The Annual IPA Issue (August-September 2018)

Quiet Life is Fox Farm Brewery’s take on a traditional Czech Pilsner.

The keyword today is balance. In whichever style you choose to smoke up, the smoke character should more or less equal in magnitude the strongest flavor in the profile and should complement and enhance the flavors present.

Smog City Brewing Co. has seen steady growth during its seven years in business. It has largely focused on draft, but as the cofounders look to move the brewery to the next level, they have turned to glass bottles to reach new accounts and customers.

Juicy doesn’t have to mean hazy. It’s time to call a truce by ramping up the juiciness of the style without resorting to murk-inducing techniques designed to send a visual signal of “juicy.”

For Lawson’s Finest Liquids Founder Sean Lawson, his 6-pack of favorite beers is always in flux. Changing based on location and what’s he’s drinking at the time, and this list is heavily influenced by the location of our interview in Nashville, Tennessee.

This “West Coast Pilsner” captures the crispness of a Pilsner with the hops of a West Coast IPA.

Here are three beer bars that our correspondents examined in Issue 27 of Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine. Find the best pints in Minneapolis, Longmont, and Aberdeen with these Love Handles.

This recipe uses wheat, flaked rice, and flaked oats. All hops are added after the boil for awesome aroma without the bitterness. He uses Galaxy, Citra, Hallertau Blanc, and Azacca for white-wine notes, gooseberry, tangerine, and guava.

We asked Monkish Brewing Cofounder Henry Nguyen for some advice when it comes to brewing quality, flavorful, and inventive IPAs. Here are five things he thinks you should know when it comes to brewing IPA.

Decoction mashing and patient lagering remain the norm across Upper Franconia, as they do in nearby Czechia—the two places in the world most famed for their attractive, flavorful lagers. Our correspondent takes a deep dive into the region.

Best known at the moment for their hoppy IPAs and pale ales, Fox Farm is using location to its advantage. The emphasis on sourcing local ingredients and taking a culinary approach to beer-recipe development translates to a farm-to-glass experience.

The metro area is booming, with countless cranes on the horizon and traffic to match. Still, this city has managed to retain its Southern charm. The brewing industry has risen with the times. It’s time to go drinking in Nashville.

Start working this one into your autumn or late-winter lineup (I like it as a “welcome to spring” beer), and I think you’ll find yourself with a new favorite sessionable lager.

Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith homebrewing software and the voice behind the Beersmith podcast, answers a question on how to get tropic fruit flavors and aromas into your beer through hops.

Smart and effective hops pairing is a front-end, preproduction skill that every brewer should work to develop because pairing, blending, and mixing hops increases the odds of getting what you want out of your recipes and beers.

Next time you’re planning a spring or early summer homebrewing session and you look out onto the lawn and see dandelions popping up, don’t hit them with the mower. Gather a bunch and add them to a saison recipe.

Certain hops play leading roles, but the supporting actors are just as important and often overlooked. Sean Buchan of Cerebral Brewing shares some of his favorites.

Proving that experience is the best teacher, Jay Bullen, a homebrewer turned pro who has bounced from one side of the country to the other, recently settled in northern Massachusetts and is now focused on creating traditional styles.

Thiols, also known as mercaptans, are sulfur-containing organic compounds with a sulfur atom bound to a hydrogen atom. Thiols make up less than 1% of the essential oils in a hops cone but might hold a key to the fashionable in-demand tropical flavors.

Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith homebrewing software, and the voice behind the Beersmith podcast, answers a question on water profiles.

With a new tasting room and a second location, Highland Park Brewery in Los Angeles can clearly follow two paths: the predictable, more controlled one of beers made in stainless with one yeast strain, and the other path—mixed-culture fermentation.

Editorial Director Jamie Bogner welcomes you to our annual IPA issue (on sale now) and shares the good news about the ever evolving style.

The one that started a trend. The Brut IPA from San Francisco's Social Kitchen and Brewery.

An enzyme long used to help make big imperial stouts a little easier on the palate has found a new purpose in an emerging style of IPA. The Brut IPA is a dry—0° Plato—version of the style that was created just months ago and is now spreading like wildfire.