For a brief but unfortunate time in the history of beer, “fruit beer” was synonymous with “bad beer.” This was the time when brewers were adding fruit to beers to make them sweet and syrupy and marketed them to people who didn’t much like beer. In truth, fruit has been used in beer for a... View Article
This sidebar on award-winning fruit beers accompanied an article entitled “A Cornucopia of Beer” in our May 2015 issue. There are a lot of fruit beers on the market today, using all manner of fruits. Look for these which have been judged as some of the best: 2014 Great American Beer Festival American-Style Fruit Beer Gold:... View Article
One afternoon several years ago, Jace Marti was wandering the warehouse of his family’s 150-year-old brewery in New Ulm, Minnesota, when he discovered a set of hulking cypress lagering tanks. The tanks, which dated to the 1930s and hadn’t been in use by August Schell Brewing Co. for nearly 20 years were in terrible, dilapidated... View Article
When Scott Smith, founder and owner of East End Brewing in Pittsburgh, started selling his beer more than a decade ago, rating websites like BeerAdvocate and RateBeer were valuable resources for his young brewery. In the pre-social-media era, the forums on the sites provided insightful access to consumers, and reviews provided a “first line” for... View Article
The following three beers accompanied “The Agony and Ecstasy of Beer Reviews,” which appeared in our July 2015 issue. Consumer review systems often find their value depending upon how effectively the information is presented and, in turn, used. Individual beer pages on RateBeer include, in addition to each beer’s overall score, its score relative to just those... View Article
A few months after the BP oil spill ravaged the Gulf Coast in the spring of 2010, Louisiana’s Abita Brewing Co. announced a homebrew contest. Hundreds of recipes came in from around the country. Baton Rouge native Kerry Dale Yoes, who had been homebrewing for eight years, looked to his beloved-now-ravaged home for inspiration. “After... View Article
Jenlain Blonde Brasserie Duyck Jenlain, France On the lighter side of amber with a quickly dissipating head, the blonde has an aroma that reminds me of fresh-mowed grass, with a bit of toffee candy in the background. The taste is very gentle, with a hint of cola in the finish. A dry mouthfeel gives free... View Article
While France lacks the deep brewing tradition of its neighbors Belgium and Germany, its native bière de garde style sprang from a way of life that has evolved over generations on its family farms. Across the Atlantic, Bayou Teche Brewing in Louisiana’s Cajun country honors that French farmhouse brewing tradition, preserving the French historical influence... View Article
Take a stroll through just about any grocery store in America between late August and early November and the pervasiveness of pumpkin-flavored everything becomes apparent. There’s pumpkin spice coffee and tea, bagels, muffins and chips, air fresheners and candles—and that’s only a slice of the pumpkin pie-flavored market. Do a 360-degree spin in a beer... View Article
