Fruit in Beer (June-July 2017)

Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith homebrewing software and the voice behind the Beersmith podcast, offers advice on kegging your homebrew.

Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith homebrewing software and the voice behind the Beersmith podcast, examines the importance of conical fermentors.

Homebrew expert Brad Smith, author of the Beersmith homebrewing software and the voice behind the Beersmith podcast, offers some practical advice for adding whirlpool hops.

Fly sparge, batch sparge, no sparge, BIAB—we tested 4 sparging methods to help you decide which is best for you and your brew system.

Here’s a simple saison. The Mandarina hops give a bright herbal citrus nose on top of the farmhousey Ardennes yeast, which gets more spicy the warmer you ferment, but feel free to substitute your favorite fruity hops.

Wander Brewing’s Uncommon California Common is a nod to a truly American style. It’s also a nod to the beer that converted brewery Founders Chad and Colleen Kuehl into craft-beer lovers.

Steve Luke says about this coffee porter that was brewed at Cloudburst Brewing earlier this year: “I think lighter roasts can be less astringent and acrid compared to darker roasts, so they meld a bit better with darker and roasted malts in the beer.”

This adventurous beer is based on an American pale ale and inspired by the Moscow Moose cocktail. The ginger and rye are present, but subtle. The wild card is the use of lime, which shines through on the finish.

Here’s a recipe for a brown ale that’s obviously a brown ale, but also obviously not just another English Brown or Mild. It will have much more interest on the palate, especially if you take the more adventurous Rauchmalt route!

At Wander Brewing, the biggest focus is blazing a trail through beer and beer styles that interest and inspire them, from Belgian styles to rauchbiers to fruited kettle sours to barrel-aged saisons to coolship beers and, yes, even IPAs.

Belgian pale ale is a great entry-level Belgian beer for those who are a little overwhelmed by the more common Dubbels and Tripels out there, and it’s the style I recommend when people tell me they “don’t like Belgians.”

Brewing on used equipment and playing around with new techniques, hops, or other ingredients, Cloudburst Brewing is turning out a spectrum of beers that are remembered for their bold names and the causes they support.

A blueberry sour ale adds some summertime excitement to this yummy crumb cake.

For Troy Casey, owner of Casey Brewing & Blending, brewing with fruit is much more than just selecting the fruit—it’s a relationship with local fruit growers and an exploration of the distinct flavors that specific fruit varietals contribute to beer.

This beer is inspired by Mike Todd, a fellow member of the Stoney Creek Homebrewers, who brought a SMaSH version to a recent meeting. We were all blown away by the clarion blackberry/black currant/plum notes that the Bramling Cross hops pumped out!

From core beers to core values and down to every last detail, Aslan Brewing Co. is very much an expression of its four owners’ commitment to organic ingredients and their community.

A coconut porter is the perfect culinary inspiration for this bright, light, and flavorful dish.

Pro-brewer-in-planning Geoff Coleman uses apricot puree and a host of late-addition and dry hops (Simcoe, Azacca, Citra, Mosaic, Caliente, and Rakau) in this New England–style IPA.

A peach IPA is the perfect culinary inspiration for this bright, light, and flavorful salad.

Whether you’re drinking beer to make the long, cold winter bearable, or enjoying a pint on a patio on a warm summer day, these are the spots that have helped this Michigan city earn the name “Beer City USA.”

This raspberry and cherry sour has won several awards for pro-brewer-in-planning Geoff Coleman, including Best of Show at the 2015 Colorado State Fair and a Gold Medal at the 2016 Big Beers Festival.

Brewers have often used pH to describe the sourness of their beer, but recent research has shown not only that titratable acidity correlates more closely to perceived sourness, but that additional factors are also important. Stan Hieronymus elaborates.

Saison + lemon + orange + ginger add up to a pop of summertime excitement for salmon filets.

The beers Will Meyers enjoys the most (and most often) reflect his love of flavorful low ABV beers that one can drink in quantity yet express with complexity.

Adding raspberries to your porter is a fantastic way to expand your flavor options and test your creativity. Josh Weikert shows you how to make three adjustments to your recipe to account for the additional tartness/astringency from the raspberries.

In the spirit of craft, today’s creative makers are looking both to history and to the playbook developed by craft-beer brewers to make unique and exciting ciders.

An apricot or peach fruit beer is the perfect culinary inspiration for these bright, light, and flavorful scallops.

Here are the three beer bars that we explored in Issue 19 (June/July 2017) of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®.

Whether you’re a homebrewer or a pro brewer, the reward of learning from peers and engaging in the social act of brewing together is one thing that makes craft beer unique and special. Let’s not lose it.