Specialty beers can look like a miscellaneous drawer until the organizing question becomes clear: what was the base beer, and what did the brewer
Continue ReadingMixed-Fermentation Sour Beers Explained: Berliner Weisse, Gose, Flanders Red, and Oud Bruin
Sour beer is a useful description of a sensation, but an incomplete explanation of a drink. Berliner Weisse and oud bruin can both be tart while d
Continue ReadingLambic and Geuze Explained: Spontaneous Fermentation and Fruit Lambics
A beer can begin fermentation without the brewer tipping a selected yeast culture into a sealed tank. That sounds like leaving dinner to chance, b
Continue ReadingGerman Wheat Beers Explained: Weissbier, Dunkelweizen, Kristallweizen, and Weizenbock
German wheat beers make a useful detective exercise because the grain name tells only part of the story. A cloudy golden glass, a clear golden gla
Continue ReadingSaison and Witbier Explained: Distinctive Belgian Yeast-Driven Styles
A peppery beer does not necessarily contain pepper. A citrusy one might contain peel, hops or fermentation-derived aromas. Saison and witbier turn
Continue ReadingBelgian Abbey Ales Explained: Dubbel, Tripel, and Trappist Beer
The dark beer is called dubbel. The pale one is called tripel and may be stronger. Belgian abbey ales quickly unsettle the idea that color and pow
Continue ReadingIPA Explained: West Coast, Double IPA, Hazy IPA, and Other Styles
The first IPA looks clear and amber, then finishes crisply bitter. The second is pale and cloudy, smells intensely fruity and feels softer. With I
Continue ReadingAmerican Pale and Amber Ales Explained: Modern Hop-Driven Beer Styles
Make a pale ale a little darker and you have an amber ale, right? Sometimes the colors overlap enough to encourage that idea. American pale and am
Continue ReadingBritish Bitter and German Altbier Explained: Traditional Hop-Driven Ales
A beer called bitter may seem gentle beside a modern IPA. A beer called alt, or old, may arrive fresh and beautifully clear. Bitter and altbier re
Continue ReadingPilsner and Modern Hopped Lagers Explained: Czech, German, and Contemporary Styles
One golden lager has a rounded bread-and-herb balance. Another finishes sharply dry and bitter. A third smells of lime or tropical fruit. Pilsner
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