Josh Weikert

Lambics are hard to get right. They take a long time to mature, so you’re going to need to show some patience. They’re worth it, though. In exchange for a couple of hours each year, you can develop a steady rotation of complex and flavorful sour beers.

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• Lambic

One nice thing here is that once you get past the “emergency – need beer” time window, you can lager this beer just like any other. Tuck the bottles or keg away for a few weeks of cold refrigeration to clean up and clear up.

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• Mocktoberfest

Drink this one as soon as it’s ready. It doesn’t age poorly, but the seasonally-evocative nature of the recipe might make it seem out-of-place. Happy (early) Holidays!

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• Winter Seasonal

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.

• Beer Recipe
• Aber Lager
• All Grain Recipe

As a Specialty style, Fruit Beer is necessarily broad (or, more accurately, user- and declared-style-defined). The overarching theme of the style is “balance,” though, with a beer that’s still recognizable as “beer” but also with “evident” fruit character.

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• Fruit Beer

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.

• Hops
• IPA
• Brewing Technique

Far from being just the “middle child” of the British Pale Ale family, the Best Bitter should be one of your favorites because it combines the lightness of the Ordinary Bitter with the more flavor-forward nature of the ESB.

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• Premium Bitter

Kellerbier merges the best of British cask ale with German malts and hops in a unique lager style. It has an atypical flavor profile that, depending on your finishing steps, can represent itself as a kind of German ESB or a Continental IPA.

• Homebrewing
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• Homebrew recipe

There’s a simple pleasure to this style that makes it a joy to drink, with the added bonus of being a beer that you can enjoy a full dimpled mug of and still follow the action on the pitch.

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• Ordinary Bitter

The robust porter (sometimes called American porter) because it can showcase almost any set of flavors you want. Brew one up now, and it’ll be perfect for your winter social events!

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• All Grain Recipe
• Homebrew Recipe

This is a beer you’ll like, that can serve a big (and mixed-palate) crowd, with a hops blend that should intrigue the beer geeks, and has enough punch and interest to stand out on the competition table. Not bad for a boring fizzy yellow lager, eh?

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• International Pale Lager

While many variations exist, the recipe that follows takes a solid amber-brown ale and adds in both the real (pumpkin) and “evocative” (pumpkin pie spice) ingredients necessary to call to mind falling leaves and football (European or American).

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• Autumn Seasonal