Carboys, airlocks, racking canes, siphons … just reading through a list of tools needed for conventional homebrewing can be deterrent enough for some considering the hobby. Add the lengthy process of sanitizing each constituent piece before getting to the “fun” stuff, the manual labor involved in hauling 30- and 40-pound buckets to and fro, and... View Article
It’s the big juxtaposed with the small that makes Bonsai Brewing Project stand out. Built in a modest ranch-style yellow house in Whitefish, Montana, not far from the area’s most prominent natural landmark, Big Mountain—a hulking, rugged uplift slashed with downhill ski runs—Bonsai (549 Wisconsin Ave.) takes its name from the tiny, meticulously manicured Japanese... View Article
The voice of Ron Popeil came into my head as I hit the button on the Pico. “Set it and forget it!” The familiar refrain from the kitchen appliance TV pitchman is apt for this steam-generating homebrewing machine from PicoBrew that is user-friendly if not a little impersonal. I’m not a homebrewer, although I have... View Article
How does a brewery stand out in the market these days? First, the beer needs to be unimpeachable. Second, there needs to be an ethos followed, a commitment to practices combined with that je ne sais quoi. So we asked a simple question of brewers, magazine contributors and fellow drinkers: Name a brewery doing interesting... View Article
Lager to most means the ubiquitous pale golden brew that arose from the original pilsners of the 1840s. But by that time, the Bavarians had likely been honing bottom-fermentation and cold-conditioning since at least the 14th century, and possibly as early as the 11th century. Those original lagerbiers were dark, as pale malted barley didn’t... View Article
Editor’s Note: This story is part of a special section on the future of beer, which appears in the March 2017 issue of All About Beer Magazine and is now on newsstands. In 1987, Porter Lancastrian, a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of bar equipment founded in 1936, published an advertisement that depicted the pub of the future.... View Article
Panty Peeler. Phat Bottom. And all the unfortunate beers that use the color of a woman’s hair that also coordinate with a beer style—Blonde, Amber—and take a large bra size to create a name. As equality fights are raging on a number of different fronts, there are still breweries and beers that are well behind... View Article
Have you run the table on brewing strong beers? If imperial everything, barley wine and quads no longer excite you, how about taking a stab at eisbock? For the uninitiated, eisbock is bock subjected to freezing, creating a fraction of ice that is then removed, concentrating the beer. Eisbock is a rarity, made by scant... View Article
It’s not just farm-to-glass at Bale Breaker Brewing Co., it’s farm-in-the-glass, where you are encouraged to pick a couple of the Cascade hop cones growing just feet away and plop them in your ale. The sticky yellow lupulin powder loosens from its tight package of paper-thin petals, creating an extra fresh-hop kick in a pint... View Article
