American

In the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Goldfinger has built a strong national reputation for its lagers. This one is inspired by the German zoigl tradition but makes use of American ingredients, including corn and whole-leaf Mt. Hood hops.

One lager brewery at a time, a homemade zoigl star is making its way around the United States. At each brewery, the star signals participation in an evolving collaboration inspired partly by the Oberpfalz tradition. Tom Beckmann, cofounder and brewer at Goldfinger in Chicago, explains.

Fogbelt Brewing in Santa Rosa, California, recently revived this craft classic long brewed by Mendocino in nearby Hopland. Often cited as the first American red ale, pioneering microbrewers Don Barkley and Jack McAuliffe first brewed Red Tail Ale in 1983.

A classic style in the American craft pantheon, this amber ale is Annie Johnson’s house beer—the one she’s brewed again and again to dial in her process and ingredients. (She also drinks it.)

From Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, this recipe is a celebration of Strata hops and the people who pick them.

For the team at Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, this mountain-style IPA is a tribute to the Rocky Mountains. They select its modern hop varieties to achieve a complex profile of juicy and tropical notes.

Every brewer should have a house beer they use to get better—the one you could brew in your sleep to fine-tune your process, get to know your ingredients intimately, and dial in flavor and quality. For Annie Johnson, that beer is her throwback American amber ale.

The flagship beer from Wiseacre in Memphis, Tennessee, Tiny Bomb is a svelte, session-strength American lager with the full flavor of a German pilsner.

A classic style in the modern American pantheon, this hop-and-malt-forward strong ale serves as a great starting point for experimentation—for example, by subbing in your favorite hop varieties.

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.

Based on details shared by the former lead brewer at Peoples Brewing in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this mid-20th century American bock gets its color from a darker caramel Munich malt—not from the syrups that were common in dark adjunct lagers from that time.

From Cloudburst founder-brewer Steve Luke, here’s a homebrew recipe for the West Coast double red that won gold at the 2025 World Beer Cup.

In 2025, Seattle’s Cloudburst won World Beer Cup gold in the Strong Red Ale category for its throwback West Coast double red, Peaked in High School. Here, founder-brewer Steve Luke opens his yearbook to share the details.

From Vine Street Brewing in Kansas City, Missouri, comes this juicy IPA that features a tropical aroma with notes of citrus and white grape.

Twentieth-century U.S. lager breweries would often use colorants—such as a malt-based product called Porterine—to give their pale beers a darker or even porter-like appearance. Here’s how to make your own.

Justin Slotnick, production manager at Schilling Beer in Littleton, New Hampshire, shares this recipe for their dark bock inspired by the industrial American tradition—but updated to use today’s old-fashioned craft malts.

American brewers have been producing an industrial riff on bock for more than 150 years—light in strength but dark in color, usually made with corn as well as dark syrups. How might craft brewers reinterpret this tradition, based on the ingredients they have today?

This beer began as an attempt to brew something with a properly reddish hue for the holidays—but it serves just as well as an exploration of earthy rye and malty depth with a firm, spicy bitterness.

From Chicago’s Burning Bush Brewery, this amber ale includes two types of basil grown right there on their patio next to the Chicago River.

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.