Make Your Best

Summer ends too soon, vacations are over too soon, fall seasonals hit the shelves too soon—all reminders that while it may feel too soon to drink a pumpkin beer, it’s just the right time to brew one.

Meant to represent the kind of pale lagers that were brewed by the likes of John Wagner, who brewed the first lager in the United States, this is kind of like German or Czech Pilsner but includes some local variability and flair.

The Scottish heavy—also known as the 70-shilling ale—isn’t so heavy at all. Typically below 4 percent ABV, it punches well above its weight in flavor.

Tart, light, and utterly quenching, a great Berliner weisse is the perfect summertime beer, and it can win the hearts and minds of stone-hearted skeptics. Best of all, it doesn’t need to be difficult to brew.

Much of the attention often goes to bigger beers—such as the famed dubbels and tripels from Belgium’s monastery breweries—but don’t let that keep you from appreciating the smaller ales in life.

This celebration of malt and American hops is one that should evolve nicely as the weeks pass, the bitterness rounds, and malt comes into the fore.

Besides having a nice red-amber hue and tasting great—earthy, malty, and spicy-bitter—this recipe shows how alternative base grains can make a significant difference in flavor.

Call it black IPA, Cascadian dark, or anything else—whatever you call it, this American black ale goes all-in on flavor with dark malts and robust hopping.

This beer style works just fine on its own as a fall or winter party tap—but it also makes a great base for winter-themed fruited or spiced beers.

Altbier is the perfect style, and you can’t improve upon it... but sometimes you need to push the envelope.

This hop-forward yet malt-backed niche IPA style has gone from rare to nearly extinct over the years—all the more reason to take a stab at its unusual balance while brewing something that the others aren’t.

A great helles is simple in composition—but simple can be surprisingly hard to get right, especially when there’s nowhere for mistakes to hide. It's a worthy challenge, and the payoff is a beer that pretty much everyone is happy to drink.

It’s a throwback, now, but we remain loyal, and we know they’re still out there. And brewing a great IPL is more about executing the “L” than anything else.

Hard to find and historically interesting? Easy to drink and straightforward to brew? Sounds like the perfect style to tackle at home—or a nice one to grab some interest in the taproom, with its quick turnaround and quantity appeal.

When most people hear “bock,” they think malt—and there’s no question that maibock is a malt-forward style. However, you can lean into hops and other flavor elements to add interest, and—done well—the result is much more than a “strong helles.”

This bigger cousin of the dry stout gets a bump of strength and a deeper coffee-chocolate flavor profile, making it a great option for a seasonal treat.

Beer color can defy expectations while offering intrigue—such as this creative riff on the saison tradition.

Whether you’ve got hop fatigue or are hunting some crowd-pleasing flavors—for autumn weather, holiday fare, or any time of year—this dark wheat beer in the German style need not be challenging to brew.

A great one to enjoy by the autumn bonfire, this is a style that any smoked-beer enthusiast should know how to make—and it can be nearly as easy to brew as it is to drink.

For brewers who want to get into tart, mixed-culture beers but don’t yet have a lot of confidence or experience, this is a great place to start. But it's also a style where advanced brewers can have a lot of fun dialing it in to their personal tastes.