Brewing Porters and Stouts (Skyhorse Publishing, Paperback, $16.95, 224 pp) is a love story. But not for the romantic or faint of heart. It is a rigorous and passionate investigation into the life of porters and stouts. Foster is the perfect person for this subject. He combines a scientist’s rigor for data with a beer lover’s passion... View Article
There comes a point in most homebrewers’ lives when they just want to step out from under the elementary brewing techniques. Perhaps this means moving from extract to all-grain. The change in processes seems relatively straightforward, but the results fail to meet expectations. Maybe they want to nail the perfect IPA or re-create something encountered... View Article
More than a half-dozen years ago, Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson paused in the middle of a conversation about the relationship between agriculture and beer and nodded toward Eric Toft, a Wyoming native who has brewed beer in Bavaria for more than 20 years. He said he wished he could be “as connected as [Toft]... View Article
Mead has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, the honey wine is often thought of as an excessively sweet drink, and on the other hand we have manly Vikings quaffing “horns” of the beverage in their mead halls. The beverage slipped away possibly because of the high cost of honey compared with grapes and... View Article
When the two deans of United Kingdom beer journalism pen a survey of the new world of British beer, get ready to be frustrated. If you don’t live in the British Isles, you are going to hate reading the wonderful descriptions of beers you won’t be able to buy. However, you will feel the excitement... View Article
Here at the magazine we’ve been thinking a lot about numbers and how they relate to what we drink. Walk the aisles of a liquor store and you’ll see tags hanging from shelves, advertising numerical scores for corresponding bottles. While more prominent in the wine section, it’s becoming increasingly more commonplace with beer. But what causes... View Article
As a species it’s in our nature to explore. From the early nomadic tribes traversing continents to the first astronomers who stared into the night sky, we have the yearning to know more imprinted in our DNA. There are the adventurers and scientists who climb peaks, travel to depths of the ocean and explore the... View Article
The crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd—an afternoon at a baseball game is a treat for the senses. There’s the warmth of the sun overhead, excitement in the air and the aromas coming from the concession stands. This is where we indulge and eat less-than-heatlhy items while watching professional athletes at... View Article
Trend spotting in the city of Portland, OR, is tricky business. The most enduringly popular beers, as they are up and down the Pacific coast, are hoppy ales. Breweries and bars make sure there are always several choices at hand for the legions of hop heads who have come to populate the left bank. But... View Article
