The Gear Guide (April-May 2017)

The bacon infuses the fish with a sweet saltiness and richness that augments the white flesh. Mushrooms, bok choy, and eggplant offer earthy and fresh vibrancy. The sweet wheat beer corn nage brings all the elements together.

Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith brewing software and the voice behind the Beersmith podcast, tackles your homebrewing questions about oxygenating wort, brewing with fruit, and using dark crystal and other darker malts.

A 3-hour mash? Three hours to lauter? A yeast that creates phenolic off-flavors? What were they thinking?

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a variety of analytic brewing tools. Here are the results.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed four stainless-steel fermentors. Here are the results.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed four plastic fermentors. Here are the results.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a couple of burners and a chiller. Here are the results.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a homebrew-scaled brite tank and two products that help with packaging your beer. Here are the results.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a couple of mash tuns (and one mash paddle) and the Ruby Street Fusion 25, an integrated brew system. Here are the results.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a variety of brew kettles. Here are the results.

LupuLN2™ hops powder, a new hops product from Yakima Chief−Hopunion, is transforming several methods in the brewing process.

Specializing in modern farmhouse ales, Transient Artisan Ales’ Founder and Brewmaster Chris Betts uses simple recipes and barrel fermentation to create beers that are works of art.

This is a tasty Indian dessert. These little “doughnuts” are awesome with tea. They’re very sweet but surprisingly munchable, and the texture is out of this world.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a variety of new coolers, totes, cleaning tablets, and bottle openers. Here are the results.

For Melvin Brewing Cofounder Jeremy Tofte, Belgian-style beers played a formative role in his early life, but you’ll find only one of them in his dream 6-pack that leans heavily toward IPAs and imperial stouts.

With deep roots in the town’s history, a diverse lineup of inspired beers, and major expansion in its future, Burial Beer Co. has established itself as a fundamental planet in Asheville, North Carolina’s craft-beer-soaked universe.

The herbal profile of the Thai sausage goes well with the brininess of the clams, brought together by the spicy and savory chile paste−infused beer broth.

This roggenbier can be brewed as a more dunkelweizen-inspired beer (with banana and clove and all), or it can be made as a rye-forward lager, and both can be defended as “traditionally” appropriate.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a variety of new growlers, koozies, and bottle carriers. Here are the results.

Despite laws on the books that make it tough to get into and stay in the craft-beer business, a new generation of dedicated brewers is destroying old stereotypes and redefining Atlanta from beer backwater to craft trendsetter.

A clean and bright wheat beer pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the potatoes and the tart herbal flavor in the chutney.

Burial Beer’s goal for Thresher was to prove that a coffee beer can be light and nuanced.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a variety of new beer glasses. Here are the results.

Here are the three beer bars that we explored in Issue 18 (April/May 2017) of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®.

In this light and satisfying dish, beer complements the graininess of the soba noodles well, and the light and fresh flavors mingled with soy contrast with a cold, refreshing wheat beer.

WeldWerk’s award-winning Hefeweizen is risqué—it flirts with the line between traditional German-style weissbier and experimental American-style wheat beer.

In our 2017 Gear Guide issue (April/May), our editors tested and reviewed a variety of breathalyzers. Here are the results.

Chris Betts of Transient Artisan Ales provided this recipe for their versatile saison.

Our editors tested and reviewed the best stuff for serving beer. Here are the results.

Belgian candi syrup and PNW hops provide a sweet, rich springboard for the deep nuttiness of local black walnuts in this imperial stout.

As a follow-up to his “Make Your Best Belgian Tripel,” Josh Weikert shares his award-winning recipe.

There are undoubtedly better versions of Tropical Stout out there, but this one carries very little risk of getting an overly-sweet, overly-off-flavored version and tastes great as well!

The culture of waiting in line for new and limited releases is an anomaly in the history of beer but not necessarily the cultural outlier in American commerce that some make it out to be.