Beer Style: Specialty Beer Family
All Aboard for Gourds
Pumpkin beers get a bad rap nowadays. I think it’s a natural backlash to over-exposure, since they went from a highly-anticipated fall seasonal beer to a faddish trend about ten years ago.
Traditional Pumpkin Ale
Gordon Strong’s traditional amber spiced pumpkin ale recipe, a classic example of what would come to mind if you ordered a pumpkin beer a decade ago.
Squash Tripel
An unspiced squash tripel recipe courtesy of Will Meyers, Brewmaster at Cambridge Brewing Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Distillation 101: When Beer Becomes Bourbon
When your homebrew is done fermenting, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is ready for packaging. Where legal, the next step may be distilling it into Bourbon. Get a crash course on home distillation from the author of How to Distill.
Piwo Grodziskie
Piwo Grodziskie (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) OG = 1.037 FG = 1.007 IBU = 30 SRM = 4 ABV = 3.9% Ingredients7 lbs. (3.2 kg) oak-smoked wheat malt0.6 lb. (0.27 kg) German pale ale
Alternative Souring Methods: Acid-producing yeast strains
Brewers and winemakers often share ideas with one another. Fermentation specialist Federico Tondini guides readers through the world of a yeast strain brought over from the wine world: Lachancea thermotolerans
Up in Smoke
Rauchbier is the most famous beer brewed with smoked malt. Scott Burgess fell in love with the style while living for a decade in the rauchbier epicenter of the world — Bamberg, Germany. He explores the differences between some of the best examples and shares how homebrewers can brew their own rauchbier.
Bierkeller Rauchbier clone
Bierkeller Rauchbier captures some of the depth of smokiness and dryness (and color) of Schlenkerla’s famed rauchbier as well as some of the rusticity and sweetness of the beer brewed at Spezial (especially their Märzen).
Pedal Haus Brewery’s Barrel-Aged Quad Clone
It’s a beer big in all regards: Aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, and alcohol. The beer has a full body, with enough carbonation (2.8 v/v) to give it a “lighter than it really is” feel to it. Though the alcohol is strong at 10.6% ABV, it is just one of many components to this complex beer that blend into the whole instead of standing out by itself.
Ciphering Fruit Beers
Calculating the impact a fruit addition will have on a beer’s ABV is tricky — so much so that even commercial brewers have gotten in trouble for miscalculating their influence on gravity. We take a closer look at the math required to get it right.
Boysenberry Crème Blonde Ale
Boysenberry Crème Blonde Ale (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) OG = 1.065 FG = 1.024IBU = 15 SRM = 5 ABV = 5% This fruit beer straddles the line between decadent and quaffable.
Blood Orange Hefeweizen
Blood Orange Hefeweizen (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) OG = 1.053 FG = 1.013IBU = 9 SRM = 4 ABV = 5.2% Blood orange is a perfect match for the banana and clove of
