
greyhounds, retrievers, Saint Bernards,
pointers, Dobermans, border collies, and
English springer spaniels, are more sus-
ceptible to hops poisoning. For practical
purposes, you should consider any quanti-
ty of hops to be poisonous to your dog.
If your dog ingests hops, he can develop
the following symptoms (in addition to a
rapid rise in body temperature): redness
around the mouth, excessive panting, excite-
ment, abdominal pain, seizures, and rapid
heart rate. These symptoms may occur any-
where between 30 minutes and 12 hours
after the dog consumes the hops.
Treatment includes cooling the
dog, induced vomiting, char-
coal, and efforts to clean its
digestive track. If you think
your dog has ingested hops,
try to cool it as much as pos-
sible and immediately take
it to a veterinarian or animal
hospital for treatment. Only a
doctor can properly treat a pet
for hops poisoning.
Obviously, prevention is the best
course of action, so if you own a dog or cat
or have other pets in the neighborhood,
you should take care to bag and properly
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dispose of your spent or old hops. You
should never mix spent hops with your
grains and add them to a compost pile
where animals may gain access to them.
What’s the difference
between mash and
brewhouse efficiency in all-
grain brewing, and how can
I improve my efficiency?
I’ll start with an explanation of mash
efficiency. First, you need to understand
that each individual grain you use has its
own “yield.” The yield is a percentage that
represents the percent of the weight of the
grain that can be converted into sugar un-
der ideal laboratory conditions. An aver-
age pale malt might have a yield of about
80 percent, meaning that 80 percent of the
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
sugars could be converted and extracted in
an “ideal” laboratory setting.
A real-world brewing system outside of
a laboratory does not achieve this perfect
number. In fact, a typical brewing system
is only going to get perhaps 80–90 percent
of the potential sugars extracted during
the mash, meaning that 80–90 percent of
the yield will be achieved in the runnings
coming directly from your mash tun. The
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 portion of the “ideal” number your system
extracts during the mash phase is called
the mash efficiency.
Of course, the mash itself is only
one step in the brewing process. After
mashing, we may add top-up water, boil,
chill, and transfer the wort, all of which
results in some further losses due to trub
loss, chilling, and transfer losses into the
fermentor. These additional losses result
in a lower original gravity of the wort into
the fermentor than we achieved coming
out of the mash tun.
The overall efficiency of the system from
mashing grains to gravity points in the
fermentor is called the brewhouse efficien-
cy. It represents how well the complete
brewing system converts potential sugar in
the raw grains into original gravity points
(sugars) in the fermentor. This number is
always lower than the mash efficiency due
to the additional losses in these later steps
and is typically in the 65–75 percent range
for many homebrew systems.
Many new all-grain brewers struggle with
low efficiency numbers, resulting in lower-
than-expected original gravity for their
beer. Some of these inefficiencies can be
corrected through experience. As you be-
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come more familiar with all-grain brewing,
your efficiency will often improve.
Another solution is to simply lower the
brewhouse or mash efficiency estimate you
are using to develop your recipes. This will
effectively cause you to use a bit more grain
in your recipe but should allow you to hit
your original gravity with only a dollar or
two of extra grain added per batch.
If you truly are experiencing low efficiency
in your batches, the next item I recommend
looking at is your grain crush. The crush
of the grain can have a huge impact on the
efficiency you will see from your brewing
system. I’ve had cases where a grind that is
too coarse, often from grains crushed at a
store, can result in low gravity numbers.
The ideal grain crush is actually pretty
fine. The inside of the grain should be
crushed to fine granules, but you should
still have large pieces of the grain husk left
intact to act as a filter bed. It is a delicate
balance, however, for if you crush the
grains too finely you can end up with a
“stuck sparge” that will gum up your mash-
tun filter and prevent proper lautering.
If you have properly crushed grains, then
the next item to look at is your sparging/
lauter process. Make sure you are sparging
with hot water at the proper temperature.
The sparge water should be at least as hot
as your final mash step, though it is not
uncommon to sparge with slightly hotter
water to improve the viscosity of wort
during sparging and extract more sugar.
Also, in general, a slow sparge will
extract more sugars than a very fast one,
so try taking your time during the sparge
phase to slowly draw wort from the
bottom of your mash tun. In some cases
the design of the mash tun can play an
important role as well—ideally you want
a mash filter that covers the entire bottom
of the tun so you can draw wort off evenly
and avoid channeling in the grain bed.
Finally, look at losses in every phase of
your brewing process. Wort lost below
the mash-tun spigot, in transfers, in your
chiller, in the trub left in the boiler, and
even in hoses or pumps represents lost
sugars and will lower your overall efficien-
cy. Reduce losses whenever possible for a
more efficient brewing system.
If you have a question for the experts or
want to share your expertise, email us at
info@beerandbrewing.com or visit our
website at beerandbrewing.com.
| GEARHEAD |
GEARHEAD
The Languor
of Lambic-style
Brewing
The funky and complex lambics of Belgium’s Senne Valley are the favorites of Gabe Gordon, founder of Beachwood
BBQ and Brewing. He built the Blendery with the single-minded focus to re-create a true lambic-style beer in Southern
California, and at the center of the effort is one critical piece of the lambic puzzle: the coolship... By John M. Verive
“Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.”
PINK FLOYD’S 1975 SYNTH-AND-
EFFECTS heavy dirge of disillusionment
reverberates among the stacks of oak
barrels filled with slumbering beer. There
is always music playing in the climate-
controlled barrel room at the Beachwood
Blendery in Long Beach, California. Even
when there are no brewers or cellarmen
around, the barrels and the bugs serve as
audience for a days-long playlist of classic
rock and bluegrass assembled by Head
Brewer and Blender Ryan Fields. “There’s
a spiritual aspect of making beer, and you
[have to] have the right music,” Fields says.
The music is one (near-tangible) exam-
ple of how he imbues the brews with part
of his personality. The idea of filling the
space with melodic vibrations came from
New Belgium Brewing’s famed “wood-
cellar supervisor” Eric Salazar. “Eric sug-
gested that it’s important to have music
for the beer, so we installed speakers in
the Blendery before we did our first brew,”
says Gabe Gordon, founder of Beachwood
BBQ and Brewing.
A spin-off of the lauded Beachwood
brewpub in downtown Long Beach, the
Blendery is the headquarters for the
quixotic pursuit of perfection in the most
romantic genre of fermentation: the
lambics of Belgium’s Senne Valley. Those
funky and complex Old World bières
are the favorites of Gordon. He built the
Blendery with the single-minded focus
56 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
to re-create a true lambic-style beer 5,000
miles away in Southern California, and at
the center of the effort is one critical piece
of the lambic puzzle: the coolship.
True Belgian lambic bière is more alche-
my than science. In the Oxford Companion
to Beer, Bill Taylor calls lambic “among the
most interesting and complex drinks ever
created,” and many distinctive elements
must work in harmony to produce the sour
wheat ales. The lambic brewing process be-
gins with a grist heavy in unmalted wheat
and an intricate mash regimen. A long boil
with well-aged hops follows, and the beer
will spend many months slowly ferment-
ing and conditioning in oak barrels. In be-
tween the boil and the barrels, the lambic
wort is processed in a large flat pan where
it cools overnight while exposed to the
natural microflora of the Belgian country-
side. No yeast is pitched—the fermentation
kicks off spontaneously thanks to the once
mysterious wild yeasts and bacteria that
At many traditional Belgian lambic breweries, the
coolship is located in the attic of the building, and
windows are left open so the night air can flow
into the brewery and over the cooling wort. In
Long Beach, the coolship is mounted twelve feet
above the floor and under the outlet of dedicated
ductwork that pulls air from the roof of the building.
Opposite, Clockwise
from top left » Ryan
Fields transports hot wort in
a mobile fermentor over to
their barrel warehouse; the
hot wort is pumped up to an
elevated coolship in the barrel
warehouse where it will cool
overnight, then be racked
into barrels; view from the
coolship; the finished product,
a spontaneously-fermented
lambic-style ale.
colonize the cooling wort, and the results
are layers of funk, acid, and ester that give
lambic its signature character.
“Breathe, breathe in the air / Don’t be afraid
to care.”
Maybe it’s confirmation bias or maybe it’s
synchronicity, but the music in the barrel
room seems to reflect the work as it hap-
pens. More Pink Floyd plays as piping hot
wort is transferred into the custom-built
coolship. There’s no brew kettle or mash
tun at the Blendery. Wort destined for
the coolship and the barrels is brewed a
few hundred feet away on the 10-barrel
brewhouse at the Beachwood brewpub.
Hot wort is then pumped from the kettle
into a mobile stainless steel vessel that
is dragged via motorized pallet jack
through the parking garage and alleyway
to the barrel room. Inside the Blendery,
hundreds of barrels are stacked four-high,
 and oaken foeders hold hundreds more
gallons of beer. The space is humidified
and cooled to replicate the climate of Bel-
gium, and wort destined for the coolship
and spontaneous fermentation is brewed
only a few months of the year (typically,
September through April).
At many traditional Belgian lambic
breweries, the coolship is located in the
attic of the building, and windows are
left open so the night air can flow into
PHOTOS: JOHN M. VERIVE
the brewery and over the cooling wort.
In Long Beach, the coolship is mounted
twelve feet above the floor and under the
outlet of dedicated ductwork that pulls air
from the roof of the building.
Gordon first wanted to have a copper
coolship built, but none of the fabricators
he spoke to would take on the large proj-
ect. In mid-2015, with construction of the
Blendery complete and the lambic-brew-
ing season quickly approaching, Gordon
turned to his commercial-kitchen supplier
for a stainless-steel coolship. “The designs
went back and forth, and we had to
consider how that much steel would react
going from room temperature to 212°F
(100°C) and back to room temperature,”
Gordon says. The finished coolship cost
between six and seven thousand dollars, is
doubly reinforced, and holds a little more
than twelve barrels of wort.
Lambic brew days are long, with a
multi-step mash, a slow and careful lauter,
and a three-hour boil. By early afternoon,
the wort is moved into the barrel room
and is pumped from the transportation
vessel into the coolship, which groans and
sputters as thermal expansion flexes the
steel against its welds. Fields monitors
the flow of wort first from a perch atop a
ladder leaned against a tower of barrels
and then from a more secure spot on
the barrel-room floor. The wort will cool
overnight to pick up a medley of mi-
crobes from the air flowing inland off the
Pacific. More microbes float down from
the wooden ceiling beams and a wooden
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 57

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The Blendery team brews seven batches a
month, and during the cooler months one or two
are a spontaneous fermentation. Fermentation
times vary but average about fourteen months in
a barrel, and a recipe tweak or process variation
can’t be tasted until a finished bottle is popped.
“Nothing is quick,” says Gordon. “Every decision
we make takes a year or more to see results.”
lattice mounted above the coolship that
were sprayed with house culture before
the initial spontaneous fermentations.
The Blendery releases other beers besides
the straight lambic style that’s the project’s
endgame, but they’re all made in service to
Gordon’s ultimate goal of creating tradi-
tional blended gueuze that rivals examples
from Belgian producers. Each beer gives
the brewers more experience and more data
that influences each critical decision. The
Blendery is a brewing laboratory where the
myths and traditions are investigated and
analyzed to identify which variables are
most important for making lambic-style
beers that stand up to the Old World pro-
ducers. The coolship is a crucial tool in this
exploration, but the experimentation is time
consuming and the results come slowly.
“Every year is getting shorter, never seem to
find the time.”
The Blendery team brews seven batches
a month, and during the cooler months
one or two are a spontaneous fermenta-
tion. Fermentation times vary but average
about fourteen months in a barrel before
a bottle conditioning that lasts another
couple of months, and a recipe tweak
or process variation can’t be tasted until
a finished bottle is popped. “Nothing is
quick,” says Gordon. “Every decision we
make takes a year or more to see results.”
But instead of being a frustration, the
languor of lambic brewing is a refresh-
ing slowdown for Gordon. “It’s cool to
participate in creating a traditional and
seasonal product,” he says. The unhurried
pace gives the team time to consider each
step and each decision. There’s a more
instant gratification when making clean
beer—in three weeks, you’re drinking that
new IPA. Gordon, who was a fine-dining
chef before opening the original Beach-
wood BBQ restaurant and beer bar in Seal
Beach, California, says the pace in the
kitchen is even more immediate, “Every
58 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
seven minutes you either do a good job
or you don’t. If you screw something up,
make adjustments and do it again.”
While the spontaneously fermented beer
is an important blending component in
many of the Beachwood Blendery releas-
es—it provides a distinctive background
funk that the house culture has yet to de-
velop—the first all-spontaneous fermenta-
tion beer wasn’t released until June 2017.
The coolship was first used for six batches
in the winter of 2015, and “one batch
came out really interesting,” Fields says.
“It showed us that the coolship works, and
that it is an important aspect of the flavors
we’re after.” Half of that batch was bottled
as Coolship Chaos and released at an elab-
orate party held in the Blendery tasting
room and among the barrels. Attendees
enjoyed samples poured right from select
barrels and glasses of draft specialties
featuring tropical fruits, exotic barberry,
and some of the world’s most sought-after
coffee, and everyone walked away with a
pair of Coolshop Chaos bottles.
“We’re a couple of years closer to our
goal,” Gordon says after the Coolship
Chaos release, adding, “Maybe we’ll have [a
gueuze-style blend] in eight years.” As for
the quest for understanding the intricacies
of Belgian lambic, that may take even
longer. There’s a certain romance in lambic
brewing—a mystique that brewers respect
and chase. “American brewers have been
all about analysis and applying science to
brewing, but when we talk about lambic
brewing, we still talk about ‘pixie dust,’”
Gordon says. “Is there more to beer than
science? I hope that the music Ryan [Fields]
plays for the barrels makes the beer better,
but I’m okay if it just makes winters in the
barrel room less miserable for him. I don’t
need the secret of lambic to be magic, but
I’m okay if it is. We have no agenda besides
making great lambic-style beers.”
“And after a while, you can work on points
for style.”
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| IN THE CELLAR |
Left » Author Patrick
Dawson threw himself into
research mode at Casa
Baladin in Piozzo, Italy,
sampling a wide variety of
Xyauyú variations.

Cellar Legends
nor restrained by the traditional process-
es and ingredients found in many other

Xyauyú
brewing cultures. Some of his first beers
used ingredients such as Mediterranean
oranges, kamut, myrrh, and raw Italian
wheat. And he looked to simply create the
best flavor profile for each beer rather than
re-create something previously brewed.
So when Musso decided to brew a bar-
leywine, rather than looking to the classic
examples, he focused on Madeira wines.
Known for their intensely oxidized flavors
of caramel, hazelnut, orange peel, and
“Well, it’s about time,” you think. Finally, info on that $40 bottle of beer you’ve burnt sugar, these wines exhibit the exact
seen sitting on the shelf—the Italian barleywine that comes in a fancy Scotch flavors he sought. He then drew upon the
bottle–looking case. Assuredly, at that price it must be good, but is it good techniques of sherry and port producers to
enough to drop that kind of cash, especially when there are so many new beers learn how they so artfully manipulated and
hitting the shelves every week? The answer is a most-definite “yes.” Why? Well, maximized the rich, yet difficult-to-control,
because it’s delicious in ways just about no other beer is. By Patrick Dawson oxidized notes in their wines.
Over time, Musso realized that to
FOR CENTURIES, THE WINE AND and staleness, for example, are commonly achieve the level of flavors he desired, he
spirit industries have embraced oxidation present; the cellarer just hopes the levels would have to intentionally oxidize the
and the attributes it can lend in the right are minimal enough to offset the gains. beer, slowly and over time. Long-deceased
circumstances. Port, Madeira, and sherry In contrast, the brewer aims to reduce oxy- brewmasters the world over were assured-
are intentionally oxidized to create their gen at all times and almost never intends ly turning over in their graves, but it took
powerhouse of intricate essences. And the for the beer to be aged for years. a progressive-thinking individual to real-
complexity of a thirty-year-old Armagnac At least one brewer, though, didn’t get the ize that in this manner, you could control
is largely due to the all the time spent in memo: Teo Musso, owner and creator of and bend this process to your will.
oxygen-porous oak. Baladin, one of Italy’s first, and now largest, What followed was a decade of brewing
But in the brewing industry, oxidation craft breweries. The craft-beer scene in Ita- trials, with each sometimes taking years to
is essentially never consciously allowed. ly was essentially nonexistent in 1996 when yield its result. Over time, Musso tinkered
PHOTO: PATRICK DAWSON

When a cellar-friendly beer such as barley-
wine or Russian imperial stout acquires
positive oxidation characteristics after a
few years of aging, the negative aspects
normally remain as well. Malt-thinning
Musso decided to transform his ten-year-
old beer bar into a full-fledged brewpub.
This lack of industry allowed him the
mental freedom to design beers that were
neither confined by stylistic expectations
with and perfected alcohol percentage,
brewing technique, and oxygen intro-
duction. And each batch was a small,
but progressive, step toward his vision:
a barleywine with the rich complexity

60 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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of a fine port, but with decidedly beery
characteristics.
Finally, all the hard work paid off, and
Musso’s pièce de résistance was born:
Xyauyú (pronounced eck-see-eye-yoo), a 14
percent ABV barleywine that is intention-
ally oxidized with pressured oxygen—the
first of its kind. On average, each batch
is aged about eighteen months this way,
but much like a winemaker, Musso waits
for each batch to “tell him” that it’s ready.
He continuously tastes and follows the
beer’s progress as it gradually takes shape.
When it gives the word, some of the beer
is then released directly as Xyauyú. The
62 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
rest, however, is transferred to barrels and
aged anywhere from one to six more years
to become Xyauyú Barrel or other special
variations Musso has in mind.
Be it Xyauyú or its barrel-aged sibling, the
result is beer that boasts decadent notes of
toffee, bread pudding, dates, prunes, and
vanilla, yet without the dull staleness that’s
often found in barleywines with similar
flavor profiles. The mouthfeel is rich, not
falling prey to thinning like that of so many
vintages of the same beer style, and there
are zero sediment-derived autolysis flavors
(e.g., soy sauce), something Musso attri-
butes to his carefully designed process. To
Top » While the “Kentucky” Bottom » Italian craft-
variation of Xyauyú might beer pioneer Teo Musso
have you thinking it’s aged muses over his rule-breaking
in bourbon barrels, the real barleywine.
reason for the name is the
tobacco it’s aged on.
top it off, the alcohol heat is so mellowed by
the oxygen that it comes across more like
nearly half of what it actually registers.
“I wanted the sweet oxidized flavors of
a Madeira, but with fresh flavors too,” says
Musso.
Setting it apart yet again from other
barleywines is the fact that because Xy-
auyú is already oxidized to the hilt, it can
be opened, recapped, and slowly enjoyed
over days, weeks, or—at the suggestion
of Musso—months without a noticeable
decline in quality. As a Madeira-esqe beer,
Xyauyú is sans carbonation. For Musso,
the decision of whether to carbonate was
a non-decision: “There wasn’t anything to
discuss; this is a beer of the cellar.”
When it comes to the versions that are
barrel-aged, he decided to mature them
in rum casks. Because Xyauyú and rum
share such similar flavor profiles, the
thought was that the rum would only
serve to amplify the beer. This theory paid
off, and the rum varieties soar with notes
of spice, vanilla, and brown sugar to blend
with Xyauyú’s already decadent profile.
Additional aged versions include Xyauyú
Fume, aged in Scotch barrels, and the
particularly intriguing Xyauyú Kentucky.
While it would seem appropriate for the
latter to be aged in Kentucky bourbon bar-
rels, it’s actually stored in wine barrels and
cold infused with Kentucky tobacco. The
final product combines Xyauyú’s sweet,
dried fruit and caramelized sugar notes
with the earthy, leathery aspects of tobacco,
transporting the drinker to a previously
unexplored region of the beer world.
Recent vertical tastings of Xyauyú start-
ing with the first bottles released in 2005
revealed that the beer’s shelf life is in-
credibly stable. The ten-year plus versions
are a touch more refined than the “fresh”
version, allowing the subtler flavors to
show, but otherwise they’re remarkably
similar. In this way, the beer matches the
Maderia that so inspired its creator, with a
decade of age being notable, but still a far
cry from its overall potential.
When Teo Musso set out to brew a bar-
leywine, he did beer lovers across the globe
a favor by bucking the trend and choosing
not to follow the beer-world status quo.
PHOTOS: PATRICK DAWSON
Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen
further than others, it is by standing upon
the shoulders of giants.” In Musso’s case,
Xyauyú’s success was only a matter of
choosing whose shoulders to climb up.
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| HOMEBREWING TECHNIQUE |
A Novel
Approach
to DMS
Reduction,
Part 1
If you want to brew a very, very, light colored 100 percent barley beer but
are concerned about DMS, take heart. Intrepid homebrew experimenter
Taylor Caron has hit upon the idea of a pre-boil “DMS rest.”
ASK FOR ANYONE’S SHORT list of
beer flaws and invariably you will hear
“DMS—dimethyl sulfide,” bested only by
the other D-word “diacetyl.” Unlike diace-
tyl, which is created during fermentation,
the cause and cure for DMS happen
before yeast ever touches the wort.
For those who have never had the
pleasure of encountering this “flavor
attribute,” DMS is often described as a
cooked-corn flavor, but you may also be
reminded of the inside of a can of black
olives or canned tomato paste. If you ever
have the chance to taste a particularly po-
tent example, you may be able to then find
it in a surprising number of beers, both
commercially brewed and homebrewed.
DMS is a sulfur compound that is creat-
ed by s-methylmethionine (SMM) some-
times called simply “DMS precursor.”
SMM develops during the germination
of barley and is therefore present to some
degree in all malt. Most of it, however, is
64 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
broken down to DMS during malting and
is volatilized during kilning. The darker
the kiln, generally the lower the SMM
level in the finished malt. Very pale malt
such as Pilsner, however, still contains ap-
preciable amounts of SMM, which breaks
down into DMS when exposed to the heat
of the boil. That makes it tricky to get a
DMS-free very light colored wort using
100 percent barley (using adjuncts such as
corn and rice can decrease the SMM/DMS
load). In this article, I discuss a novel
approach that attempts to do just that.
Looking for DMS
Research suggests that DMS is generated
somewhere around 120°F (49°C) or higher
but is not volatile until about 165°F (74°C)
and above. The general practice to elim-
inate DMS involves ensuring a long and
open boil to allow the DMS to escape over
75–90 minutes and then to chill the wort
quickly to below the 100°F (38°C). Gener-
ally this will produce DMS-free beer, but
we homebrewers with direct-fire kettles
will also see at least some darkening of the
wort in that long boil. The question arises:
can we break down a maximum amount
of SMM into DMS before the boil and keep
our color low without introducing flaws in
the finished beer?
To find out, I first brewed six “DMS
train-wreck beers” using different brands
of Pilsner malt to find the worst offender.
The good people in New Belgium Brew-
ing’s lab, Dana and Jeff, were kind enough
to humor me, running them all through
their gas chromatograph.
The attempt, as shown in Table 1 (page
66), was an unqualified success. If we con-
sider that the accepted threshold for tasting
DMS is 35 ppb, these are all ridiculously
high. It’s interesting to note that the worst
offender, Weyermann Extra Pale Premi-
um Pilsner, is also the one with the lowest
Lovibond rating. At only 1.2–1.4°L, there is
simply more unconverted SMM for me to
reckon with. It is also mildly interesting that
the floor-malted sample is slightly higher
than the Rahr, despite being kilned a touch
darker. Perhaps it has something to do with
the peculiar malting process involved. Or
perhaps it was just this sample.
Generating and
Volatizing DMS
Having identified the worst-case malt, I
proceeded to the second stage of the experi-
ment, which was to try to generate as much
DMS as possible pre-boil and attempt to
gauge how long of a boil was necessary to
volatize it sufficiently. I used a 100 percent
Pilsner malt mash, acidified for conversion.
After the usual vorlauf and lauter, I allowed
the wort to stand at 160–180°F (71–82°C) for
what we’ll call a “DMS rest.”
After 40 minutes of DMS rest, I pulled
off a quarter of the wort and boiled it for
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
20 minutes, then cooled it with a copper
immersion chiller to below 100°F (38°C)
in just about 30 minutes. Then I pulled
off another quarter of the wort every 20
minutes up to 100 minutes, and I boiled
each quarter for 20 minutes and cooled
it in 30 minutes. Mind you, 30 minutes
is considerably slower than I would nor-
mally chill, but my hope was that I would
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 65
 | HOMEBREWING TECHNIQUE |

MAKE IT
D-Lite Festbier Table 1

DMS Lovibond
ALL-GRAIN
Malt Results Rating
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72% Weyermann Extra Pale 202.06 ppb 1.2–1.4°L
OG: 1.052 Premium Pilsner
FG: 1.012
IBUs: 18 Castle Château Pilsen 2RS 182.56 ppb 1.5–1.9°L
ABV: 5.3%
Weyermann Floor-malted 167.11 ppb 1.6–2.3°L
MALT/GRAIN BILL Bohemian Pilsner
10 lb (4.5 kg) Weyermann Extra-Pale Premium Pilsner
0.4 lb (181 g) Weyermann Carafoam Rahr Premium Pilsner 160.71 ppb 1.5–2.0°L
Calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate 3:1 to 50 ppm calcium,
according to your water profile Avangard Pilsner 157.13 ppb 1.5–1.7°L

HOPS SCHEDULE Weyermann Barke Pilsner 153.79 ppb 1.5–2.2°L

1.5 oz (42 g) Tettnanger [5% AA] at 20 minutes

YEAST
Lots of Saflager W-34/70 Lager Dry Yeast, White Labs WLP830
(German Lager), or Wyeast 2124 (Bohemian Lager).
A two-step starter of 2 quarts (1.9 l) to 1 gallon (3.8 l) should
give you enough from a healthy package of liquid yeast. Or
simply spring for four packages to ensure a quick and full
fermentation.
DIRECTIONS
Dough in with 13 quarts (12.3 l) water to hit 150°F (66°C) for
60 minutes, then add 5.5 quarts (5.2 l) of boiling water to
mash out. Vorlauf and lauter as usual but keep in mind that
your boil off will be about 25 percent of normal. Either collect
only 5.5 gallons (20.8 l) or plan to have some extra beer. Then
hold the wort in the boil kettle as close to 170°F (77°C) as you
can (lid off!) for 100 minutes. Bring to a boil and add the
single hop addition. (Feel free to substitute an equivalent IBU
of your favorite low-alpha German hop.) Shut it down after 20
minutes of rolling boil.
Chill the wort rapidly to slightly below fermentation tempera-
ture, about 50°F (10°C). Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.
Hold the temperature as close to 50–52°F (10–11°C) as you can
for 2 weeks before slowly lowering it to 36–38°F (2–3°C) and
transferring to secondary for a 3-week lager. Package as usual.
BREWER’S NOTES
In my experiment, acidulation was done with lactic acid, but
you can also replace some of the Pilsner malt with Weyer-
mann Acidulated malt. You should be able to move pH down
about 0.1 with each percent of the grist.
To chill this wort quickly, you’ll want to pull out all the stops.
Keep in mind the current temperature of your groundwater! If
you have an immersion chiller, combine it with an ice
bath and near continuous stirring to reach that 100°F
(38°C) mark. I’ve seen this happen in as little as
12 minutes in the summer. Running an im-
mersion chiller in an ice bath as a pre-
chiller for a plate chiller will allow
your wort to run very fast
and also give an excellent
cold break.
Table 2
DMS Rest Time DMS Results
100 minutes 41.196 ppb
80 minutes 52.393 ppb
60 minutes 96.382 ppb
40 minutes 100.05 ppb
leave behind a measurable amount of DMS to contribute any
reduction to the length of time in the “DMS rest.”
The resulting beers were (understandably, given the short boil
time) all impressively light in color, but would they be drinkable?
Table 2 shows the results, again run through New Belgium’s lab.
As you can see, the longer the wort was allowed to stand pre-boil,
the greater the reduction of DMS in the finished beer. Although
most tasters would detect DMS even in the sample with the low-
est DMS level, the variance among them is wonderfully telling.
The final test is, of course, to produce an actual beer using both
a conventional lauter and 90-minute boil and using a 100-minute
DMS stand and a 20-minute boil time (chilling them much faster!)
and compare flavor and color development. Look for the follow-up
report in “ A Novel Approach to DMS Reduction, Part 2.”
My theory (based on the evidence) is that given a direct-fired boil,
letting the hot wort stand beforehand will still allow dramatic DMS
production and volatilization with a very minimal boil time and
should produce the lightest color possible on a given system.
It would be interesting to further investigate the time needed to
generate 100 percent of the available SMM-to-DMS and then just
how short a boil is necessary to be rid of it. It’s feasible that given
enough time before and during boil, the problems of a slower
chill method could be greatly mitigated. Lucky for us, there is
always more research to be done!
Until then, if you like the idea of an impossibly light colored
beer—the D-Lite Festbier recipe (left), for instance—consider a
DMS stand on the lightest-kilned malt you can find and chill it as
near instantly as you can. I’m certain it will be “d-liteful.”

66 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

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 The use of spices in beer is sometimes maligned by those with strongly-held opinions about
pumpkin or pepper beers, but their use is standard in a number of beer styles, and today more and
more brewers are finding new and unique ways of putting them to use. From vanilla blonde ales to
Mexican-style chocolate stouts, there’s a seemingly endless number of ways brewers are exploring...

SPICE
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 69
| SPICE BEER |

BREWER’S PERSPECTIVE

Spice
Lessons
Formulating, sampling, describing, reformulating, sampling again—the
lessons Forbidden Root’s BJ Pichman learned perfecting first Forbidden
Root and later Fernetic are equally useful when making a beer with just a
few spices or, in fact, one with none. By Stan Hieronymus
RANDY MOSHER’S JOB TITLE at For- the calculations to Pichman and told him,
pub came on line in 2016—as the first bo-
tanical brewery in Chicago, the brewpub’s
beer menu is a mixture of recognizable
styles and beers brewed with some—but
never as many as Fernetic and Forbidden
Root—herbs and spices. The best-selling
bidden Root Restaurant & Brewery (Chi- “Here are the numbers. You have to give beer, as at so many other places, is an IPA.
cago) is creative partner and alchemist. it the sanity check.” Pichman made some “BJ’s done a great job for us, and the
Robert Finkel’s title is founder and root- adjustments, in particular considering the beers just get better and better. We have a
master. BJ Pichman’s title is head brewer. size of the pile of star anise that would be mix between these very complex and high-
Among his responsibilities is making sure added and discarding a portion. ly botanical brews and ultra simple styles
nothing gets lost in translation. The first pass was 95 percent of what Mosh- such as Kölsch and Pils,” Mosher says.
Consider Fernetic—a beer Forbid- er and Pichman wanted in Fernetic. The It shouldn’t be a surprise that the
den Root brewed in collaboration with second was spot on. Asked if this confirms lessons learned perfecting first Forbidden
Fernet-Branca, the Italian company that that Pichman has learned to speak “Mosher,” Root and later Fernetic are equally useful
has been producing its intensely bitter the alchemist replies, “I’ll say it’s a moving when making a beer with just a few spices
brand of fernet (an Italian bitter aromatic target, and we’re all growing together.” or, in fact, one with none. “Whether it is a
liqueur) since 1845. It contains more than crazy collaboration with twenty botanicals
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM

twenty herbs and spices. A team of six
spent an afternoon at the Chicago brew-
ery, sampling different mixtures of even
more ingredients, before finding just the
flavor that suited them all.
Mosher, who has been writing about
how to use tinctures and recipe formula-
tion for more than twenty-five years, took
his notes and did the math. He handed
Not Done until It’s Right
The first beer that Pichman worked on
with Mosher was a root-beer beer that
shares its name with the brewery. It was
equally as complicated as Fernetic, and the
recipe took several months longer to final-
ize. Those two beers are outliers. Although
Forbidden Root opened—initially the beer
was brewed under contract, and the brew-
or a new IPA, we’re not done until it is
right,” Pichman says.
Pichman got to know Mosher when he
joined the Chicago Beer Society, a club for
both homebrewers and beer enthusiasts,
in 2006. He was sitting at the bar at Goose
Island’s Clybourn brewpub before a meet-
ing when he saw Mosher walk in. “There’s
the guy who wrote Radical Brewing,” he

70 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 71
| SPICE BEER |
Lessons
Learned
Randy Mosher knew
that BJ Pichman made
good beer before he
asked him whether he
was interested in mak-
ing early test batches of
Forbidden Root. “He did
a great job, and as we
developed the project,
he decided he wanted
to play a bigger role, and
that eventually turned
into the head brewer
role,” Mosher says.
Asked to pick three vi-
tal lessons he’s learned,
Pichman needed only
as long as it took to pour
a glass of beer to choose:
» “What I lacked going
in was language. It’s
still an ongoing lesson,
getting the language
to describe what I am
tasting and smelling.
And that is huge.”
» “The art of prototype
bench tasting. My way
of doing that was a
six-week process.”
» “Using ingredients
in concert with each
other.”
He also talked about the
importance of under-
standing the target (or
destination). “You have
to be careful. If you say it
[list an ingredient], peo-
ple expect to taste it,”
Mosher says. He doesn’t
expect consumers to
pick out honeybush—
which is imported from
South Africa, where it is
used primarily in tea—in
Sublime Ginger, “but
you miss it when it isn’t
there.”
72 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Forbidden Root is not as focused on botanic
beers as when it took that as its name. In fact,
Pichman has brewed Forbidden Root, the beer,
only one time since the pub opened in 2016. Part
of the reason might be that Small Town Brew-
ery’s Not Your Father’s Root Beer “sucked up the
conversation.” Forbidden Root did not taste at
all like the sweet and boozy NYFRB. “One of the
negative reviews was that Forbidden Root tasted
like beer,” Pichman says, laughing.
thought to himself. Then he noticed Ray
Daniels, author of Designing Great Beers
(and since, the founder of the Cicerone
Certification Program). “I was starstruck.
I thought, oh, shit, I can have Randy
and Ray and Steve Hamburg [cask ale
expert (now director of the Cask Marque
program in the United States)] taste my
beers,” he says.
They expanded his vocabulary. Pichman
would hand Mosher a beer, “He’d say a
word; I’d say, ‘Yes.’ Then I could figure out
what was wrong with it.”
Prototype Bench Testing
In 2012, Mosher asked Pichman if he
would like to brew pilot batches for a new
project. Finkel, who in an earlier life had
founded a private investment firm, had
contacted Mosher because he wanted to
make, and sell, a beer that tasted like root
beer. It would not be as simple as digging
out a recipe from an earlier century. For
hundreds of years, Native Americans used
all parts of the sassafras tree for culinary
and medicinal purposes, and later colonial
brewers made root beer with the roots.
However, in 1960, the Food and Drug
Administration banned safrole, which is
found in the root-bark, after determining
it is a carcinogenic. That made naming
the beer Forbidden Root easy; creating it
was somewhat more difficult.
It took Mosher and Pichman more than
a half dozen passes, blending twenty bo-
tanicals to match the flavor sassafras pro-
vides. The approach, basically prototype
bench testing, was much the same they
would use later to design Fernetic. Mosh-
er created blends in five groups—minty/
herbal, deep spicy, sharp spicy, balsamic,
and perfume/creamy—with several herbs
or spices in each one. Sharp spicy, for in-
stance, included cardamom, black pepper,
ginger, and capsicum. The flavorings were
a mixture of diluted essential oils, flavor
extracts, and calibrated tinctures. Mosher
explains it is important that all of these
contain either known quantities of aro-
matic oils or a specific amount of a whole
herb, so calculations can be made from
the final mix to finalize a recipe.
“When you sit down with a bunch of peo-
ple, you can’t have twenty separate things,”
he says. Eduardo Branca, a sixth-genera-
tion member of the family that lays claim
to inventing fernet, was one of six at the
table helping determine the formula for
Fernetic. The secrecy enveloping the
recipe for Fernet-Branca is part of its origin
story, including that the five most secret
ingredients are mixed in a sealed room.
The family provided enough details that
Mosher could eliminate a few ingredients
(for instance, because some were so bitter)
and create flavoring groups.
It took only three tries to agree on what
the beer would taste like. “I never thought
we’d walk away that quickly,” Pichman says.
Not every beer begins like Fernetic or
Forbidden Root, targeting a specific end
flavor. Sometimes a single ingredient is
the starting place. “How does it taste? Is it
good on its own?” they will ask them-
selves. They may decide on an interesting
variation on a classic style. They created
Cola Brau after Finkel bought some
concentrated Korean plum juice while
 Five on Five
Spice beers can be polariz
ing, but the intriguing flav
brewe rs.
ors create exciting
We asked a few of
for adventurous
avenues of exploration share some of the ir favorites...
our favorite brewers to

Sierra Neva da Sidecar Brewing Com-

, Head Brewer at Titletown
David Oldenburg
sin
pany, Green Bay, Wiscon ico,
shopping late at night on the Internet. of Sideca r, Sie rra Nevada Brewing Co.’s (Ch
“I’m a fan pal e ale to beg in with,
Ale.” It’s a great
They started with a porter base, bench California) “Orange Pale pee l to com plement the base
ugh ora nge
testing it with the plum juice and Mosh- and there’s just eno elms
not so much that it overwh of
er’s cola spice blend (nutmeg, cinnamon, beer’s hop character but ws how the skil lful use
r sho
the other flavors. This bee new and
coriander, and citrus peel). “Since you nev- ts can create beers that are
nontraditional ingredien kno w ... bee r!”
er really know how things such as plum te like ... you
inventive but still tas
juice will come through in the finished
beer, we reserved the right to dose to taste
post-fermentation. And in this case, it was g
needed,” Pichman explains. They also Foothills Brewin m pkin
Cottonw oo d Pu erations
added additional lime peel and nutmeg. , Director of Brewing Op
M. David Gonzalez
“It helps when you have a partner who pany, Belmont,
for Rivermen Brewing Com
only sleeps four hours a night and knows North Carolina
beer, I personally and
people all over the world,” says Mosher, “When it comes to a spiced ,
ally like Foo thills Brewing (Winston-Salem
talking about Finkel. “We had a pick of a profession Pum pkin. The blend
a) Cot ton wo od
dozen and a half gingers,” says Pichman, North Carolin
ces mixed with the pure
of true pumpkin pie spi well
discussing the development of Sublime e beer makes for a very
pumpkin and a great bas of the flavors outdo
Ginger, a 3.8 percent ABV wheat beer r. None
balanced fall seasonal bee complement each
made with ginger, fresh key lime juice, ers , and the y all
any of the oth
drinkable fall staple.”
honeybush, and lemon myrtle (as well as other to make for a very
Motueka hops).
Metallic Prwin imate
The Challenge of Botanicals Fonta FloraBrewer at Proof Bre g Company,
Arin Brown, Head
Forbidden Root is not as focused on Tallahassee, Florida standard
North Carolina) sets the
botanic beers as when it took that as its “Fonta Flora (Morganton, ally sou rce d ingre-
the use of loc
name. In fact, Pichman has brewed For- for keeping it local with ate is one of my favorite
. Me tallic Prim
bidden Root, the beer, only one time since dients, spices, etc tion of a
s an excellent interpreta
the pub opened in 2016. Part of the reason brews (among others). It’ the ir hou se sais on yeast.
k from
might be that Small Town Brewery’s Not classic wit with a mild fun ged Earl Gre y tea add
bergamot-a
Oranges, coriander, and ver y refreshing brew that
Your Father’s Root Beer “sucked up the an incredible dep th of flav or. A
w.”
into a wonderful craft bre
conversation.” Mosher and Pichman were melds an array of flavors
already brewing pilot batches of Forbid-
den Root before they heard about the Carver Oatmeadl Pale Ale with
brand, which was about to be a national Chamom ile an Ya rrow
Divots Brewery,
er at
success, if only briefly. “Once the market Jeremy Kirby, Brewmast
No rfol k, Neb raska
had those beers, drinkers didn’t know any (Durango, Colorado)
“Carver Brewing Comp h
what to think,” Pichman says. Forbidden de an Oa tm eal Pale Ale spiced wit
has long ma r wa s ser ved
Root did not taste at all like the sweet row . Th e bee
chamomile and yar
and boozy NYFRB. “One of the negative ation of the creamy
on nitro, and the combin
reviews was that Forbidden Root tasted mo uth fee l alo ng with the herbal
head and one of my favorite
ma ma de this
like beer,” Pichman says, laughing. flavor and aro ran go area. The
in the Du
Mosher suggests Forbidden Root may beers when I lived n’t hurt, either.”
did
return, but “not straight up.” He talks side effects of the yarrow
candidly about the challenges of selling
beers flavored with botanicals. “People
are intimidated by the flavors, or they feel Avery Rumatpkin , Cam-
dumb because they haven’t heard of them,” Cambridge Brewing Co.
Lee Lord, Brewer
he says. Complex beers such as Fernetic or bridge, Massachusetts p-
ive, I look forward to pum
simpler ones are changing that, but Forbid- “As a New England nat my favorite bee rs
One of
kin season every year. bit
den Root isn’t looking for shortcuts. is Avery Rumpkin. It’s a
to drink in the autumn of the pumpkin beers
“This is not a side project. We are not ing tha n a lot
more heavy-hitt nal
and the way the traditio
going to take a winning recipe and just you see on the market, the bee r and the oak
y of
add spices to it,” Pichman says. “We’re not spices play with the bod
m the rum barrels really
afraid to fail. We’re going to do it again. and spirit character fro
We’re going to do it again. We’re going to makes it stand out.”
do it again. It’s our job.”

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 73
| SPICE BEER |

BREWER’S PERSPECTIVE

Bringing
The Heat
Spice in beer is nothing new, but as farmers seek to create new chile
peppers to bring to market, brewers are busy trying to figure out how to
incorporate them into lagers and ales. Matt Brophy talks about the spicy
inspiration behind Flying Dog Brewery’s “The Heat” series. By John Holl
he had a batch that didn’t come out quite
right, he’d throw pepper into it,” recalls
Brophy. “Spicy, to me, is a broad term that
has a lot under its umbrella. It’s hard to
get the proportions right.” So that means
WHAT SEEMS NEARLY commonplace lished styles. On the pepper side, there time in the pilot brewery and lab. With the
today—adding hot pepper spice into are farmers and scientists blazing toward different beers the brewery has made in
beer—started at the beginning of the making the hottest chile peppers in a race its “The Heat” series—there’ve been nine
modern craft-beer movement. In the 1970s to beat the previous heat. On the beer so far—they use dried pepper powder at
at his New Albion Brewing Co. in Sonoma, side, brewers are looking to incorporate different levels and let it sit for a few days.
California, Jack McAuliffe largely made these flavors but have come to realize that When both the beer and the pepper are
three styles of beer: a porter, a stout, and subtlety leads to the sublime. doing what the brewers want, the recipe
a pale ale. Occasionally he’d get creative Some forty years after McAuliffe stuffed is scaled up to the 20-gallon system, with
and drop whole hot peppers into bottles a pepper into a 12-ounce bottle, capped it, more tests performed, then up to the
and mark the labels with a drawing of the and sent it off the market, Matt Brophy sat 15-barrel system and finally to the 50-
peppers to signify the spiciness within. down with Ben Clark at the Flying Dog barrel brewhouse. During the whole
Now, anyone who has ever brewed with Brewery in Frederick, Maryland, to talk process, brewers are watching and seeing
fruits and vegetables will caution you about some new beer ideas. what they should do to keep the dosage
against this method, but in the early days, “I have this thing,” Brophy, the brewery just right to make sure the heat level is
it was revolutionary. Today, it’s safe to COO says. “I make a black bean soup or neither too much nor too little.
say that most of the country’s 5,000 plus chili once a week, usually Sunday, and eat There are so many variables, says
breweries have experimented with hot it during the week. I’m always incorporat- Brophy, because they are working with an
pepper in one way or another. Pilsners ing peppers, and beer. It’s a slow cooker agricultural product. This is one reason
with jalapeños, IPAs with habanero, and thing. Amp it up with a habanero or get that powder, as opposed to a puree or the
everything in-between. The annual Great chipotle for smoke.” whole pepper, is usually preferable.
American Beer Festival even has a Chili So he brought up the concept with It’s also why beers are tested in a pilot
Beer category, which in 2016 had 112 Clark, the brewmaster, to create a diverse bottling run and a shelf stability trial in dif-
entries. group of chile beers. Both being guys with ferent conditions over the course of several
There’s a correlation between chile a culinary bent, the ideas started flowing. weeks and months to make sure the final
peppers and beer. Both have devoted fans To get a chile beer right means experi- beer goes to market in a good condition.
and makers who seek out new varieties mentation and being deliberate. Without these, an experimental beer could
and try to create new things from estab- “I knew a brewer who basically when have an unhappy end-user experience.

74 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING


Garden Fresh
There’s a guy who regularly frequents the
Flying Dog tasting room who goes by Voo-
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
doo Thom and makes his own hot sauce
under the Voodoo Chili Sauces label. He
has a connection to Smokin’ Ed Currie,
who created the Carolina Reaper pepper,
which a few years back overtook the ghost
pepper as the hottest on the market. That
variety went into Flying Dog’s Carolina
Reaper Peach IPA because despite its
heat, it also has a sweetness that blends
nicely with fresh peach and juicy hops.
For most of the peppers used in The
Heat series lineup, the brewery works
with Thom to make a dehydrated powder
that is mixed and homogeneous. De-
pending on the chile or the beer, the
heat element is added at different points.
Sometimes it’s on the hops side, others
it’s right into the fermentor either while
it’s young or when it’s finished.
“We’re past that machoness of how
many Scovilles you can get into a beer,”
says Brophy, referring to the unit used to
measure chile heat.
The pepper flavor should match the beer
style. In 2016, in addition to the Carolina
Reaper IPA, the brewery made an ancho
lager with lime, a white ale with jalapeño,
and an oaked ale with chipotle. Flying
Dog followed up this year with a shishito
rice ale, a cherry pepper gose, and two
beers made with habanero: a chocolate
stout and a mango IPA. The brewery also
ratcheted up the heat by making an IPA
with an experimental pepper that topped
the Carolina Reaper in Scovilles.
Going beyond the normal stouts and
IPAs was important for the brewery, as
it should be for all brewers looking to
experiment. “It’s easy for brewers to make
a chocolate stout. You can definitely taste
cocoa because the flavors already go to-
gether. I think that the challenge is in the
lighter stuff,” he says.
At Home
For all of The Heat series beers, with may-
be the exception of the oaked chipotle and
the Carolina Reaper, Brophy says the goal
was to enjoy multiple rounds and not put
off drinkers who may be spice adverse—
something that he encourages homebrew-
ers venturing down this path to consider.
His advice: enjoy the trial and error in
finding a recipe that you can replicate. Dry
your own peppers and make a powder and
then use whatever you can—store-bought
beer or something you have on hand—
and try the tea-bag method to get a feel for
when the heat comes in and you start to
respond. But always respect the agricul-
ture because beyond that “it’s just some
kind of pissing match to make the hottest
beer, and that’s been done.”
And while always important, proper
cleaning methods are paramount after
each batch lest any heat remains to unin-
tentionally heat up your next batch. At the
brewery, Brophy says, there’s a rigorous
caustic procedure on their stainless so
they haven’t seen any issues there, but
when it came to filters, the brewery
bypassed D.E. (diatomaceous earth) filters
because of the absorbency factor.
“It’s wise to be thoughtful and careful,
to do a little bit of trialing so that you’re going
to like the beer when you’re finished.”
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| SPICE BEER |
Spice Is
the Spice
of Life
So, how do you make a spiced beer? “Brew a beer and add spices.” If only it
were that simple! Spice opens up an enormous range of flavors to us, and
Josh Weikert shows you how to deploy various spices to get something
you’re going to love drinking!
FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT of an
actual exchange between my wife and my
grandmother:
“Nanny, how do you make your baked
macaroni and cheese?”
“Well, first you make macaroni, and
then you add the cheese!”
Clearly, Nanny was holding back. We
may never know what.
When someone is well-practiced at
something, the subtle details that a
less-experienced practitioner needs to be
aware of to have the same kind of success
are often left out, not out of malice or to
preserve proprietary information but just
because we gradually come to regard such
things as second nature. “Stir until mixed,
but don’t over-stir.” “Cook until done.”
“Make macaroni, add cheese.”
So, how do you make a spiced beer?
“Brew a beer and add spices.” If only
76 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
it were that simple! Anyone can throw
ingredients into a beer, and yes, you’ll get
a “spiced beer” if some of those ingredi-
ents are spices, but if we want to make
something that highlights the flavors of
the spice in a way that meshes seamless-
ly with the base beer, then we need to
approach it a bit more deliberately. The
ingredients, process, and recipe all require
us to take a beat and think about what we
want and how we get it. Spice opens up
an enormous range of flavors to us, and
it’s worth knowing how to deploy various
spices to get something we’re going to
love drinking!
Sourcing Your Spices
On the one hand, spices are just about the
easiest brewing ingredient to find. While
most people don’t keep barley, rye, hops,
and yeast on hand in their kitchen (pres-
ent company being much more likely, but
I bet a lot of you don’t!), nearly everyone
does have access to a wide range of dried
(and maybe fresh) spices and herbs in a
convenient cabinet or rack. That’s a terrific
place to start, but you’ll also probably want
to cast a wider net to get just what you
want in your beer.
The best part about using dried spices is
that they’re both available and persistent.
I’m confident that everyone reading this
could pretty rapidly lay their hands on cinna-
mon, allspice, cumin, and/or cloves, any one
of which might come in handy in a brewing
application. Even if that’s not true for you (or
if you don’t have exactly what you need for
your recipe), it’s pretty easy to hit the baking
aisle at the nearest grocery store to find a
staggering assortment of dried herbs and
spices, all neatly arranged in alphabetical or-
der. Then, once you identify what you need
and where to get it, dried spices have the
added benefit of being exceptionally storable
and stable over time: one cabinet + a couple
of dozen small containers = a universe of
flavors for you to play with.
You’ll still want to consider other
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
options, though. For one thing, although
it takes a while, dried spices will go stale
and lose their potency. When we’re talking
about pre-ground or powdered spices, all
of that oxygen-exposed spice will gradually
dull in flavor and will be less effective and
harder to use because the intensity of its
actual flavor contribution will be harder
to predict. That cinnamon will still taste
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 77
| SPICE BEER |

like cinnamon, but it might lack some ting and how it works with the flavors pro- gives me nearly all of the flavor with al-
heat or exhibit some stale flavors. Even duced in the fermentor. The only question most none of the uncertainty, and that’s a
when fresh, dried spices are often more mark remaining is whether my CO2 level deal I’ll take any day of the brewing week.
intense in flavor than their fresh incarna- will make a difference (and, if kegging, I
tions (moisture removal being a common can even adjust that in real time). Flavor Out, Flavor In
“concentrator” of flavor), which can also Things I might consider boiling are So, let’s assume you’re adding your spice
present challenges. peels of various types, cocoa nibs, and post-fermentation. How do you go about it?
So, for some things, you might consider maybe some salts or herbs. Conventional First, decide on the form of spice. It’s
going with something fresh-harvested. For wisdom says that the harder a flavor is to unlikely that you’re adding the whole
peppers, ginger, and a wide variety of seeds extract from a spice, the more you might item—you might toss in a whole cinna-
and roots, work back to the source, and consider boiling it. I’m not knocking those mon stick, but probably not. Most are
you might find a better and more-usable who do; I’m simply saying that my way broken up in some fashion prior to use, to
product. All you’ll need to do then is a bit of
research into how best to “open,” process,
or otherwise “work” your ingredient to
make it usable, and you’re home free!
Whichever source you choose—the spice
aisle or the produce aisle, the homebrew
shop or the farm—be sure you know the
difference in your flavors. Grapes and rai-
sins are effectively variations on the same
product but taste quite different! This is
important because selecting your spice is
just the first step, and your own treatment
of the product is going to change up the
flavors yet again. If you don’t know where
you’re starting, it’s harder to know where
you’ll end up.

Timing Is Everything
If there’s one question I’m asked more
than any other when it comes to spiced
beers, it’s “when do I add the spice(s)?”
Luckily, there’s a pretty simple answer
here: I need a very, very good reason
to add something before or in the boil.
Instead, I prefer to add all of my spices on
the cold side, post-fermentation.
There’s a very good reason for that:
control. Boiling does unpredictable things
to spices. That’s not to say you can’t
get good things out of boiled spices, of
course, but rarely will homebrewers make
a spiced beer so regularly that they have
the opportunity to work out a predictable
method that will hit what they want every
time. Instead, I add spices post-fermen-
tation because I remove the uncertainty
of that soak/heat treatment in the boil, I
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM

eliminate the risk of an odd interaction

with the yeast (either having them scrub
flavors out or, potentially, create an effect
with the spice on the water chemistry that
could inhibit fermentation), and I reduce
any potential “blowing-off” of my spice
flavor through off-gassing during primary.
Instead, I can add the spice to taste
post-fermentation and know what I’m get-

78 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING

expose the flavor-producing compounds
to the wort. So in general, you’re usually
talking ground, cracked, or crushed (may-
be also cut, depending on what you’re
using—black limes, for example, might be
sliced). Of those, I prefer cracked/crushed
to ground. Ground spices tend to be the
most intense in flavor and, therefore, the
hardest to use without risking an overload
of whatever that flavor is. On the other
hand, ground spices diffuse more evenly
throughout the fluid and, therefore, create
a more consistent product.
Which form you use is up to you, but
if given an option of ground pepper or
cracked pepper, I take the cracked pepper,
just like I take red pepper flakes over
cayenne and a coarse crush of cinna-
mon stick over a fine-ground cinnamon
powder. I’ve only occasionally run into
bottle-to-bottle variation when using
coarser forms, but I’ve often screwed up a
beer by overpowering it with spice. I can
always add more spice, but I can’t take it
out once it’s in there!
Once you’ve decided on the form of
spice, then consider the method. There’s
nothing stopping you from doing a di-
rect-add and tossing spices into your beer.
If you do, I’d recommend using a fine-
mesh bag (hops bags, if you have them,
work well), and if boiling I would never
add the spice for any longer than ten min-
utes. “Free-added” spices might be fine,
but you have to consider any mouthfeel
additions: if there’s sufficient ground spice
or if you have a sensitive consumer, you
might get complaints about a grittiness in
the mouthfeel. The advantage of bagging
and infusing the spice is that you can add,
sample, and remove the bag when you
have the flavor level you want. Free-added
spices are, on the other hand, like the
famous tomato sauce slogan, “in there,”
and there’s no going back.
My preferred method is to use a tinc-
ture. Take your spice (in just about any
form, but bag it up if you’re using ground)
and soak it in a neutral spirit such as
vodka. Pour in just enough liquid to cover
the spice and let it sit for about half an
hour. At that point, remove the spice (or
decant the liquid off of the spice) and add
the tincture to taste to your beer. If you
add it all, make up a fresh tincture and go
again! You can easily adjust your soaking/
extraction time, vodka-to-spice ratio, and
more as you refine your recipe, and this
What if you’re a trendsetter and using a spice that
doesn’t have a generally known rate of addition? I
can spin up a dozen solid sources telling me how
much clove or cinnamon to add to my beer, but
what if I’m making a Moroccan Amber Ale and
want to add some Ras el Hanout? In such circum-
stances, I recommend something I’ve come to call
the “family of four” guideline: Find a food recipe
that uses your selected spice and scale it to what
you’d make for a family of four, or about six serv-
ings. However much of your desired spice is in that
scaled recipe is likely within spitting distance of the
amount you’ll need for a 5-gallon batch of beer.
still leaves you the option to adjust to the and scale it (if it isn’t already) to what you’d
particular flavors of each batch, since make for a family of four, or about six
you control exactly how much flavor is servings. However much of your desired
going in. One note: don’t worry about any spice is in that scaled recipe is likely within
alcohol or flavor contributions from the spitting distance (hopefully not prophetical-
vodka, or its quality, as you’re adding such ly) of the amount you’ll need for a 5-gallon
a small relative volume. batch of beer. For my Moroccan Amber
Ale, off I’d go to a Chicken Tagine recipe,
The “Family of Four” and voilà. Factor in how big a component
Guideline the spice is in the recipe—curries and tag-
Then there’s the question of just how ines are spice-heavy—and dial in your start-
much of a spice to add. There’s a rich and ing amount from there and also consider
growing body of resources online and the intensity of the beer into which the
in fine publications such as Craft Beer & spice is being added. But the family-of-four
Brewing Magazine® to help you out based rule should put you in the right church, if
on whichever spice or herb you happen to not the right pew.
be using, so by all means, consult some
sources. You’ll also want to make sure to Spice Is the Spice of Life
adjust your recipe—hops, yeast, and even People say that variety is the spice of life.
grain—to account for the flavor you’ll be They’re wrong. Spice is the spice of life, and
adding. “How much?” is often the easiest while there’s nothing wrong with variety,
part of spicing a beer, and if you use the we want to make sure we’re not getting
method outlined in the previous section, variability. The approach I’ve laid out here
you can also add to taste for yourself, once should help you get consistent results in
you’re in the ballpark! your spiced beers, whatever their style and
But what if you’re a trendsetter and using whatever the spice. To reduce your batch-
a spice that doesn’t have a generally known to-batch variability, use the same methods
rate of addition? I mean, I can probably for most spices, source your spices from
spin up a dozen solid sources telling me the same vendor, and always leave yourself
about how much clove or cinnamon to with an “out” by adding the spice to taste.
add to my beer, but what if I’m making Doing so will drastically reduce the amount
a Moroccan Amber Ale and want to add you’ll have to “trust” the spices and keep
some Ras el Hanout? In such circumstanc- you in the driver’s seat.
es, I recommend something I’ve come to Before you know it, you’ll be spicing
call the “family of four” guideline: Find a beers all year long and not just when the
food recipe that uses your selected spice leaves start to fall!
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 79
| SPICE BEER |
Fake It
When You
Make It!
Josh Weikert takes you on a rapid-fire journey through a range of spices and
herbs that enhance, augment, imitate, and/or intensify both traditional beer
flavors and beer-adjacent flavors that you might want to work into your recipes.
WHEN BREWING, IT’S NEARLY always
better to think in terms of flavors, not
ingredients. Deciding on a flavor profile
is a useful first step, and whether you’re
building from a known style/guideline or
just winging it, it’s still productive to be-
gin with where you want to end up. That
goal—whatever it is—might require you
to think beyond the usual water, grain,
hops, and yeast.
Once upon a time, relatively early in
my brewing life, my wife wanted to make
a maple beer. We added maple syrup at
multiple points in the boil, in primary,
and in secondary, and then tasted: she
had made essentially a really hot, really
thin English brown ale with not a hint
of maple flavor because apparently yeast
cells are really into pancakes and had con-
sumed every last scintilla of maple syrup
that we threw at them. I knew that maple
syrup was highly fermentable, of course,
but I made the mistaken assumption that
if we added it throughout the brewing
process then at least some maple flavor
would survive when it came time to pack-
age up the finished beer. I was patently
wrong, and although we salvaged the beer
80 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
(oddly enough with a touch of almond
extract—that’s a story for another day), we
could have made the very maple beer that
Barbara wanted if we’d known there was a
particular spice that did the job instead of
taking the “obvious” route.
So, in that spirit, this article will take
a rapid-fire journey through a range of
spices and herbs that enhance, augment,
imitate, and/or intensify both traditional
beer flavors and beer-adjacent flavors that
you might want to work into your recipes.
Keep your arms and legs inside the tram
at all times…
Hopped Up Hops
Substitutes
Since hops are themselves something
of an herbal/spice product, many spices
and herbs can be used either to replace or
reimagine your “hops” profile.
FLORAL
If we’re looking for something in the
neighborhood of “floral,” it might be a bit
on-the-nose to point out that we have a wide
range of flower petals from which to choose.
If you want the classic geraniol-driven rosy
flavors, why not consider rose petals (not
to be confused with rose hips, but we’ll
get back to those)? If you want a brighter
fruit/floral nose, consider dried hibiscus,
which will also add a vivid reddish hue to
your beer.
Actual flowers are a bit of a cop-out,
though: what about non-floral things that
add floral notes, especially when they add
more? Dried rosemary is a favorite, and
another experiment (this one successful)
from my wife’s brewing repertoire: in
addition to a light floral note, it adds a bit
of pine and even light citrus to the mix,
much like American or New Zealand vari-
ants on noble hops. I’ve used rosemary
as a straight-up hops replacement. If you
have the means, saffron is also a great
choice, being itself a handpicked part of
a flower, and while costly, a little goes a
very long way. Cardamom is also a nice
alternative and adds some citrus fruit
flavors, especially in the cracked (rather
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
than ground) seeds.
WOODLANDS
What if you want something beyond
the meadow and into the woods? Here,
again, we have any number of literal and
not-so-obvious options. First, there are ac-
tual pine products: needles, tips, and even
some pinecones. Cascade hops are great,
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 81
| SPICE BEER |
but nothing says pine like pine! It’s even
healthy: spruce tips, just as one example,
are loaded with vitamin C in addition to
adding bright pine flavors to your beer (be
careful not to overdo it, though: we don’t
want beers that smell like floor polish).
For an intense and evocative pine and
citrus flavor, you might also consider
juniper berries for a brilliant pine punch
with some sharp citrus tang that goes
far beyond what hops can offer. (Be very
careful here, though! They’re intense, and
a little goes a very long way!)
And if you’re looking for that leafy-
woods character rather than the evergreen
variety, spices such as turmeric and thyme
will evoke that deep-woods, barky flavor.
Turmeric, a cousin of cinnamon (itself a
bark), has a deep sandalwood aroma, while
thyme features an herbal (and, depending
on its source and breeding, lemony-citrus)
character that is backstopped by a touch of
wood-and-menthol camphor oil.
FRUIT
Then there are your fruity flavors. Perhaps
the king of citrus-spicing for beer is
coriander, which, when cracked or ground,
adds a lemon-pepper-with-a-hint-of-mint
flavor that is common to Belgian witbiers
but can be used in a great many more
styles. I recently popped open a fresh bag
of German Polaris hops, and coriander’s
citrus-mint character was almost a perfect
match for it! We can also take advantage of
a wide range of dried peels, which have the
benefit of adding the flavor of the fruit in
question—whether it be key lime, Meyer
lemon, Seville orange, and more—without
adding the sharp acidity of the juices from
the same. Account for a bit of tart tannin
from the pith (or just stick with zest), and
the citrus oils will take it from there!
Last, I promised we’d get back to rose
Brewing can be hard enough without the un-
certainty of trying to yield every flavor from the
same four ingredients. Fermentation can be un-
predictable, especially from a flavor perspective.
Hops oils interact strangely and in ways we don’t
yet completely understand. Why not take the
guesswork out and add the flavors directly?
82 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
hips: rose hips aren’t even part of the rose
flower, but are rather the fruit of rose
bushes and trees. They yield a tart berry
flavor and are a common addition to beers
and meads.
Give Your Microbiota a
Helping Hand
Then we have spices that mimic (and
maybe even outperform) the output from
the fermentation process. Remember, fla-
vors are flavors, and whether we get them
naturally or “cheat” and add them directly,
your palate won’t care about the difference
if they’re done well!
BELGIAN
One class of these we can safely refer to as
the “Belgian” flavors: spicy phenols, dark
fruit, banana, and the like. Luckily, our
spice rack has a number of excellent op-
tions for us. Fennel seed is one such option,
and it will impart a lovely lavender-licorice
flavor that takes the best of star anise and
softens it to the point where even those of
us who hate the flavor of unadulterated
licorice (pointing at myself) will enjoy it!
We also have the ever-popular grains of
paradise (also known, incidentally, as “alli-
gator spice,” which should increase your
desire to brew with it by a factor of ten), a
pepper-like spice that kicks off not just the
peppery phenols common to Belgian yeast
fermentations but also a dizzying blend of
additional flavors including passion fruit,
jasmine, and even grapefruit and lime.
Finally, let’s not make this too complicat-
ed: if what you want out of your Belgian
(or German weizen) yeast is clove and
banana, then think about adding cracked
clove and diced dried banana. Even if you
get the performance you’re hoping for
from your yeast, the additional help proba-
bly won’t hurt!
SOUR
The other class of flavors might best be
described as the “souring agent” contri-
butions. Many brewers are a bit gun-shy
when it comes to using souring agents in
their beer, for fear that they’ll end up with
contamination problems in beers that
shouldn’t have been exposed to all-too-per-
sistent bugs, despite careful cleaning and
sanitation. To get around this, we can add
tartness and sourness directly, but naked
additions of lactic or citric acid can be a bit
too stark on the palate, leaving you with
the same impression you get when seeing
an obviously-Photoshopped-in face in a
photograph. Instead, you might consid-
er a spice option that can add a more
well-rounded but still cleanly tart flavor,
often with some good secondary flavors.
Options abound, but there are two in
particular that I’ve seen used with great
success. First is tamarind, a common ingre-
dient in Indian cooking and a shockingly
good brewing ingredient! Young tamarind
is brightly—some might say aggressive-
ly—sour and has an underlying flavor of
pear and mango that makes for the most
interesting Berliner weisse you could possi-
bly hope for. It also pairs very well with the
Flanders sours, with the fruitier Red and
even the darker and maltier Brown. Don’t
believe me? Fun fact: tamarind extract is
a key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce,
so it’s more than up to a savory application
that’s heavy on dark malt flavors.
Another exotic ingredient (this one is
harder to find, but worth the effort) is loomi,
or black lime. These are limes that have been
deliberately dehydrated and aged, and the re-
sult is a fruit that has a slightly “fermented”
flavor, bright acidity, rich aromatic citrus
oils, and a drying tannic flavor from the
rind. Sliced and added post-fermentation,
loomi creates wonderful and exotic sours
out of almost any beer style, but especially
American pales and IPAs.
And the Rest
Last, we have a smorgasbord of spices and
products that can add flavors that aug-
ment and punch-up things we might find
in beer anyway, just in differing amounts
or from differing sources (we’re finally
getting back to that maple!). I’ve either
personally used or tasted homebrews with
these ingredients, and I feel confident rec-
ommending them. In no particular order:

» Cocoa nibs and coffee beans: sure, we’ve all seen these used before,
but see if you can hunt down less-common varieties from spe-
cialty markets and independent coffee shops or beaneries to add
unexpected variations on your classic porter and stout recipes!
» Want a maple beer, but can’t keep the maple in the beer?
Fenugreek is the answer: a ground seed that adds some light
bitterness but also an unmistakable touch of maple.
» Sumac might call to mind itchy ankles for some, but that’s
the poison variety: dried and ground sumac berries add tart
citrus and brilliant red to your beer in much the same way
the cranberries do, but without the massive tannin attack that
accompanies them.
» We’ve all heard of basil, but what about cinnamon basil? It’s just
what it sounds like. It’s a variety of basil that also happens to have
flowing in its leaves the same compound that makes cinnamon
taste like cinnamon. It’s a wild and fun ingredient that I first experi-
enced added to an Oktoberfest beer, of all things—the rich bready
malt and warming cinnamon and cool basil were a perfect match.
Finally, there’s what we might call the “kitchen sink” spices: blends
of multiple spices and herbs. These can serve as “catch-all” spice
additions that take a shotgun approach to spiced-beer brewing.
Mulling spices (usually a combination of cinnamon, dried berries
and peels, and clove) make every beer a wintry spiced beer but
also work well with sweeter stouts. Allspice (not actually a blend,
but acts like one!) and Chinese five-spice add a clove-heavy and
somewhat “hot” spice flavor that pairs well with Dunkelweizen
and some of the Belgian strong styles. Ras el Hanout, a staple of
Moroccan cuisine, adds a similar clove-and-cinnamon flavor but
also includes a healthy dose of cumin, bringing in an earthier fla-
vor. And, of course, there is a wide range of smoked salts and spices
that double-up the flavor impact by providing a smoky background
flavor in addition to whatever their spices are bringing!
Want It? Add It.
Brewing can be hard enough without the uncertainty of trying
to yield every flavor from the same four ingredients. Fermenta-
tion can be unpredictable, especially from a flavor perspective.
Hops oils interact strangely and in ways we don’t yet completely
understand. Why not take the guesswork out and add the flavors
directly? This isn’t just popping the cap on an extract, which too
often can result in a beer that tastes artificial; instead, you’re lean-
ing on the culinary traditions of millennia and building flavors
that fit hand-in-glove with our existing “beer” flavors. There’s a
world of spice out there: we’d be crazy to ignore it.
PHOTOS: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
MAKE IT
Campobello Maple
Brown Ale
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
IBUs: 20
ABV: 5.4%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
8 lb (3.6 kg) Maris Otter
1 lb (454 g) British Crystal 65L
8 oz (227 g) Pale Chocolate malt (220L)
8 oz (227 g) Victory malt
HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
1 oz (28 g) Fuggles [4% AA] at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Fuggles [4% AA] at 10 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) cracked fenugreek seeds
YEAST
Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III)
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mix with 3.1 gallons (11.8 l) of 163°F (73°C)
strike water to reach a mash temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold
this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings
are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge the grains with
4.1 gallons (15.6 l) and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gal-
lons (23 l) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops
schedule.
After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation
temperature, about 60°F (16°C). Aerate the wort with pure
oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 63°F (17°C) for 72 hours, then increase tempera-
ture by about 1°F (0.5°C) degree per day until you reach 71°F
(22°C). On the completion of primary fermentation, add the
fenugreek seeds. If tinctured, add to taste. If dry-added, add all
the seeds and age to taste. Crash the beer to 35°F (2°C), then
bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25
volumes.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Pay particular attention to the spice addition. Cracked seeds
are your best bet, as whole seeds can take forever to impart fla-
vor and ground seeds can add unpleasant bitterness and other
unwanted/unpredictable flavors! Some boil the seeds, but I
find a vodka tincture works just fine (see “Spice Is the Spice of
Life,” page 76), and I’ve also seen brewers who have success
with just tossing the cracked seeds directly into the fermen-
tor. The tincture is faster and gives more control, but both
allow you to dial in the flavor level you want! The base beer is
essentially a dark-ish good, but slightly more-malty, version of
Northern English Brown ale.
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 83
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Tasted
No longer the sole province of pumpkin beers and winter warmers, spices today
are making appearances in a wider range of styles than ever. Our blind review
panel of judges surveys Golden & Blonde Ales, Pale Ales & Lagers, Amber &
Brown Ales, Belgian-style Ales, Sour & Mixed Fermentation Ales, Stouts,
and Barrel-aged Stouts, all brewed with a variety of spices.

BEERANDBREWING.COM | 85
 | SPICED GOLDEN & BLONDE ALES |
INSIDE CB&B

How We
Taste & Test TOP
RATED

Reviewing beer may sound like a

dream job, but our tasting and re-
view panel takes the role seriously.
Composed entirely of Beer Judge
Certification Program (BJCP) judg-
es who have all studied, trained,
and been tested on their ability to
discern characteristics in beer, our
panel is independent and doesn’t
include any CB&B editors or staff.
The panel tastes all beer blindly—
they do not know what brands
and beers they are tasting until the
tasting is complete.
Our goal is to inform you about
the strengths and weaknesses
of these beers as well as their rel-
ative differences (not everyone
has the same taste in beer, so
accurate descriptors are more Ale Industries Deep Ellum Dust Bowl
valuable than straight numerical
values). The quotes you see Golden State Deep Summer California
are compiled from the review
panel’s score sheets to give you a of Mind Line Vanilla
well-rounded picture of the beer.
As our reviewers judge, they
Blonde Ale
score based on the standard
BJCP components: Aroma (max LOC: Oakland, California LOC: Dallas, Texas LOC: Turlock, California
12 points), Appearance (max 3 ABV: 4.4% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A ABV: 4.8% | IBUs: 8 | SRM: N/A ABV: 4.5% | IBUs: 10 | SRM: N/A
points), Flavor (max 20 points),
Mouthfeel (max 5 points), What the brewer says What the brewer says What the brewer says
and Overall Impression (max “Golden State of Mind is a unique “Dance to an unfamiliar tune with our “A crisp, refreshing blonde ale perfect
10 points). We’ve listed these creation. We have called it a “California summer ale with hibiscus, lemon peel, for our California climate. An addition
individual component scores,
and the bottom-line number is Tea Beer” due to its construction using and chamomile flowers.” of vanilla beans to the finished beer
derived from adding then dou- local California ingredients, from the gives this relatively sweet ale a mild
bling these component scores to oats, barley, and wheat to the fresh What our panel thought vanilla aroma and flavor reminiscent of
produce a rating on a 100-point coriander, chamomile, and sweet Aroma: “Lemon, orange peel, and hi- cream soda.”
scale. Note that we’ve rounded orange peel. Golden State of Mind biscus with a light yogurt-like tartness.
the printed component scores to is also a gruit—meaning it is made Some caramel and light toasty malt What our panel thought
the nearest whole number, so the
math won’t necessarily add up. without hops.” thrown in for good measure.” Aroma: “Getting more oak character
Our judges use the following Flavor: “Moderate spiciness with mild than actual vanilla on the nose, which
scale in valuing scores: What our panel thought orange, lemon, and cherry fruitiness. is good because vanilla can be over-
95–100 » Extraordinary Aroma: “Light citrus with an herbal Hints of lemongrass and a subtle, whelming. Warming, it settles with a
World-class beers of superlative spiciness and light honey sweetness. floral, chamomile that complements the touch of malt sweetness, biscuit malt,
character and flawless execution Low rice and vanilla aromas as it starts hibiscus. Slightly sweet but clean malt brown sugar, and light floral hop.”
90–94 » Exceptional to warm. The herbal tea notes come bill with just enough hops to balance. Flavor: “Simple: beer, vanilla. They’re
Distinguished beers with special through as well with light pear, plum, Moderate carbonic bite at the end, but both there, but they don’t play together
character, style, and flavor
85–89 » Very good and a touch of cinnamon.” finishes tart and dry.” much at all. Light earthy hops, mild
Well-crafted beers with note- Flavor: “Light and crisp. Moderate Overall: “Refreshing and thirst- bitterness, some clean malt. There’s
worthy flavor and style herbal flavor with light bitterness quenching, this beer does a nice job oxidation, too, but might be an extra
80–84 » Good toward the end. Low spiciness mixes keeping the floral additions subtle. It dose of the vanilla character. Fairly big
Solid, quality, enjoyable beers with the carbonation, which creates would be easy to overdo this.” bitterness in the tail end.”
75–79 » Above Average a light bite at the end.A very delicate Overall: “The base recipe for this beer
Drinkable and satisfactory beers
with minor flaws or style deviations malt character is almost hidden by the is not necessarily up to the challenge
70–74 » Average fruity/floral character.” of supporting the strong flavors they’ve
50–69 » Not recommended Overall: “Refreshing and crisp beer added, and the addition of vanilla
We’d like for you to keep one with moderate herbal and tea flavors, makes the beer muddled and a bit
thing in mind as you read these light citrus, and a medium carbonic disjointed.”
reviews—your perception of a bite at the end of the sip. Tastes like a
beer is more important than grown-up version of sun tea. Great for
that of our review panel or edi- non-beer drinkers.”
torial staff, and reading reviews

94 91 79
in a magazine (or on the Web AROMA: 11 AROMA: 11 AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3 APPEARANCE: 3 APPEARANCE: 2
or in a book) is no substitute for FLAVOR: 19 FLAVOR: 18 FLAVOR: 15
trying the beer yourself. MOUTHFEEL: 4 MOUTHFEEL: 4 MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 10 OVERALL: 9 OVERALL: 8

86 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING


MadTree
Brewing
Joon
LOC: Cincinnati, Ohio
ABV: 4.7% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Aged in Watershed Bourbon Barrel Gin
barrels with juniper berries and ginger,
this refreshingly tart beer takes a break
from the traditional bourbon-barrel
beers, lifting it to another level.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Gin barrel comes out up front
with some spicy almost peppery ginger
and juniper behind it. Very herbal with
a pine and tea-like character. Some
bready crust and wildflower honey.”
Flavor: “There’s an almost lemon-lime
soda character to this beer. The gin
barrel, gives an herbal—especially
ginger — flavor that comes through
strong. The base beer is a bit over-
whelmed, but there are pleasing citrus
notes, and it finishes very dry and
slightly boozy.”
Overall: “The barrel and spices are
used very well. It’s complex herbal
without being medicinal and still being
very drinkable. The heavy spice flavor
additions push past any notion of base
beer style, but the spicing is deftly han-
dled for such a light-bodied beer, and
it’s still refreshing and interesting.”
89
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 2
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
SweetWater
Brewing
Torikumi
LOC: Atlanta, Georgia
ABV: 7.5% | IBUs: 27 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A trip up Buford Highway inspired
Telluride Brewing’s Chris Fish and
SweetWater’s Nick Nock to experiment
with wasabi—added to a blonde ale.
This is a beer to share with friends and
experiment with—try pairing it with
sushi, ginger, Japanese noodle dishes,
or just some grilled chicken.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “A little yeasty, along with
some mild fruity esters. Wasabi is fairly
strong but not hot. Big piney hops, light
crisp coldness, a touch of spicy tingle
in the nose.”
Flavor: “This beer hits with some com-
plexity, and wasabi emerges midway
through the sip and carries through the
finish. It also adds some vegetable-like
green notes. Earthy piney hops flavor
with moderate bitter backing. Good
malt sweetness. Some citrus notes
from hops. Similar yeastiness.”
Overall: “Interesting beer; the more I
drank it the more I enjoyed it. However,
the complexity of the hops, the base
beer, and the wasabi were a bit
muddled, and the flavor didn’t live up
to the nose.”
90
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 8
| SPICED AMBER & BROWN ALES |
TOP
RATED
Evil Twin
Brewing Wet
Dream
LOC: Copenhagen, Denmark
ABV: 6% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“This is truly a beautiful brown ale
boosted with a delightful aroma of
citrus, spice, and gourmet Keini, Kenya
Beans from The Coffee Collective,
Copenhagen.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Coffee and super piney and
herbal hops with toasty and nutty
malt behind it. Deeper into it, there’s a
grassy/paper-like note akin to fresh dry
hopping.”
Flavor: “Stale coffee, cigarette ashtray,
and lots of piney resinous hops. Toast,
caramel, malt are in the mix, but the
bitterness is out of balance, almost
acrid (almost certainly the coffee).
Classic pine and resin flavors appear
with a lasting bitter finish. Bracingly
hop bitterness for what is ostensibly a
brown ale.”
Overall: “The coffee and hops clash
in the aroma and in the bitterness so
that it comes across as harsh and as-
tringent. The piney hops and coffee in
the aroma are confusing. Reminds me
of a hotel room that someone smoked
in, with a basket of wet laundry left out
overnight.”
82
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 8
Swamp Head
Just the Tip
LOC: Gainesville, Florida
ABV: 6% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Spruce Tip Amber.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Peachie-O candies, apricot,
red berry, cherry, and a hint of brown
sugar. A grassy hops aroma, with a
light peach fruit aspect and a bit of
tartness add great complexity.”
Flavor: “There’s a strong impression
of sweetness, but overall the beer isn’t
very sweet even up front. Huge ester
bomb with notes of raspberry, peach,
honeydew, strawberry, plum. These
all blend well with the medium toast
malt. Bitterness opens up a light piney
character to confirm that it actually is
flavored with a tree.”
Overall: “The bitterness might be a
touch high, but it really helps bring
things together. The additions are
balanced well with the underlying beer
and with the hops character; a crazy
and intriguing complexity to what could
have been a simple and straightfor-
ward beer.”
95
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 87
| SPICED PALE ALES & LAGERS |
101 North Alaskan
Brewing Indi- Brewing
go Pale Ale Spruce IPA
LOC: Petaluma, California
ABV: 6% | IBUs: 49 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Indigo Pale Ale is a fresh approach
to a traditional style in which blue
agave nectar creates a unique malt
profile, one that is complemented by
a mandarin/woodsy hops character
derived from the single experimental
hop, ADHA 484.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Very delicate nose. There’s
not a lot to work with. There’s pleasant
tropical mango fruitiness and a touch
of pine plus a very light herbal note
that is probably agave.”
Flavor: “It’s a pale ale, all right. Earthy,
slightly woody hops flavor with an
herbal edge that could be agave, but
it’s not easy to identify. It does linger
into the finish.”
Overall: “Somewhat one dimensional
floral character throughout. And al-
though nothing is wrong with the beer,
nothing really stands out. That said,
we’d still drink a ton of this.”
87
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 8
88 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
LOC: Juneau. Alaska
ABV: 7% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
N/A
What our panel thought
Aroma: “There are raspberry and
strawberry esters from the spruce tips.
But this is very clean and rich, with
citrus and grass.”
Flavor: “Huge berry character that
integrates well with a clean IPA base
beer. The hops character is fairly
restrained, but the bitterness plays
well off of the sweetness from the
berry esters. There’s lots of spruce, like
rubbing a Christmas tree. The finish is
fairly bitter and lingers. It’s a bit like
putting an entire roll of Life Savers
candy in your mouth at once—all of
them. The touch of candy sweetness is
unexpected, but the bracing pine tree
bitterness keeps it from cloying.”
Overall: “A well-made IPA that
showcases the jekyll and hyde nature
of spruce tips while allowing the base
beer to demonstrate the quality of the
brewing process. A very fun beer with
an endlessly fascinating ingredient.”
89
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
TOP
RATED
Ballast Point Denver Beer
Habanero Co. Maui
Sculpin (IPA) Express
LOC: San Diego, California
ABV: 57% | IBUs: 70 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“This beer began as a crazy experi-
ment. While its bright fruit notes and
hoppy bite have made the original one
of our favorites, this version takes that
balance of flavors to the next level with
the citrusy, floral heat of habaneros.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Aroma is light overall with a
moderate amount of ancho chile pepper
aroma. There’s some citrus light pine
and grassy hops behind that.”
Flavor: “Chile pepper is a bit more ap-
parent in the flavor with grassy, herbal,
and slight piney hops. Maybe a bit of
citrus. There’s a fair amount of heat,
which masks a lot of the flavor, but
there’s a malt backbone supporting it.
Tastes like Anaheim and jalepeño chiles
with some peach and orange character
from the hops. Clean beer beneath with
bitterness that complements the heat.”
Overall: “Fairly hot but not a ton of
character in the aroma or flavor besides
that. Okay if you like spicy things, but
I would like more flavor to match. The
base beer is crisp and clean, which
pairs well with the heat. It’s probably
good that it’s not hoppier; that would
probably just end up clashing.”
87
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
LOC: Denver, Colorado
ABV: 6.6% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Coconut IPA.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Pineapple and mango, with
tangerine and almost a hint of vanilla.
The coconut slides in, almost by mental
association, but it provides a steady
bass note to the hops nose. Rich and
tropical.”
Flavor: “Coconut is present without
being overwhelming. Tropical hops—
pineapple, orange, lemon, and a
touch of strawberry—support nicely.
Moderately sweet with moderately low
bitterness for an IPA, but it’s appro-
priate given the tropical goal. Coconut
character doesn’t overdo it or push into
suntan lotion territory. The tropical fruit
hops character with the subtle coconut
offer an enjoyable combination that
doesn’t feel heavy-handed or forced.”
Overall: “Great tropical character and
balance—rich and complex from the
aroma through the lingering finish.
Maybe a bit sweet for an IPA, but that
doesn’t overwhelm or detract. Very
tasty beer overall.”
92
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
 TOP
RATED
Hop Butcher
Watch for
Falling
Coconuts
LOC: Chicago, Illinois
ABV: 5.5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“American pale ale with Cashmere and
El Dorado hops. This seasonal was last
canned on May 16, 2017, and should
have tropical pineapple and coconut
flavors.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “There’s a light tropical
aroma mixed with a light orange and
bready malt. Aroma is overall a bit low.
Coconut starts to come out a bit as it
warms. Almost like an ambrosia salad.”
Flavor: “Huge coconut in the flavor
with mandarin orange and lemon.
The coconut adds an almost creamy
character. The simple, hoppy nature
of the beer is pretty dry and provides
a nice counterpoint to the toasted
coconut without clashing. Appropriate
bitterness and good hops selection.
Tastes a bit like a daiquiri, with just a
hint of sour milk acidity to keep it from
being too sweet.”
Overall: “Interesting that the coconut
is fairly subtle in the aroma but really
strong in the flavor. Great tropical hops
character balanced with the coconut
additions. Subtle to where you wonder
what the point was of adding coconut,
but enjoyable nonetheless.”
87
AROMA: 9
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
Jack’s Abby/ Snowbank
Finback Spill Brewing
the Tea Cranknbrew
LOC: Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 5.4% | IBUs: 50 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Spill The Tea is an aromatic India pale
lager brewed with green tea and lemon,
orange and grapefruit peel. A combi-
nation of Citra and Mosaic hops pairs
well with the extra citrus, and the green
tea gives this brew a drying, astringent
finish. Brewed in collaboration with
Finback Brewery, Queens, New York.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Big time dank aroma with
a lot of underlying citrus complexity.
Tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, white
grape, flowers, plus a touch of herbal
orange and stone fruit.”
Flavor: “Lots of dank, lots of tangerine.
There’s a slight berry thing also, much
the same as the aroma. The balance
is great with medium-high bitterness
and some low-medium pithy character
that complements things well. The tea
quality adds some nice earthiness on
the swallow. The beer backbone is crisp
and presents a great canvas for the
other flavors.”
Overall: “Very hops forward, but easy
drinking and well-balanced. Loses
some definition in the finish, but not
enough so to discourage another sip.”
92
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
LOC: Fort Collins, Colorado
ABV: 5.5% | IBUs:35A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Crisp and clean pale ale infused
with a powerful dose of fresh, locally
roasted coffee.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Lots and lots of coffee. Oily
and thick, with plenty of dark roast
depth as well as a distinct green pep-
per smell. Mild caramel sweetness, not
much in the way of hops character.”
Flavor: “Lots of coffee and little
beer—this beer really is about coffee,
first and foremost. There’s a slight
chocolate character with nice caramel
and toast notes if you go digging for
them. The finish has hints of vanilla,
could probably stand to be a bit more
bitter. Hops selection worked well to
highlight the positive complexity of
coffee’s green pepper flavors.”
Overall: “It’s a complete coffee bomb,
and if that’s your thing, cool. The base
beer is overshadowed, so just be ready
for all coffee, all the time.”
90
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
Tröegs
Crimson
Pistil
LOC: Hershey, Pennsylvaniat
ABV: 6.2% | IBUs: 52 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“It’s summertime. Hop bines are grow-
ing up to 6 inches a day. Hibiscus is in
full bloom. And in Crimson Pistil, the
two get in a glorious tangle of berry-
like tanginess, sunset technicolor, and
sticky tropical notes.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Dank and citrus hops with
raspberry and cranberry whiffs from
the hibiscus. A bit of lemon and
grapefruit too, along with a hint of
black pepper.”
Flavor: “The cranberry and raspberry
notes from the hibiscus come out
more in the flavor with lemon citrus
and grassy behind it. It’s a well-bal-
anced IPA with just enough bitterness
to round out the malt. Spice beers
routinely overdo it on the spice, but this
one felt restrained, like they could have
gone further but played it safe in a
enjoyably balanced way.”
Overall: “The hibiscus and hops
play nicely together with a citrus and
grassy character combined with red
fruit notes. A fun beer, and the color is
fantastic.”
89
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 89
| SPICED SOUR, WILD & MIXED FERMENTATION ALES |
TOP
RATED
Anderson
Valley G&T
Gose
LOC: Boonville, California
ABV: 4.2% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Reminiscent of a classic cocktail, our
G&T Gose showcases botanical flavors
and aromas of lemon peel, juniper,
lemongrass, and grains of paradise.
With a juicy lemon-lime tartness and
slightly peppery finish, the gose style
takes on a unique spin that we’re sure
you’ll enjoy.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Fruity, but not of a specific
fruit—maybe blueberry or lemongrass.
There’s a clean, slightly sour wheat
aroma with mild vanilla.”
Flavor: “Moderately sour and dry with
pineapple, crusty bread, peppercorn,
and lightly grassy. Well balanced
between tart and earthy. The brewer
has gone pretty heavy on the salt, so
there’s no mistaking this for anything
other than a Gose.”
Overall: “A solid gose with a mild
spiciness and medium lemon flavor,
but any fruit added plays a supporting,
background role.”
88
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
90 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Avery
Brewing
Ginger Sour
LOC: Boulder, Colorado
ABV: 6% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Ginger sour. Botanicals & barrels
barrel-aged sour ale with ginger.
Verdant fresh ginger is rooted in
radiant tartness, peaking in the un-
mistakable burst and bite of this bright
barrel-aged sour ale.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Pumpkin pie–like aroma up
front with moderate ginger, nutmeg,
and light cinnamon. There’s mild lemon
and lemongrass that adds a sweet
candy undertone with a bit of Pilsner
malt.”
Flavor: “Lactic lemon hits up front with
a nice acidity. Freshly grated ginger
paired up with lemon zest: very Asian.
Ginger persists from the initial sip to
the long finish. The ginger is a little
warm, but it’s still pleasant.”
Overall: “Wow! Quite tasty. Thanks to
the bright ginger, the beer tastes fresh
and bold. It has notes of the ginger
itself along with the ginger spice. This
combination goes well with the lactic
tartness and lemon notes. The base
beer is bright and tightly defined,
providing a beautiful frame for the
well-considered ginger spice.”
97
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 20
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Cantillon
Mamouche
LOC: Brussels, Belgium
ABV: 5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Two-year-old lambic in which
elderberry flowers have been soaked.
The character of the elderberry flowers
lends this beer a very pronounced, but
refreshing, floral taste. The fragrances
and flavors of the elderberry flowers are
very strong, so much so that we have to
select lambics with enough character
to enable us to strike the right balance
between the beer and the flower.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Earthy, horse-blanket,
complex barrel-aged sour with plenty of
vanillin to add roundness to the funky
front. Delicate white pepper, general
lemon acidity, funk, and what comes
across as a touch of smoked chile
pepper.”
Flavor: “Moderate sour up front with
a mild pepper spiciness that sneaks in.
Pineapple and apricot notes with a slight
lemon brightness. Well balanced among
wood, spice, tart, and earthy.”
Overall: “Fun and complex beer with
many layers. Sour in the front, spicy
pepper in the back. A well-balanced
combo with a medium body and mild
carbonation to support the flavors.”
96
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Crooked Stave
Colorado
Wild Sage
LOC: Denver, Colorado
ABV: 7.2% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
N/A
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Ginger, lemon, peppercorn,
slight sulfur, faint grassy hops, and
fairly strong phenolic fermentation
quality that reminds me of a hippy
campfire.”
Flavor: “Complex spice notes of ginger
and Szechuan peppercorn. Pithy,
astringent finish but not necessarily off
putting. Some orange and straw-
berry on the retronasal along with
lemongrass. There’s sharpish tartness
that gives this one an edge, but the
aftertaste is too spicy.”
Overall: “This is a fun farmhouse ale
with plenty of Brett and some lemon
and what tastes like ginger to round
things out. Maybe a bit heavy on the
spice, but a nice beer overall. The spice
character lingers and lingers deep into
the aftertaste, reminding you of what
you just drank.”
89
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
DeGarde
Roseberry
LOC: Tillamook, Oregon
ABV: 6% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A farmhouse wild ale aged in oak with
blackberries and rosemary.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Full of dark berry and herbs.
The fruit comes across as dark cherry,
raspberry, maybe a hint of blackberry.
The herb is clearly rosemary and full,
slightly smoky.”
Flavor: “The fruit here is more
cherry than blackberry but without
the sweetness—this one tastes like it
fully attenuated. The rosemary is rich.
Moderately low sweetness with intense
acidity. It’s a musty base sour, nicely
done, and the lingering resinous herbal
notes add depth.”
Overall: “Some might find the
rosemary a bit over the top, but the
rosemary is surprisingly balanced with
the berry flavor. It’s an interesting and
crazy drinkable beer, with a great fruit
and herb combo that plays well with
the base beer. While it’s dry, the berries
add a perception of sweetness that
softens the impact without affecting
drinkability. It’s good sip after sip.”
96
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Great Divide Hi-Wire Brett Jester King
Strawberry Pale Ale (w/ Even More
Rhubarb Sour red roselle Jeppe
hibiscus)
LOC: Denver, Colorado
ABV: 6.2% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Strawberry is the yin to rhubarb’s
yang—the sweet to the tart. This
beautiful partnership creates a beer
that glows ruby in the glass, bursts
with strawberry aroma, and bites with
every sip.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Somewhat subtle with light
berry, citrus, lemon, herbal, and
bready, but you have to dig for the
esters from the strawberry. Light
caramel sweetness, and a little
sweat-sock funk.”
Flavor: “Surprising! Clean strawberry
flavor with a light follow-up of rhubarb.
Jolly Rancher candy notes and a medi-
um hops bitterness that add underlying
citrus and herbal. The pie crust notes
are apparent which makes sense given
the ingredients. Quite dry.”
Overall: “Well-executed overall.
Although a bit on the sweet side,
the taste is excellent. The rhubarb
and strawberry flavors come out well
mixed with a medium caramel and
malt body and moderate carbon-
ation.”
94
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
LOC: Asheville, North Carolina
ABV: 4.45% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Brett pale ale brewed with red roselle
hibiscus and aged for eleven months
in French oak red wine barrels with
Brettanomyces and then bottle condi-
tioned. More funky than sour, lighter
in color and hoppy.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Slight sweet and tart com-
plexity from the hibiscus. A
touch of Brett similar to horse blanket
with some spicy clove phenols, too.
Moderate banana esters and some
vanilla.”
Flavor: “Moderate tartness and
carbonation up front with hibiscus and
light sweetness. Mild hops bitterness
that blends well with the leather and
barnyard Brett flavor. Moderate acidity,
with a touch of bubblegum.”
Overall: “Good Brett character with
a mild sweetness and a big hibiscus
flavor that dominates at times. Good
carbonation levels for the style keeps
the sweetness in check.”
92
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
LOC: Austin, Texas
ABV: 6.8% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Our effort to mimic the flavors of New
Zealand sauvignon blanc involved
taking farmhouse ale fermented in
oak barrels with our mixed culture
of brewers yeast, native yeast, and
native bacteria, blending the barrels,
then adding dried elderflowers and
Nelson Sauvin hops to the blend.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Pleasant peppercorn and
flower with a touch of soapiness. Peach
and star fruit, citrusy, herbal tea, and
pear.”
Flavor: “The flower character blends
well with an almost grape sweetness.
Flavors of pear, peach, apricot, passion
fruit, lime, and light raspberry. Finishes
with a linger of lemongrass, light sour,
and hoppy spiciness.”
Overall: “Lots of fun stone fruit and
tropical aroma, which blends nicely
with the sour. Although very acidic, it’s
very well balanced overall. Spiciness
and flavor of the hops pair well with the
herbal elderflower flavor. Sour tames a
bit as it warms and comes in balance
with the hops and spices.”
93
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 91
| SPICED SOUR, WILD & MIXED FERMENTATION ALES |
Odell Brewing Perennial
Green Coyote Artisan Ales
Hopfentea
LOC: Fort Collins, Colorado
ABV: 5.1% | IBUs: 9 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Green Coyote Tomatillo Sour is
our bright, crisp take on a classic
German- style Berliner weisse. A
bountiful spring harvest of tomatillo
fruit creates a slight sweetness and
tangy bite, while subtle notes of kiwi,
cucumber, and lemon howl alongside
tartness on the tongue.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Moderate tartness, lemon-
grass, grapefruit, light strawberry,
and caramel. Some undefined
spiciness with whiffs of white grape
and vanilla.”
Flavor: “Medium sourness with big
lemon flavors similar to lemonade with-
out the sweetness. Pineapple, lemon,
and white grape and a slight pepper
phenolic add complexity. An earthy funk
adds interest to an otherwise light beer.
You can tell it’s brewed with some sort
of kettle souring process, from the mild
phenolic component.”
Overall: “Tasty Berliner that’s not
overly sour and mostly citrus forward
with a slight bite. There’s enough body
to balance the acidity. A simple summer
slammer with a bit of an edge.”
88
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 9
92 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
LOC: St. Louis, Missouri
ABV: 4.2% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A wave of tropical fruit and spice
brightens this lively, tart wheat ale,
taking the German Berliner weisse
tradition on an island run. Hopfentea,
steeped on a house-made tea blend of
dried mango, papaya, hibiscus, and
lemongrass, pairs well with light ap-
petizers, salads, and high humidity.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Citrus fruit up front with light
lemon and lime mixed with tea leaves,
mango, pineapple plus a light spiciness
and low vanilla.”
Flavor: “The lemon lactic tartness
of the Berliner hits with notes of
mango and a little pineapple. The tea
character provides some earthiness
and complexity throughout the taste
with big fruitiness of pomegranate,
blood orange, lemon, and lime. Nice
carbonation. Refreshing through the
finish.”
Overall: “A lot of fun things going on
in this beer. The tea, fruit notes, and
Berliner all added to the taste and led
to a balance between tartness and
fruitiness. Easy drinking and perfect for
summer afternoons outdoors.”
94
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
The Rare TRVE Brew-
Barrel Across ing Ostara
the Sea (2017) (2017)
LOC: Berkeley, California
ABV: 5.8% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A blend of golden sour beers aged
in oak barrels with coriander and sea
salt. Fermented and soured with a
medley of microorganisms.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Belgium esters with light
clove spiciness, bubblegum, salty
lemon, medium malt toast, and Brett.”
Flavor: “Definitely rocks the gose
thing. Lemon tartness is mild but
pleasant. Huge coriander here, but
doesn’t get all woody, sharp, or
astringent the way that overdone
coriander can be. Tart finish offers the
strongest bit of briny salt. Salt lingers
from there, like a spicy margarita.”
Overall: “This beer has a lot of
complexity that comes together well.
The sour lactic notes and acidity are in
check with the sweetness and tartness.
The tartness and sea salt play well
together, and I could see this being
served next to some salty chips and
salsa. The perfect beer for after a long
bike ride.”
93
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
LOC: Denver, Colorado
ABV: 6.9% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Golden sour ale with dandelion, lemon
peel, and lemongrass.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Lemongrass aroma with light
vegetable notes. Light bready malt.
Faint peppery phenols with citrus
lemon and melon.”
Flavor: “Delicate and refreshing, the
tartness hits up front with notes of
lemon but fades through the taste.
Fresh lemongrass emerges with a slight
candy sweetness and carries through.
Light in body, but it has enough flavor
to keep it interesting. Finishes with a
touch of melon.”
Overall: “Big fun fruit notes and
a good balance. This is a relatively
complex beer that manages to seem
simple and be refreshing. As it warms
the flavors come into balance with
lemongrass and light vegetable, which
is probably the dandelion.”
91
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9

Upland Adelbert’s
Brewing Petal Hibiscus
to the Kettle Saison
LOC: Indianapolis, Indiana
ABV: 6% | IBUs: 5 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“The aroma is of tart strawberries,
lemon, and grapefruit with floral notes
of rose and hibiscus. The flavor has
a distinctly tart grapefruit character
supported by peach, strawberry, and
delicate hints of floral perfume.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Nice balance of sweet
strawberry with hibiscus and light
tartness. Refreshing and bright. Light
malt sweetness, toasty caramel, some
cherry, and light floral notes with a
touch of honey.”
Flavor: “Notes of strawberry provide
some fruitiness and sweetness. Nicely
balanced acidity. Plenty of fruity esters:
berry, strawberry jam, light acidity, a
touch of lemon, with light honey notes.
The hibiscus and rose give a light
floral flavor with a mild tartness in the
finish.”
Overall: “Sweet, but not too sweet.
Very pleasant and refreshing. Just right
for those who enjoy meads or fruit
wines. Hops profile on this beer is light
and blended in well with the fruit and
hibiscus.”
95
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
| SPICED BELGIAN-STYLE ALES |
LOC: Austin, Texas
ABV: 5.6% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Brewed with hibiscus flowers and dry
hopped with Citra, this ale blends a
hint of tartness with tropical fruit and
citrus notes. We recommend pairing it
with fresh fruit salad, lemon tarts, or
Hawaiian pulled pork.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Light berry and spicy aroma,
and as it warms, a slight herbal note
starts to come out. It has a surprisingly
hoppy nose that is a little dank and
resinous. Floral sweetness from the
hibiscus along with some cherry esters
and a light peppery backing.”
Flavor: “Light and delicate. Sweet and
tart from the hibiscus notes. Medium
body, light malt sweetness, a touch
low on the carbonation for a saison,
moderate acidity, light lemon, touch
of hops floral notes and grassy, some
light black pepper. Aftertaste is sweet
with a slight acidity and a very light
bitterness.”
Overall: “The delicate nature of the
saison body and the sweet/tartness
of the hibiscus are enjoyable. But the
carbonation is quite a bit low, making
the beer border on cloyingly sweet.”
86
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 8
Great Divide Mother’sBlush!
Nadia Kali Hi- Pomegranate
biscus Saison Hibiscus Wit
LOC: Denver, Colorado
ABV: 56.3% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Nadia Kali is an inspired saison with
cross-cultural influence. Nadia’s ruby
pink glow comes from a generous infu-
sion of hibiscus, while ginger root gives
it a subtle spice and a hint of woodsy
maturity, and lemon peel adds a citrus
tartness to keep you on your toes.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Some nice malt sweetness.
Some pepper and tartness. As it
warms, a spiciness comes through
mixed with the hibiscus.”
Flavor: “The flavor of this beer hits
with some earthiness and pepper char-
acter. The spice notes carry through
the taste. Some sweetness from the
hibiscus. A little on the sweet side, but
that plays well with the hibiscus. Clean
tart finish. In the back sits some light
malt sweetness with a little tartness.
The carbonation is moderate.”
Overall: “The joy is the balance
between hibiscus and saison. The
moderate hibiscus and spiciness bite
up front have the intensity of an IPA.”
86
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 8
LOC: Springfield, Missouri
ABV: 5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A subtly fruity and quenching Belgian
wit brewed to stand up to summer’s
swelter. Bright, mildly floral and tart;
guaranteed to inspire deeds that will
make you blush.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Nice wit character: orange
peel, light phenols, floral hibiscus
seems to be there and fits in nicely.
There’s a sweet undertone too, tied to
the hibiscus, as well as some toasty
malt and graham cracker.”
Flavor: “Although it is refreshing and
clean, the flavor doesn’t quite live up to
the nose. The fruity pomegranate berry
character is nice with some sweet-
ness and fruit notes. It has a delicate
tartness and the hibiscus adds depth
and works well with the berries.”
Overall: “Beautiful nose, tolerable
flavor. An interesting mix of tart pome-
granate and high carbonation with an
underlying wheat note. Herbal is in the
middle and quickly dissipates into the
aftertaste.”
85
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 7
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 93
| SPICED BELGIAN-STYLE ALES |
Novel Brewing SamuelAdams Terrapin
Hibiscus Boston Tea Blueberry
Saison Party Saison Thyme Saison Hibiscus Wit
LOC: Berkeley, California
ABV: 7% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A lemon to berry-like flavor from the
generous use of dried hibiscus flowers
in the kettle and in the fermentor,
which gives the beer a pink to ruby red
appearance. A subtle citrus character
is produced from the hops to offset
the slight bitter and spicy note that
refreshes the palate.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Hibiscus comes across as a
mix of raspberry and cranberry. There’s
some orange peel and a fair amount of
herbal, faintly soapy, and grassy-like
wet hay.”
Flavor: “The base beer brings some
light malt body to play off of the
esters from the hibiscus. Great fruity
tartness up front, but some mild
oxidation, and a slight smoky phenol.”
Overall: “Fruity, funky, and dry. Some
might find the saison fermentation
character is a bit over the top and that
it detracts from the rest of the beer,
but there are some great tart notes
from the hibiscus.”
86
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 8
94 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Transmitter
Brewing W3
LOC: Boston, Massachusetts
ABV: 7.4% | IBUs: 25 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A bi-coastal twist on the classic
Belgian style, combining Woods’s yerba
mate-infused saison with Sam Adams’s
wild yeast blend. Mate’s earthy spice
plays on the funky bacteria and gives
a signature snap to the amber saison’s
traditional dry finish.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Lots of spicy things that come
across a bit like smoky phenols. There’s
an almost fishy character, but it fades
to a touch of coriander, fenugreek,
maple, and ginger. There’s also strong
graham cracker, molasses, and cara-
mel malt. Inviting.”
Flavor: “Fruity with overripe pear and
peach. Spicy and slightly smoky phe-
nols. If there’s tea, they added plenty of
milk. This is sort of a chai beer with an
overripe banana sweetness along with
funky earthy notes. Nothing sticks out
or is overwhelming, and overall the beer
is nicely balance.”
Overall: “Lots of spicy, a bit of smoky,
and somewhat fruity character—great
complexity and balance, but it’s not
exactly easy drinking. Probably would
pair well with some spicy Thai food.”
88
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
LOC: Athens, Georgia
ABV: 9.1% | IBUs: 22 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Our newest saison is a blend of fresh
summer flavors. The tart sweetness
of ripe blueberries combined with the
floral warmth of thyme evoke garden
memories in this culinary-inspired
brew.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “If you’ve got the money,
I’ve got the thyme. And this beer has
plenty to spare. It smells like taking
fresh thyme with some rosemary and
grinding it with a mortar and pestle.
Very light blueberry and a light malt
sweetness with a touch a smoke.”
Flavor: “The first sip isn’t as intense as
the aroma. There is a Belgian-like char-
acter to this beer with grapes, plums,
and blueberries that transitions into a
light thyme flavor that grows to moder-
ate by the end of the glass. Heavy body
with light carbonation and a touch of
alcohol warming and smoke.”
Overall: “There is a nice complexity
and the blend between the earthy spice
and thyme with fruit sweetness. Some
might find it a bit too herbal. A beer to
cook with.”
86
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 8
LOC: Long Island City, New York
ABV: 6.8% | IBUs: 48 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Belgian-style wit has subtle shades of
pink and red from the hibiscus and a
bright citrus flavor from the orange peel
and hops additions.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Strawberry and banana with a
touch of super overripe fruit sweetness.
Very strong coriander aroma with a
complex funky tartness—hints of
lemongrass, rose, and light fruit.”
Flavor: “Lots of red berry and hibiscus
with citrus, lemon, tangerine, and light
peppery notes followed by a bit of black
tea. Body is thick and a bit more chewy
than expected for the general style. Fin-
ish is dry, slight spicy, and astringent,
with persisting tart fruit character.”
Overall: “This is not a subtle beer. The
spicy and dry character of a wit pairs
nicely with the tart fruit character from
the hibiscus. Interesting fermentation
character adds some complexity, and
overall the balance is well done. This
beer is about the balance of sweet and
sour, and it delivers both with some
intensity.”
84
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 8
| SPICED STOUTS |
Ballast Point
Cinnamon
Raison
Commodore
LOC: San Diego, California
ABV: 6.5% | IBUs: 62 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“To a gold medal–winning American
stout first born in our R&D program, our
brewers added cinnamon and raisins.
The result is just the right amount of
sweet and spice, with roasty maltiness
at the helm.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Coffee and chocolate with
light smokiness. There’s a light raisin
sweetness, and the cinnamon is woody
with a slight dark fruit background and
touches of vanilla.”
Flavor: “Nice roast notes, dark toasted
bread, caramel, and huge cinnamon
character, almost overpowering on the
retronasal. Nice roundness adds some
richness. The raisins add a com-
plexity. Moderate chocolate. Creamy
consistency with moderate carbonation.
Finishes with a long cinnamon flavor
and spiciness that lingers.”
Overall: “If you don’t like cinnamon,
this beer isn’t for you. It sticks around
throughout the sip and well into the
aftertaste. Underlying chocolate,
coffee, and malt sweetness mix with
raisins and try to come up to the level
of the cinnamon but fail.”
92
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 9
TOP
RATED
Mother’s
Brewing
Rated R
LOC: Springfield, Missouri
ABV: 11.8% | IBUs: 52 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Imperial wheat stout emboldened by
the addition of Askinosie Honduras
cocoa nibs, Coffee Ethic’s Burundi
cold-brew coffee, and vanilla beans
that we cut open and scraped out. The
result is complex, rich, and dry.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Medium-strong coffee and
light vanilla up front with some dark
chocolate. Roasty and toasty.”
Flavor: “Vanilla and loooots of dark
chocolate bring a richness to the flavor
and round things out. Lots of roast and
toast. Moderately sweet with moder-
ately intense bitterness. Boozy. Light
tart fruitiness, perhaps cherry? Sweet
chocolate-mocha drink!”
Overall: “Good beer. Intense chocolate,
roast, bitterness, and booze. Chocolate
and coffee roast with a mild sweetness
and a light alcohol lingering. This beer
is rich and delivers a sophisticated
experience for those who like their
cacao 70% and above.”
91
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
Prairie
Bomb!
LOC: Tulsa, Oklahoma
ABV: 13% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Bomb! is an imperial stout aged on
coffee, chocolate, vanilla beans, and
ancho chile peppers. The peppers
add just the right amount of heat to
complement the intense coffee and
chocolate flavors.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Huge earthy coffee with some
chile spice behind it. Chocolate is well
in behind that, with maybe a hint of
cinnamon. Moderate caramel, vanilla,
and maybe nutmeg. Dark toasted malt
as expected for a big stout.”
Flavor: “Coffee with lots of chocolate,
like a milk-chocolate bar. Cinnamon
and chile pepper behind that. Moder-
ately high sweetness with moderate
bitterness. Milky, lactose consistency
makes the chocolate sweeter and keeps
the heat down. A bit boozy. The malt
brings a nice richness, and the coffee
dries things out.”
Overall: “Like a coffee, cinnamon,
chile pepper, chocolate bar—does a
great job of blending coffee with the
usual suspects. A rich beer. Paired with
dessert, it would be wonderful. Share
this bottle.”
96
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 20
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Shmaltz
Reunion
Ale ’16
LOC: Clifton Park, New York
ABV: 8% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Complex dark ale brewed with choc-
olate, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, vanilla,
ginger, and Mexican chile pepper.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Smells like spiced mulled
rum! Moderate fall spices (pumpkin,
clove, cinnamon, vanilla) with moderate
alcohol. Malt brings some nice caramel
richness.”
Flavor: “Some dark toasty and slightly
roasted malt with maybe a touch
of caramel. Moderate sweetness,
dark fruitiness of plum and raisins,
spiciness with cinnamon. Medium
sherry, oxidized flavors. Medium alcohol
warming.”
Overall: “Very sweet with big raisin,
plum, and dark fruitiness. Lots of spice
and a touch roasty. A bit dry. Spices
linger pleasantly in the aftertaste.
Winter warmer, holiday beer.”
92
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 95
| SPICED BARREL-AGED STOUTS & PORTERS |
Avery Brewing Bent Paddle Bottle Logic
Nuttiest Double Shot Leche
Professor Double Black Borracho
LOC: Boulder, Colorado
ABV: 15.2% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Unwilling to compromise, years of
experimentation haave finally yielded a
beer that uses real peanuts to create
a rich and decadent stout that allows
all elements—the bourbon character,
peanuts, and dark malts—to shine.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Boozy, soy sauce, licorice,
peanut butter (maybe) with rounded
rich chocolate and roasty, toasty malt.”
Flavor: “Sweet, rich chocolate with
hints of marshmallow and toast.
Soy sauce, peanuts, roast, and dark
chocolate. Strong and sweet with an
underlying umami aspect. Big and
assertive alcohol presence.”
Overall: “This is a fantastic bar-
rel-aged stout with a lot going on. Lots
of umami and soy sauce and a nice
peanut character that tastes like the
nuts themselves and not overly-sweet-
ened peanut butter. Rich and intense
with a note on the end reminiscent of
smoked meat. It’s a ‘trick’ beer but
a fun one at that—very strong and
smooth—be careful how much you
drink!”
93
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
96 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
LOC: Duluth, Minnesota
ABV: 11.2% | IBUs: 52 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“This robust version of our black
ale features a smooth, chocolaty,
semi-roasted malt profile that balances
out the doubled strength. Notes of oak
and whiskey from an extended aging
period in bourbon barrels. Features a
‘double shot’ of both cold-press coffee
and whole-bean vanilla for an extra
level of flavor complexity.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Huge tobacco and vanilla.
Slight chile pepper phenolic with a
decent hint of chocolate. Lots of oak
and vanilla from the barrel. There’s
some whiskey and oakiness, too.”
Flavor: “Rich complex roasty character
—chocolate and coffee up front—with
a huge tobacco kick. The vanilla from
the barrel adds richness and rounds
things out. The coffee is earthy and
adds a rich blackberry-like ester. Heavy
body with mild carbonation. It finishes
semidry with a light bitterness.”
Overall: “Lots of chocolate, coffee, and
vanilla. Sweet up front, but dry finish
overall. Strong and flavorful, and all-to-
drinkable. A bit hot on the alcohol but
time will help that.”
95
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
LOC: Anaheim, California
ABV: 11% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Brewed with ancho and chipotle
peppers, cinnamon, cacao nibs, and
lactose sugar. We aged half the brew
in charred tequila barrels to develop
layers of smoky cigar and not-so-subtle
heat while its counterpart met with
bourbon barrels for lingering, velvety
richness.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Sweet and bold cinnamon,
bourbon, caramel, and chocolate up
front, with a hint of plum, raisin, and
moderate boozy alcohol.”
Flavor: “Bold cinnamon and heat up
front, with the barrel character following
closely behind, coming through as bour-
bon, almond, and toffee, with caramel
malt sweetness and milk chocolate.
There’s a nice heat from the peppers.
Finish is spicy but not overwhelming.”
Overall: “Bourbon, cinnamon, and
vanilla all underlined and tied together
with the barrel character. Sweet
cinnamon on display with the base beer
serving to support all the crazy flavor
but not getting in the way. A delicate
and masterful balancing act pulling
these flavors together in such a clear
and compelling way.”
99
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 20
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Brew
Gentlemen
The End
LOC: Braddock, Pennsylvania
ABV: 10.2% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“A Russian imperial stout with vanilla,
aged in whiskey barrels.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Cocoa powder, bittersweet
chocolate, and coffee notes, supported
by a crystal malt sweetness, reminis-
cent of caramel, with a hint of freshly
cut oak chips at the end.”
Flavor: “Rich dark chocolate. The
vanilla is fairly subtle and brings out
the chocolate character rather than
sticking out as vanilla. A bit of oak
and toasty marshmallow reinforce the
campfire feel. Mild roast gives way to
some sugar sweetness.”
Overall: “Great example of the style
that’s absolutely delicious if just a bit
too safe to be truly one-of-a-kind. Great
balance between malt, barrel, adjuncts,
and mouthfeel with a depth of quality
in the defining vanilla character that
sets it apart. There are some top-tier
barrel-aged stouts with vanilla that
I enjoy more than this, but you could
count the number of them on your
fingers alone.”
98
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Cerebral
Vanilla Here
Be Monsters
LOC: Denver, Colorado
ABV: 13.1% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Brewed with Maris Otter and copious
amounts of English chocolate and
crystal malt. Aged twelve months
in Woodford Reserve barrels, then
conditioned on Madagascar Bourbon
vanilla beans.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Bold, rich vanilla up front,
with a hint of sweet tobacco, followed
closely by bourbon, notes of caramel
and toffee, and a crystal and chocolate
malt sweetness.”
Flavor: “Very creamy, sweet, and barrel
forward. Medium toasty bitterness with
smooth warming after each sip. Cookie
batter–like flavor with heavy vanilla
and sweetness. Like bourbon-infused,
espresso fudge brownies, with choco-
late ganache. Unreal finish, with vanilla
and bourbon lingering nicely. As it
warms, the barrel comes out, revealing
rich fruit character.”
Overall: “This beer epitomizes all of
the best characteristics of the style,
with an amazing representation of the
base beer, vanilla, and barrel character.
Incredible!”
98
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Cigar City Cycle Brewing Deschutes
Double Barrel Monday 2016 Black Butte
Hunahpu B2 XXIX
LOC: Tampa, Florida
ABV: 11.5% | IBUs: 80 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“An imperial stout conditioned on
Peruvian cacao nibs, ancho and pasilla
chiles, cinnamon, and Madagascar
vanilla beans. After brewing, half of
the final beer was aged in brandy
barrels and the other half was aged in
rum barrels before both were blended
together and bottled.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Vanilla, booze barrel, bright
blueberry and apricot aromas. Strong
earthy pepper aroma, molasses,
bittersweet chocolate, and a hint of
green pepper.”
Flavor: “Strong caramel malt and
alcohol sweetness with a strong
vegetal note, maybe from the peppers.
Significant chile heat, some cherry cola
notes along with cinnamon and soy
sauce.”
Overall: “Starts out well with the base
malt but the vegetal pepper character
really takes away from the overall
experience of the beer. Nice cinnamon
notes—a bit like atomic fireballs with
alcohol. Overall, in the context of the
other beers we’re reviewing with it, it
struggles to provide the same level of
enjoyment and pleasure.”
83
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 16
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 8
LOC: St. Petersburg, Florida
ABV: 10.5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Maple bourbon barrel–aged coffee
cinnamon imperial stout.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Cinnamon covered almonds
and dark chocolate up front, with a
pleasant bourbon note coming through.
There’s smoky chile peppers, with
underlying barrel character, heavy
aromas of dark fruit, and a fair amount
of oxidation.”
Flavor: “Rich cinnamon and dark and
bittersweet chocolate open up to bour-
bon, vanilla, and just a hint of coffee
and smoke. Barrel character is present
throughout, but not overwhelming.
Malt is supportive, but mostly there as
a canvas for the adjuncts and barrel.
Finishes warm with just a hint of
sweetness, balanced by the spice.”
Overall: “Complex and nuanced spiced
stout that taps into a lot of bold flavors,
but suffers a touch with a slight as-
tringent, chalky, maybe even tart finish.
Otherwise, well executed.”
93
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
LOC: Bend, Oregon
ABV: 12% | IBUs: 55 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Every year, we celebrate our anni-
versary with an imperial, barrel-aged
version of our flagship Black Butte
Porter. This year, to celebrate twen-
ty-nine years of brewing, we’ve added
chocolate malt, cocoa, and cinnamon
for another multi-layered flavor
experience.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Really fruity. Plum, raisin,
dark cherry, blackberry, banana, cherry
cola, and sherry notes dominate, with
very little malt or adjuncts coming
through. Slight spiciness of cinnamon
and a touch of nutmeg.”
Flavor: “More blueberry fruit up front
with malt sweetness washing over the
entire palate. The flavor lingers with
flavor of nutmeg, light amounts of dark
cocoa, and a mild barrel character.”
Overall: “Lots of fruit and lots of
sweetness. The barrel is subtle. On
paper, the combination of spices and
ingredients should be an easy slam
dunk, but this beer is an example of
how ingredients alone do not make the
beer. It’s a thin, overspiced, cloying,
and nowhere near as enjoyable as other
beers we’ve had in the flight.”
74
AROMA: 9
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 15
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 7
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 97
| SPICED BARREL-AGED STOUTS & PORTERS |
Jackie O’s Jack’s Abby
Bourbon Bar- Mole Barrel-
rel Oro Negro Aged Fram-
inghammer
LOC: Athens, Ohio
ABV: 11.5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Oil of Aphrodite with cacao, habenero,
oak, cinnamon, and vanilla.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Cinnamon up front with a hint
of mint, milk chocolate, and bourbon.
Medium strong coffee, some light chile
pepper, background cinnamon,
apricot, cherry, blueberry, and very
nice overall fruit esters. Chocolate and
cinnamon with some toasty graham
character.”
Flavor: “Smoked raisins, nutty, and
assertive pepper. Chocolate finish helps
tame the chile. Tannins and spice are
heavy on this beer and there’s a slight
bit of oxidation.”
Overall: “Glimpses of greatness, but
ultimately the spice overwhelms all
the other aspects, making it a touch
more difficult to enjoy. A bigger malt
backbone and higher carbonation
would really help to balance, as well as
a dialed-back pepper character.”
89
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 17
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 9
98 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
LOC: Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 13% | IBUs: 45 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Aged in bourbon barrels with
cocoa nibs, chile peppers, and whole
cinnamon sticks. The conditioning
period in the barrels creates a silky
smooth chocolaty mouthfeel enhanced
by the use of oats and brown sugar.
Noticeable sweetness gets balanced by
roasted malt and hops bitterness.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Dark fruit, cinnamon, cacao
nibs up front, with a hint of bourbon
and coffee. Strawberry and a bit of
oxidation. Cinnamon spice and medium
barrel character.”
Flavor: “Heavy amounts of fruit. Cher-
ries mixed with red hots mix with malt
sweetness and toffee caramel notes
from the barrel. There’s a bit of smoky
chile, graham cracker, and toasty malt,
too. Cinnamon and plum on the finish.”
Overall: “Well executed, if not subtle
and dialed back, example of the style,
which is surprisingly refreshing. Not too
full-bodied, not overly adjuncted, and
not too much barrel character. Maybe
the most drinkable example of the style,
especially considering the alcohol.”
89
AROMA: 10
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 9
TOP
RATED
Jack’s Abby Perennial
Vanilla Barrel- Barrel-Aged
Aged Fram- Abraxas
inghammer
LOC: Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 10% | IBUs: 45 | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Aged in bourbon barrels with vanilla
beans. The lengthy conditioning period
in the barrels creates a silky smooth
chocolaty mouth feel enhanced by
the use of oats and brown sugar.
Noticeable sweetness gets balanced
by roasted malt and hops bitterness.
Additional flavors include bourbon,
vanilla, and oak.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Cocoa Puffs cereal. Maybe a
hint of vanilla. Roasty and toasty. Some
boozy alcohol with a touch of light
vegetal.”
Flavor: “Big time vanilla in the flavor.
Very sweet with moderate bitterness
and boozy alcohol to balance. The body
throughout is deceiving, given the
high ABV. Finishes dry with a rounded,
lingering, alcoholic warmth. Roast malt
is light, reminiscent of a biscotti.”
Overall: “Crazy complex and a lot of
fun to drink. This one is dangerous.”
91
AROMA: 11
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 18
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
LOC: St. Louis, Missouri
ABV: 11% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Imperial stout aged twelve months
in Rittenhouse Rye barrels with cacao
nibs, vanilla beans, ancho chiles, and
cinnamon sticks.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Smoky chile notes, with
cinnamon and vanilla also strong. Hints
of plum, sweet tobacco. The base stout’s
slight bit of chocolate malt and roast
reminds one of French-roast coffee with
some maple sweetness.”
Flavor: “Notes of dried plums, apricots,
cinnamon, chiles. The balance is spot
on. The roast base helps balance the
sweetness and chocolate, and the
barrel brings things together with deep
toffee flavor.”
Overall: “The barrel character is
incredible, only made better by the
base beer and adjuncts. Complexity is
off the charts, while still maintaining a
surprising level of drinkability. Beyond
the flavors, the mouthfeel truly sets this
apart. Rich, viscous, and full-bodied, but
not cloying and just enough backbone to
hold the line for the flavors. This is the
standard by which all other stouts in this
category should be measured.”
100
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 20
MOUTHFEEL: 5
OVERALL: 10
Perennial
Barrel-Aged
17
LOC: St. Louis, Missouri
ABV: 11.5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“BA 17 is the barrel-aged version of
our imperial mint chocolate stout. It’s
a blend of select barrels of our imperial
stout, which have been aging in Ritten-
house Rye Barrels for more than a year
before being infused with cocoa nibs,
dried peppermint, and Madagascar
vanilla beans.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Mint chocolate chip ice
cream, an Andes mint, with just a hint
of rum-like sweetness and a touch of
blackstrap molasses. Whiskey and light
wood, too.”
Flavor: “Minty as all get out. It adds
a refreshing character to the rich
chocolate and malt, making it like dark
chocolate Peppermint Patties, without
the peppermint burn. Sweet spirits,
almost like sugar rum in the finish.”
Overall: “If you like mint and choco-
late, this is the beer for you. All with
a nice barrel character that isn’t too
overpowering. It’s rich, and the mental
association of mint with sweetness
makes it seem sweeter than it actually
is, but you should be sharing a bottle
like this with friends anyway.”
97
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 19
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Side Project
Derivation 6
LOC: Maplewood, Missouri
ABV: 15% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“This is a blend of imperial stouts
that were aged in 8- and 12-year-old
bourbon barrels for 16 to 28 months
with cinnamon sticks, cacao nibs, and
vanilla beans.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Spiced fudge for days. Lots of
dark chocolate, cinnamon. Underlying
toasty and roasty malt. There’s a deep
sweetness of dark maple, and the
barrel brings all the character of vanilla
along for the ride.”
Flavor: “Rich chocolate malts, cinnamon,
and vanilla finish. There’s some booze
and barrel to balance, but there’s a lot of
sweetness. Sweet chocolate, almost choc-
olate syrup–like, with candied almonds
and cinnamon. Caramel malt sweetness
comes through, with bourbon and even a
hint of coconut. Very low carbonation is
just a notch or two above still.”
Overall: “This is a big-beer lovers
dream—fudge chocolate brownie batter
that your kid accidentally spilled some
cinnamon in. Incredibly sweet, almost
syrupy, yet not as cloying as expected and
works surprisingly well with the adjuncts
and barrel character. Subtle spice charac-
ter works great with the bourbon.”
99
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 20
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
Three Floyds
Barrel-Aged
Dark Lord De
Muerte
LOC: Munster, Indiana
ABV: 15% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Dark Lord aged in bourbon barrels
with guajillo peppers.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Concord grapes and cherry
cough syrup followed up by pumpkin.
There’s some chocolate in there and
maybe some spice. But a lot of root
vegetables, such as sweet potato
and carrots. Weirdly reminiscent of
processed baby food.”
Flavor: “Earthy maple sweetness up
front. It’s quickly crushed by waves of
pepper heat. The beer is thick, but it’s
hot from spice and alcohol heat. Lot of
fruit in there, squash, concord grape,
and artificial cherry. Very sweet and
syrupy with a touch of umami.”
Overall: “The thick and viscous body
is visually exciting, but one whiff of
carrots and peas in the nose jolts you
back to reality. On the sip, it gets a bit
better at first with a touch of barrel
sweetness, but then the vegetal pepper
notes catch up and the heat starts to
sear the painful memory into a deep
part of your psyche that no amount
of counseling can cure. Booze and
vegetables. Hot and weird.”
79
AROMA: 9
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 15
MOUTHFEEL: 3
OVERALL: 8
Westbrook
Barrel-Aged
Mexican
Cake (Willet)
LOC: Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
ABV: 10.5% | IBUs: N/A | SRM: N/A
What the brewer says
“Mexican Cake—aged in Willett
bourbon barrels.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Dark chocolate and sweet,
fruity peppers, coupled with a very
complex barrel character, with hints
of vanilla, graham cracker, cinnamon,
almond, and sweet tobacco.”
Flavor: “Like the most complex,
flavorful chocolate truffle you have ever
tasted...milk chocolate, cinnamon, pep-
pers, coffee, vanilla, all supported by a
complex yet balanced barrel character.
It brings it all together with oak and
mild tannins. Just enough sweetness
and alcohol lingering on the finish.”
Overall: “Incredible beer on all
aspects: barrel character, base beer,
and adjuncts. For such a complex
beer, the balance is sophisticated and
self-assured. Barrel notes of tobacco,
coconut provide the perfect accent to
any residual sweetness, and the pepper
heat is dialed perfectly. Every sip is a
rich and luxurious experience. Aces!”
98
AROMA: 12
APPEARANCE: 3
FLAVOR: 20
MOUTHFEEL: 4
OVERALL: 10
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 99
| BUSINESS OF BEER |
THE BUSINESS OF BEER
Keepers
of the Craft
By pursuing their ambition and following their heart, Colorado’s Purpose
Brewing and Cellars (and the thousands of small and independent breweries
like it) play a crucial role in keeping the “craft” in craft beer. By Tom Wilmes
“I’VE NEVER SEEN ART repeated,”
Peter Bouckaert says in the course of
describing the intent behind Purpose
Brewing and Cellars. “Whenever you
come in, we want you to be surprised by
what’s on tap. Maybe you’re going to love
it, maybe you’re going to hate it, but that’s
okay because art comes in many forms.”
Given Bouckaert’s twenty-one-year
tenure as brewmaster at New Belgium
Brewing Company and his influence as a
vanguard brewer in the craft-beer move-
ment, odds are that customers will find
plenty to appreciate among the beers cre-
ated at Purpose Brewing, a newly opened
nanobrewery in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Bouckaert and his wife, Frezi, are
partners with husband-and-wife Zach and
Laura Wilson in the venture. As Bouckaert
transitions from his high-profile role at
New Belgium, the country’s fourth largest
craft brewer, he is looking forward to
rekindling a more direct connection with
the brewers’ art. Rather than striving for
scale, repeatability, continuous growth,
and market penetration, Purpose Brewing
is wholly dedicated to the celebration of
beauty—and fleeting beauty, at that.
100 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Batch sizes are miniscule—Bouckaert
and Wilson are brewing on a 4-hectoliter
system—and distribution will largely
be limited to the beers that pass across
the bar to customers in the small tasting
room. When the lease is up on their
current storefront location, the partners
plan to establish more permanent roots
for Purpose Brewing on a small farm on
the outskirts of town where they can grow
more of their own ingredients and patrons
can enjoy a bucolic atmosphere as they sip
beers inspired by the natural setting.
“When you pick up a 6-pack of beer
from a liquor store, you’re not necessar-
ily thinking or concerned about what
ingredients went into it and where the
ingredients came from,” Wilson says.
“And there’s nothing wrong with that, but
we’re trying to do something that’s maybe
a little more similar to a winery, in the
sense that it brings the customer just a
little bit closer to nature.
“We want to make beers that represent
the moment,” he says. “We’re not so much
focused on style as on interpretations of
what we feel in our hearts. We really hope
that we can do justice to the ingredients
Opposite » Peter Bouckaert,
Laura Wilson, and Zach
Wilson of Purpose Brewing.
that we use by turning them into some-
thing that’s purely and truly unique. It’s
art; it’s not something we can re-create,
and we’re okay with that.”
Thanks to Big Beer
In many ways, small-scale resolutely arti-
sanal breweries such as Purpose Brewing
would not exist without big beer. The
craft-beer movement began with a hand-
ful of ambitious homebrewers who built
businesses around offering more flavorful
and diverse alternatives to mass-produced
light lagers. As those breweries grew and
helped change consumers’ perceptions
about what constitutes American beer,
many of those early pioneers grew into
the cornerstones of what would become
the craft-beer industry. And as craft beer
continues to mature and gain market
share, much of the focus has shifted to the
growing creep of big beer’s influence and
investment interest in the industry and
the increasingly blurred boundary that
distinguishes “craft” from “beer.”
It’s an important distinction to make
clear and one that the Brewers Associa-
tion, the not-for-profit trade organization
dedicated to promoting and protecting
small and independent American brew-
ers, is wholly invested in defending. And
while the often divisive moves happening
at the pinnacles of craft garner the lion’s

share of attention, there’s also contin-
ued movement happening among the
industry’s much broader and dispersed
base—among the thousands of small and
independent craft breweries that have
since appeared in the space opened up
by these bigger brewers. That movement
illustrates the complicated relationship
between commodity and craft and why
independent ownership matters.
Consider coffee. For many years and in
many American households, coffee came
in a vacuum-sealed canister and one brand
was more or less interchangeable with the
next. Then, as Americans became more
affluent and access to more and varied
types of coffee increased, tastes changed
and became more discriminating.
This shift happened across almost
every type of food and beverage as small
producers offered up alternatives to the
status quo. Some recognized opportunity
in this trend and found ways to replicate a
more craft-like approach at scale, reaching
a much wider audience and accelerating
change in the process. But as what was
once unique became commonplace, many
consumers grew thirsty for new and novel
expressions. This in turn has helped cre-
PHOTO: JAMIE BOGNER
ate a receptive audience for the next gen-
eration of small, independent producers,
many of whom are exploring increasingly
niche directions and a hyper-local ap-
proach as they seek to further differentiate
themselves and their craft.
Says Bouckaert, “If you consider when
craft beer started, we had gas station
coffee. We had Wonder Bread. The pen-
dulum had swung toward something that
was perfected and utilitarian—but it didn’t
have anything to do with taste.
“Now, thirty or forty years later, we are in
a whole different era where we have wines
in the United States that people dare to com-
pare on a worldwide scale. We have beer
in this country that can easily out-compete
anybody in the world. Coffee is probably
there. Chocolate. We’re so lucky. We could
never have done something like this if Sam
Adams and Sierra Nevada were not around,
if this whole environment hadn’t changed,”
he says. “And now I think about beer in a
different environment. Who do we want to
be? What is our craft?”
The Hallmarks of Craft
That spirit of constant innovation and
reinvention is one of the most important
hallmarks of craft and why a diverse base
made up of many small and independent
brewers, each exploring different facets,
will always better serve and support the
industry as a whole. Many craft-brewery
owners are also inspired by what they
appreciate in other breweries when deter-
mining their own reason for being, which
Further Reading
For more information about the inspirational
breweries listed in “Keepers of the Craft,” see
these Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® articles:
Casey Brewing & Blending
» “Breakout Brewer: Casey Brewing & Blend-
ing,” February/March 2016
» “Fruit Gets Personal: Brewing with Heir-
loom Varietals,” June/July 2017
Scratch Brewing
» “Breakout Brewer: Scratch Brewing,” Au-
gust/September 2015
» “Brew with the Seasons,” Cooking with Beer
Special Issue, 2016
Jester King Brewery
» “Breakout Brewer: Jester King Brewery,” Fall
2014
» “Méthode Gueuze: Made In America,”
February/March 2017
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
» “Breakout Brewer: Jolly Pumpkin Arti-
san Ales,” beerandbrewing.com/break
out-brewer-jolly-pumpkin-artisan-ales/
Cantillon
» “Fruits of Their Labor,” June/July 2015
is another way that a diversity of small and
independent breweries helps support a
more robust community.
The founders of Purpose Brewing men-
tion their appreciation of brewers such
as Casey Brewing & Blending (Glenwood
Springs, Colorado) and Scratch Brewing
Company (Ava, Illinois), for example, and
especially Jester King Brewery (Austin,
Texas) as inspiration for creating beers
with a sense of place and purpose. In
turn, Jester King Founder Jeffrey Stuffings
cites Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales (Dexter,
Michigan), as well as Belgian brewers
such as Fantôme, Cantillon, and de la
Senne, as helping to inspire his approach.
Although they’ve just opened, the found-
ers of Purpose Brewing say they have no
ambition of growing the brewery much
beyond its current size.
“Our intent is to stay tiny,” Wilson says.
“You can’t do on a large scale what we
want to do. It’s just not possible. You can’t
go pick cherries off the most beautiful
cherry tree in Fort Collins and make
10,000 gallons of beer, or 1,000 gallons for
that matter.”
But by pursuing their ambition and fol-
lowing their heart, Purpose Brewing and
the thousands of small and independent
breweries like it play an inspiring role in
defining and making relevant the “craft”
in craft beer.
BEERANDBREWING.COM | 101
LEARN TO
BREW
With Craft Beer & Brewing Online Classes!
Are you new to brewing, or do you want to
improve your brewing skills? Craft Beer &
Brewing’s online learning platform can help you
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time. 27 classes, led by CB&B staff, contributors,
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» How to Brew Great New England–Style IPAs » Advanced All-Grain Methods

» Coffee & Beer: From Roasting to Brewing
» Introductory Extract Brewing
» Introductory All-Grain & Partial-Mash Brewing
» Basics of Yeast Propagation
» Kegging Your Beer
» Adding Flavors to Beer
» Temperature Control for Lagering
» Home Draft System Setup
» Brewing Water
» Wood Aging Your Beer
» Quick Souring Methods
» Advanced Packaging Methods
» Make the Most of Your Extract Kit
» Fundamentals of Malt
» Advanced Yeast Management
» Hot Rod Your Kettles and Mash Tun
» How to Build Your Electric Brewery, 1 & 2
» How to Make Great Mead
» Fundamentals of Opening a Brewery
» Hops: How to Best Use the Spice of Beer
» Introduction to Evaluating Beer
» Troubleshooting Your Beer
» Recipe Development From Start-to-Finish

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 Retail Shop Directory
Please visit one of these fine shops wherever you are.
If you would like to be listed in our directory, please contact Rachel Szado,
rszado@beerandbrewing.com, (888) 875-8708, ext 705.
Alaska
Brew Time
(907) 479-0200
29 College Rd., Ste 4
Fairbanks, AK 99701
Arizona
Brew Your Own Brew Gilbert
(480) 497-0011
525 E. Baseline Rd., Ste 108
Gilbert, AZ 85233
brewyourownbrew.com
What Ales Ya Homebrew
(623) 486-8016
6363 W. Bell Rd., Ste 2
Glendale, AZ 85308
whatalesya.com
Brew Your Own Brew
Scottsdale
(480) 625-4200
8230 E. Raintree Rd. #103
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
brewyourownbrew.com
Brew Your Own Brew Tuscon
(520) 322-5049
2564 N. Campbell Ave.
Tuscon, AZ 85719
brewyourownbrew.com
California
Baycrest Wines & Spirits
(949) 293-3609
333 E. 17th St., Ste 1
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
HopTech Homebrewing
Supplies
(925) 875-0246
6398 Dougherty Rd., Ste 7
Dublin, CA 94568
hoptech.com
Operated by 2 passionate
home brewers. Over 60 hops,
loads of grain and extract.
Equipment and ingredients.
Military and AHA discount!
104 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
O’Shea Brewing Co.
(949) 364-4440
28142 Camino Capistrano,
Ste. 107
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
osheabrewing.com
APEX BREWING SUPPLY
(916) 918-9058
3237 Rippey Rd., #600
Loomis, CA 95650
apexbrewingsupply.com
We manufacture high
end commercial brewing
equipment, designed with
the versatile Brewer in mind
and shipping directly from
California to you.
The Bearded Brewer
(661) 418-6348
4855 W. Columbia Way
Quartz Hill, CA 93536
NorCal Brewing Solutions
(530) 243-2337
1768 Churn Creek Rd.
Redding, CA 96002
norcalbrewingsolutions.com
Manufacturers of world
famous Jaybird line of
hardware. 100+ hops
available. 98% of online
orders ship for $9.95 or less.
The Homebrewer
(619) 450-6165
2911 El Cajon Blvd., Ste 2
San Diego, CA 92104
thehomebrewersd.com
We take pride in providing
quality products, selection,
and competitive pricing so
that you can get the most out
of your hobby.
Pacific Brewing Supplies
(800) 448-2337
240 S. San Dimas Ave
San Dimas, CA 91773
pacificbrewingsupplies.com
Seven Bridges Co-op
Organic Homebrew
(800) 768-4409
325 River St., Ste A
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
breworganic.com
A full selection of all
ORGANIC kits, hops, malts,
spices, adjuncts & yeast. Plus
all the equipment & supplies
you need.
Simi Valley Homebrew
(805) 583-3110
4352 Eileen St.
Simi Valley, CA 93063
simivalleyhomebrew.com
Colorado
Boulder Fermentation
Supply
(303) 578-0041
2510 47th St., Unit I
Boulder, CO 80301
boulderfermentation
supply.com
Hazel’s Beverage World
(303) 447-1955
1955 28th St.
Boulder, CO 80301
hazelsboulder.com
Cheers Liquor Mart
(719) 574-2244
1105 N. Circle Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
cheersliquormart.com
Argonaut Wine & Liquor
(303) 831-7788
760 E. Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80203
argonautliquor.com
CO-Brew
(720) 485-4959
1133 N. Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
cobrewdenver.com
Al’s Newsstand
(970) 482-9853
177 N. College Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Hops and Berries
(970) 493-2484
1833 E. Harmony Rd.,
Hop Heads Craft
Unit 16 Homebrewing Supplies
Fort Collins, CO 80528 (850) 586-7626
hopsandberries.com 26C N.W. Racetrack Rd.
Old Town Liquor Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547
(970) 493-0443 hopheadsfwb.com
214 S. College Ave, Ste 1 We have everything you need
Fort Collins, CO 80524 to get started brewing beer
or to brew advance recipe
Savory Spice Shop
beers. Hundreds of items in
(970) 682-2971
inventory.
123 N. College Ave., #100
Fort Collins, CO 80524 Sanford Homebrew Shop
myecard.pro/savory (407) 732-6931
115 S. Magnolia Ave.
Wyatt’s Wet Goods
Sanford, FL 32771
(303) 485-9463
sanfordhomebrewshop.com
1250 S. Hover Rd., Unit C
Longmont, CO 80501
Georgia
wyattswetgoods.com
Tap It
Ski Haus Liquors
(770) 534-0041
(970) 879-7278
1850 Thompson Bridge Rd.
1450 S. Lincoln Ave.
Gainesville, GA 30501
Steamboat Springs, CO
tapitgrowler.com
80477
Hops & Barley Craft Beer
Applejack Wine & Spirits
(912) 657-2006
(303) 233-3331
412 MLK Jr. Blvd.
3320 Youngfield St.
Savannah, GA 31401
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
hopsandbarleysav.com
applejack.com
Idaho
Connecticut
Brewer’s Haven Boise
Maltose Express
(208) 991-4677
(203) 452-7332
1795 S. Vista Ave.
246 Main St.
Boise, ID 83705
Monroe, CT 06468
www.brewershaven.com
maltoseexpress.net
HomeBrewStuff
Florida (208) 375-2559
9165 W. Chinden Blvd.,
Hanger 41 Winery
Ste 103
and Brew Shop
Garden City, ID 83714
(239) 542-9463
homebrewstuff.com
10970 South Cleveland Ave.,
Unit 304
Illinois
Fort Myers, FL 33907
Perfect Brewing Supply
www.timetomakewine.com
(847) 816-7055
619 E. Park Ave.
Libertyville, IL 60048
perfectbrewsupply.com
U BREW
(309) 524-5219
1525 3rd Ave., A
Moline, IL 61265
ubrewqc.com
Windy Hill Hops
(312) 834-4677
75 Hopyard Rd.
Murphysboro, IL 62966
www.windyhillhops.com
Indiana
Great Fermentations West
(317) 268-6776
7900 E. U.S. 36 West
Avon, IN 46123
greatfermentations.com
Great Fermentations Indy
(317) 257-9463
5127 East 65th St.
Indianapolis, IN 47220
greatfermentations.com
Brewhouse Supplies
(219) 286-7285
1555 West Lincolnway,
Ste 102
Valparaiso, IN 46385
brewhousesupplies.com
Iowa
C and S Brew Supply
(515) 963-1965
106 SW Linden St., Ste 1F
Ankeny, IA 50023
www.candsbrewsupply.com
Louisiana
LA Homebrew
(225) 773-9128
7987 Pecue Ln., Ste 7G
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
lahomebrew.com
Largest selection of brewing
grains and ingredients in
the South. Order online for
in store pickup or same day
shipping.
Maryland
Nepenthe Homebrew
(443) 438-4846
3600 Clipper Mill Rd. 130A
Baltimore, MD 21211
nepenthehomebrew.com
Maryland Homebrew
(888) 273-9669
6770 Oak Hall Ln., #108
Columbia, MD 21045
mdhb.com
Free shipping! AHA and
military discounts available.
Large selection of all things
fermentable! Beer, Wine,
Cheese, Cider, Kombucha.
Flying Barrel
(301) 663-4491
1781 N. Market St.
Federick, MD 21701
flyingbarrel.com
Massachusetts
Craft Beer Cellar Belmont
(617) 932-1885
51 Leonard St.
Belmont, MA 02478
craftbeercellar.com
Boston Homebrew Supply
(617) 879-9550
1378B Beacon St.
Brookline, MA 02446
bostonhomebrewsupply.com
Strange Brew
(508) 460-5050
416 Boston Post Rd. East
(Rte 20)
Marlboro, MA 01752
Home-Brew.com
Visit New England’s Largest
Retail Home-Brew Store! Save
10% off Craft Beer & Brewing
online courses with coupon
code “strangebrew”.
Austin Liquors Shrewsbury
(508) 755-8100
20 Boston Turnpike Rd.
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
austinliquors.com
Austin Liquors Worcester
(508) 852-8953
117 Gold Star Blvd.
Worcester, MA 01606
austinliquors.com
Michigan
Adventures In Homebrewing
(313) 277-2739
6071 Jackson Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
www.homebrewing.org
Serving HomeBrewers Since
1999. We specialize in Beer
Making, Wine Making and
Kegging.
Electric Brewing Supply
(906) 523-2344
42021 Willson Memorial Dr.
Chassell, MI 49916
ebrewsupply.com
Bell’s General Store
(269) 382-5712
355 E. Kalamazoo Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
bellsbeer.com
Available online—a wide
variety of wearables, trinkets,
cheese and homebrewing
supplies. Check our website
for popular brands and
current promotions.
Capital City Homebrew
Supply
(517) 374-1070
623 E. Michigan Ave.
Lansing, MI 48912
capitalcityhomebrew
supply.com
Cap N Cork Homebrew
Supply
(586) 286-5202
16776 21 Mile Rd.
Macomb, MI 48044
capncorkhomebrew.com
Adventures In Homebrewing
(313) 277-2739
23869 Van Born Rd.
Taylor, MI 48180
homebrewing.org
Mississippi
Brew Ha Ha Homebrew
Supply
(601) 362-0201
4800 I-55 N., Ste 17A
Jackson, MS 39211
brewhahasupply.com
Missouri
St. Louis Wine & Beermaking
(636) 230-8277
231 Lamp and Lantern
Village
Chesterfield, MO 63017
wineandbeermaking.com
Brew & Wine Supply
(636) 797-8155
10663 Business 21
Hillsboro, MO 63050
brewandwinesupply.com
We only stock the good stuff.
Good wine, good beer, great
coffee, luscious cheeses and
wonderful teas.
The Home Brewery
(417) 581-0963
1967 W. Boat St.
Ozark, MO 65721
homebrewery.com
Beer, Wine, Cheese, Cider,
Mead, Spirits… We Have
Everything You Need To Make
Your Own. Since 1984—
Filling Fermenters For Over
30 Years!
Nebraska
Kirk’s Brew
(402) 476-7414
1150 Cornhusker Hwy
Lincoln, NE 68521
kirksbrew.com
Nevada
BrewChatter
(775) 358-0477
1275 Kleppe Ln., Unit 21
Sparks, NV 89431
brewchatter.com
BEERANDBREWING.COM
New Hampshire
Lebanon Brew Shop
(603) 448-3700
90 Hanover St.
Lebanon, NH 03766
lebanonbrewshop.com
New Jersey
Keg & Barrel Homebrew
Supply
(856) 809-6931
2 S. Rt. 73, Unit I
Berlin, NJ 08009
kegandbarrel
homebrewsupply.com
Homebrew Supply
Love2Brew North Brunswick
(732) 658-3550
1583 Livingston Ave., Unit #2
North Brunswick, NJ 08902
love2brew.com
New Jersey’s #1 Homebrew
Shops. Largest selection,
best prices, highly trained
staff, and easily accessible. 
Free Shipping over $75!
Homebrew Supply
Love2Brew Paterson
(973) 925-4005
27 East 33rd St.
Paterson, NJ 07514
love2brew.com
New Jersey’s #1 Homebrew
Shops.  Largest selection,
best prices, highly trained
staff, and easily accessible. 
Free Shipping over $75!
New York
Arbor Wine and Beer
Supplies
(631) 277-3004
184 Islip Ave.
Islip, NY 11751
arborwine.com
Saratoga Zymurgist
(518) 580-9785
112 Excelsior Ave.
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
saratogaz.com
| 105
 Retail Shop Directory
North Carolina
Bull City Homebrew
(919) 682-0300
1906 E. NC Hwy 54,
Ste 200-B
Durham, NC 27713
bullcityhomebrew.com
Whether you’re a complete
beginner or an experienced
brewer, if you’ve got a love
for beer or wine, we want to
meet you.
Atlantic Brew Supply
(919) 670-4043
3709 Neil St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
atlanticbrewsupply.com
Whether you homebrew, new
to the commercial brewing
scene, or expanding, Atlantic
Brew Supply is ready to set
you up!
Ohio
The Vine n Hop
(330) 623-6940
1327 N. Carpenter Rd.
Brunswick, OH 44212
vinenhop.com
The PumpHouse Homebrew
Shop
(330) 755-3642
336 Elm St.
Struthers, OH 44471
pumphousehomebrew.com
Oklahoma
High Gravity
(918) 461-2605
7142 S. Memorial Dr.
Tulsa, OK 74133
highgravitybrew.com
Electric Brewing Systems
from High Gravity. Simple.
On Purpose. $7.99 Flat Rate
Shipping on most items.
106 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING
Oregon
F.H. Steinbart Co.
(503) 232-8793
234 SE 12th Ave.
Portland, OR 97214
fhsteinbart.com
F.H. Steinbart, America’s
oldest home brew supply
store, offers products and
services from starter kits to
professional draft equipment.
Pennsylvania
Hamlin Distributors
(570) 689-2891
590 Hamlin Hwy
Hamlin, PA 18427
hamlindistributors.com
Scotzin Bros
(717) 737-0483
65 C N. Fifth St.
Lemoyne, PA 17043
scotzinbros.com
Weak Knee Home Brew Supply
(610) 327-1450
1277 N. Charlotte St.
Pottstown, PA 19464
weakkneehomebrew.com
Texas
Austin Homebrew Supply
(512) 300-2739
9129 Metric Blvd.
Austin, TX 78758
austinhomebrew.com
Austin Homebrew Supply has
been serving home brewers
and winemakers since 1991.
DeFalcos Home Wine and
Beer Supplies
(800) 216-2739
9223 Stella Link Rd.
Houston, TX 77025
defalcos.com
Defalco’s is Houston’s oldest
and most reliable home
wine & beer supplier. We feel
confidence you’ll be able to
find whatever you want.
Virgina New Zealand
My LHBS
Texas Homebrewers (703) 241-3874
(855) 744-2739 BrewShop
6201 Leesburg Pike
19909 Morron Rd., Ste 100 64 7 929 4547
Falls Church, VA 22044
Katy, TX 77449 PO Box 998
mylhbs.com
texashomebrewers.com Hamilton
Huge selection of ingredients
We carry all the ingredients 3240
and equipment conveniently
and equipment needed to brewshop.co.nz
located inside the Beltway.
make your own home brewed BrewShop is the exclusive
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New Zealand. Contact us
Works Sound Homebrew today!
(806) 744-1917 (206) 734-8074
Hauraki Home Brew
601 North University Ave. 6505 5th Place S.
64 9 4425070
Lubbock, TX 79415 Seattle, WA 98108
17 N Douglas Alexander Pde
www.yellowhouse soundhomebrew.com
Auckland 0632
canyonbrewworks.com
haurakihomebrew.co.nz
International
Utah Shops Home Brew West
64 9 8377177
Australia Shop 1, 4 Waipareira Ave
Auckland 0610
homebrewwest.co.nz
Salt City Brew Supply Home Brew West
(801) 849-0955 64 9 3771544
Clever Brewing
750 E. Fort Union Blvd. 19 Mt. Eden Rd.
cleverbrewing.com.au
Midvale, UT 84047 Auckland 1023
We’re here for all your clever
saltcitybrewsupply.com homebrewwest.co.nz
brewing needs and are the
Call us with your brewing CB&B Magazine distributor
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Portugal
Ogden City Brew Supply
(385) 238-4995 Humlegardens Ekolager AB
2269 Grant Ave. 46 7 049 50168
Oficina da Cerveja
Ogden, UT 84401 Bergkallavagen 28
+351 911 555 851
ogdencitybrewsupply.com Sollentuna, SE 19279
Rua Bernardim Ribeiro 59
Big selection of hops, grain, humle.se
Lisbon
and yeast, for every level of We’re the exclusive distributor
1150-069
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www.oficinadacerveja.pt
and mead kits. Magazine® to independent
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Beer & Brewing Magazine® to
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Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewers Retreat | Astoria, Oregon | May 2017
A few highlights from our Brewers Retreat on the Oregon coast! Top row from left » Eli Dickinson (Barley Brown’s) and team brew a black IPA; the
Astoria Trolley provided transporation to dinner; Jeremy Tofte (Melvin) dropped startup brewery knowledge; John Maier (Rogue) and team brewed
a hoppy red ale. Middle row from left » Jack Harris (Fort George) is known for his spruce-tip beers, and he foraged these the night before brewing
with them; the group gathered for a fantastic pairing dinner atthe Bridgewater Bistro; Trevor Rogers (de Garde) offered a seminar on brewing wild and
spontaneous ales. Bottom row from left » Off-flavor training at Fort George Brewery; John Maier hosted a pairing dinner at the Rogue pub; ships of all
sizes passed by the dock as everyone brewed; fermenting beer safely stored in a custom-rigged unit with Ss Brewtech Chronical fermenters and STS
temperature control systems.

PHOTOS: JAMIE BOGNER

Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewery Workshop: Brewery Accelerator | Fort Collins, Colorado | August 2017
In August, we hosted 39 breweries-in-planning (plus one operational brewpub) in our hometown of Fort Collins for the Brewery Accelerator event.
From left » Dustin Baker of the forthcoming Roadmap Brewery in San Antonio, Texas; Eric Fowler of White Labs led attendees through basic yeast cell
counting; Jamie Dobbs of BSG led a seminar on hops; Gordon Schuck (Funkwerks) talks with attendees after leading a technical brewery tour.

108 | CRAFT BEER & BREWING