It doesn’t take a bespoke lager brewery to bring the subtle complexities of decoction to craft lager—but it does take some ingenuity.

The power of sensory analysis isn’t only for finished beer—you can also apply it to raw materials, including hops and malt. In this clip from her video course, DraughtLab cofounder Lindsay Barr outlines two key methods: the hop grind and the hot steep.

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Based on discussions with Rochefort brewmaster Gumer Santos, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe inspired by the Trappist abbey’s strongest dark ale—with notes on how to adjust the recipe to approximate the 6 or 8.

In Belgium’s Namur province, at the Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy abbey, head brewer Gumer Santos shares some of the methods that go into the Brasserie des Trappistes Rochefort’s highly regarded dark ales—as well as its newer blonde triple.

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.

This Dutch brewer—in a small Belgian enclave surrounded the Netherlands—gives elegant French names to his English barleywines and IPAs after aging them in Italian wine barrels. The results are far from any stereotypes you might have about Belgian beer.

From role-playing as a medieval abbey brewer to finding specialty craft malts online, here are a couple recent picks from our editors.

Ensuring that popular beers maintain consistent flavor profiles—that they are true to brand—is important for any brewer who wants to keep customers happy. Here, DraughtLab cofounder Lindsay Barr explains how true-to-target and brand recognition testing can help you drill into your beer’s finer sensory traits.

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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?

From our Love Handles files on our favorite spots around the world to enjoy a beer: There are few things we appreciate more than an airport bar that majors in craft beer; the Stone Arch at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport is worth planning a long layover.

Historical preservation is a funny thing—to save the past, often we need to connect it to the present and find new ways to make it relevant or interesting to modern audiences. That’s the core approach for Oud Beersel, where localized and familiar ingredients bring new drinkers into the world of lambic, oude gueuze, and oude kriek.

For an indulgent breakfast or brunch—after a big night out, perhaps?—coffee stout contributes some depth to this simple French toast preparation. You’ll only need a half-cup for the dish, though. (The rest is for you.)

It was so much fun last year, let’s make it a new tradition: We asked five brewers from last year’s Best 20 to name their favorite new beer from the past year.

There are many methods of sensory analysis that can be used in the brewery, but one of the most useful is the descripton test. DraughtLab cofounder Lindsay Barr explains how it works.

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From Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub in Minneapolis, here’s a recipe for their Doppelbock that won gold at the 2024 World Beer Cup—and that beer also was the basis for their Eisbock, which won gold at the Great American Beer Festival in 2024 and 2025.

Besides having a nice red-amber hue and tasting great—earthy, malty, and spicy-bitter—this recipe shows how alternative base grains can make a significant difference in flavor.

An end-of-the-year look at the most-downloaded episodes, with highlights, insights, and soundbites.

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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.

Looking for something rich and impressive to bring to that holiday gathering? You can serve this stout-enriched torte simply—ideally, with fresh whipped cream—but you can you also use it as a base for mousses and ganaches.