Winning awards and accolades isn’t enough to make a beer a classic, like Harvey’s Sussex Best or Saison Dupont or Schneider Weisse or Pliny the Elder. It takes decades of time, thought, and refinement. pFriem’s Pilsner is a case study in that unfolding process, and why it’s such a long journey.
Read MoreA wonderful little trend has been building in Portland for years, but I’ve been hesitant to draw attention, lest the harsh sunlight prove fatal to the delicate shoots. But now it seems safe: cask ale has become a real thing.
Read MoreAdam Milne started Old Town Brewing in 2011, but it stood on the shoulders of a Portland institution, Old Town Pizza. This month the downtown landmark turns 50, giving us a chance to reflect on a half-century of life.
Read MoreI have spent the last ten days in Central Europe catching up on the local beer scenes and talking to brewers from the region. Here’s an overview of what I found.
Read MoreMy third visit to Prague is really the first I’ve gotten to know the city, even superficially.
Read MoreThat one post every year when I silence myself and let the pictures do the talking. With these amazing little cameras we keep in our pockets, even a hack like me can make the world look beautiful.
Read MoreIn a new study published yesterday, researchers assessed the effect of climate change on hops grown in Central Europe. The results were alarming—but the authors offer some hope for mitigating the worst effects.
Read MoreFresh hop season is underway, and it has so far proven to be unusual—and enlightening. Here are a few early lessons I’m taking away from the selection I’ve found.
Read MoreIn case you can’t make it to the hop harvest this year, I’ve got you covered. Here are all the sights and sounds of a harvest—everything but the intoxicating aroma.
Read MoreWith the release of pFriem’s West Coast IPA this week, I’m taking the opportunity to delve into the style—if it can be called that—more deeply. Soon we’ll discuss how pFriem interpreted the style, but first, how do customers understand it?
Read MoreWhether or not you have been to Oklahoma or ever plan to go, it’s worth taking an ethnographic look at a young and developing beer scene that contains its own character and lessons. You’re doing fine, Oklahoma!
Read MoreEvery week, we get news about Bud Light’s latest performance, and every week it gets worse. The brand is in freefall, and according to most commenters, all because of a boycott by conservatives. But these numbers can’t all be from one boycott. What’s really going on?
Read MoreFollowing the hailstorm of criticism that fell on the recent Craft Brewers Conference, I reached out to organizers at the Brewers Association for answers to some of the critiques.
Read MoreThe start of the Covid pandemic turns three today. It has affected beer in large and small ways that would have been, absent a disruption as profound as a pandemic, unthinkable three years ago.
Read MoreWhy are some fests dying or dead, while the Festival of Dark Arts was the hottest ticket around? A week after the event, I look at what makes a successful fest—and how others might use it as a blueprint for success.
Read MoreWhen Yvan De Baets and Bernard Leboucq installed their brewery in Brussels in 2010, it doubled the number in the capital city. Since then, a number of new breweries have followed, but none have focused so single-mindedly on creating hometown beers.
Read MoreQatar had 12 years to settle on its World Cup alcohol policy, but decided at the last minute—yesterday—to move Budweiser’s very expensive promotional beer tents outside the venues. This is not the first time a religious city has had to decide what to do with marauding, beer-drinking heathens.
Read MoreThe annual Norwegian farmhouse ale festival is remote (even in Norway) and tiny. But that’s what makes it a special event.
Read MoreNorway boasts three major farmhouse brewing regions, and in each place the brewers make beer like each other—but differently from the other regions. Why?
Read MoreTechnology like the internet didn’t really change beer. The evolution we’ve seen in styles, processes, and ingredients looks totally normal by historic standards. But the way we interact with beer is radically different.
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