Topic: Brewing History
Belgian Blond Ale: The best known Belgian Abbey beer
Some people have asked me how I choose the styles to write about in this column. At the start, it was easy — I just started writing about new styles in the
Beers From the Top of the World
“Denmark?” my wife asks, slightly incredulously. “Denmark,” I say. It was Valentine’s Day 2010 and my wife and I had just finished up a fairly extensive beer tasting of commercial offerings of
Take Me to Your Liter
One of the things that makes drinking beer in Germany unique from North America is that depending where in the country you are, the beer style you find will be different. Take a beer-style tour of Germany to discover some of the most notable German beer styles (plus recipes) and the regions they come from.
Raw Ale
A whole other type of beer exists in northern Europe known as “raw ale.” It is not so much a style, but rather a technique. The major feature that sets raw ale apart is that it is never boiled. Learn the history, stories, and techniques behind raw ale.
Make Mine a Ballantine
During the late 1960s and 1970s, when I was young and did a fair amount of traveling, one beer I was fond of was Ballantine XXX Ale. It was an ale rather
Burton Ale: Style Profile
Burton ale was the beer that originally put Burton on the map, beer-wise. It pre-dates IPA, and was a big export beer to the Baltic countries from about 1740 to 1822.
Wit Bier
It may be hard for modern homebrewers to think of a time when witbier was virtually unknown. Today, it is one of the more popular Belgian style beers, if not the most
Pre-Prohibition Porter
by the numbers OG: 1.046–1.060 FG:1.010–1.016 SRM:18–30 IBU:20–30 ABV:4.5–6% The United States has been called the melting pot, but that metaphor was meant to describe cultural assimilation of immigrants not the creation
Prohibition-Era Homebrew Club
Next time you go to a homebrew club meeting, take a look around. You will see friends and people who share a passion for crafting beer at home. More important, you do
Making Pre-Prohibition Beers: Tips from the Pros
When American Prohibition started in 1920 (and earlier in some U.S. states) the doors forever closed at many American breweries. Beer styles changed after the repeal of Prohibition and many recipes were
How Did Hops End Up in Beer?
Photo courtesy of Walter Konig There are some 350,000 known plant species on earth, but only one of them, Humulus lupulus, the hop plant, has become the universal flavoring agent for beer.
Brewing Historical Porters & Stouts
I have attempted to brew versions of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century porters and stouts that do not always fit our modern definitions, but are simply good beers in their own right. In other
