Beer

In the mountains of eastern Georgia, a rare type of farmhouse beer represents a centuries-old tradition that survives.

The helles that won gold at the 2025 World Beer Cup was a collaboration between Cinder Block of Kansas City, Missouri, and Blind Tiger of Topeka, Kansas. The objective? To craft a high-quality helles without a traditional decoction mash.

This recipe takes inspiration from the lighter, easier-drinking blonde ales that the Belgian Trappist monks brew largely for themselves—but you can have some, too.

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.

From beer-barreled whiskey to brewery hikes and your new favorite player in the transfer portal, here are a few things we’re stoked on, now.

Here are two recipes in one: first the peach soda, which you can modify depending on your own chosen fruit, then an extract-brewed helles that you can blend to your liking.

Beer purists might look down their noses at the humble radler and other shandies, but crafting your own soda to blend with your own beer is a flavor-driven project any brewer can appreciate.

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.

Is green-colored beer just a contemporary gimmick to drum up business on St. Patrick’s Day? Not necessarily—its history is longer than you think.

With conjecture based on archaeological findings, here’s a recipe for a mixed grog—in this case, an ale that includes herbs, honey, and fruit—of the sort that well-to-do, Bronze Age Danes might have enjoyed on special occasions and then (literally) taken to their graves.

There’s much we don’t know, but the archaeological finds of ancient Nordic beverages point to beer, mead, and wine—and to hybrids of all three—as the status beverages of the rich and powerful.

A splash of lager goes into the cheese sauce for this Midwestern diner classic, traditionally served open-faced with a pile of fries.

From Unsung Brewing in Anaheim, California, this West Coast pilsner—with tropical character driven by Mosaic and Nelson hops—won silver in the Hoppy Lager category at the 2025 World Beer Cup.

Funky Fauna Artisan Ales in Bend, Oregon, ferments their light, quenching house saison with their own locally captured mixed culture.

Inspired by Wallonian farmhouse brewing but rooted in Oregon terroir, Funky Fauna in Bend makes its Wild Saison beers from local ingredients, fermenting them in oak barrels with their wild-caught house culture. Here, cofounder and brewer Michael Frith shares tips on leaning local, developing your own mixed culture, package-conditioning, and more.

From our Love Handles files on beer bars we love: This no-frills, laid-back pub in Midtown Manhattan serves up pub grub, friendliness, and local craft.

Lisa Allen, co-owner and brewer at Heater Allen and Gold Dot Beer in McMinnville, Oregon, shares this recipe for a pils designed to show off a nontraditional German aroma-hop variety.

With a burst of Lórien hops in the whirlpool and more in the dry hop, the team at Sunriver Brewing in Sunriver, Oregon, describes this hop-forward pilsner as “distinctly crisp, with elegant hoppy notes of wildflowers, lemongrass, and black tea.”

These oven-roasted Brussels sprouts with shallots get some spicy depth via chili flakes and a glaze made from Belgian tripel.

This Citra- and Mosaic-powered hazy IPA is the popular flagship from Kros Strain in La Vista, Nebraska. See the notes below for how to adjust for the DDH version.