Annie Johnson

For those who like it dark, strong, and contemplative, here’s a partial-mash extract recipe for a Trappist-inspired ale that can be cellared for many months, with a drinkability belies its strength and complexity.

Belgium’s dark, strong ales are among the most complex and impressive beers in the canon—yet extract brewers can tackle them as well as anyone, as long as we pay attention to a few key points.

So, you put the lime in the coconut—or, better yet, add them both to secondary. Then you drink it all up.

Extract brewing provides a more-than-capable canvas for getting creative with the unusual fruits that arrive this time of year. Annie Johnson breaks it down.

Here is Annie Johnson’s recipe for a rich, complex, adjunct-free imperial stout that mellows and improves with some time in the cellar.

You don’t need a truckload of grain and a giant mash tun to brew a big, rich imperial stout perfect for laying down for months—this one is right in the extract brewer’s wheelhouse.

This old-school Cascadian dark ale embraces piney Chinook hops in Sasquatchian proportions. Don’t worry about the IBUs—this should end up relatively balanced, with enough malt and hop flavors and aroma to provide depth for the bitterness.

Maybe that P in IPA can stand for “pitch-black.” Once again helping us to extract the most characterful beer from extract brewing, Annie Johnson has the details on Cascadian dark ale, aka American black ale or black IPA.

From award-winning homebrewer and Craft Beer & Brewing contributor Annie Johnson, this elegant single-malt-single-hop beer can spotlight any hop you want—in this case, Zappa, which can boldly express tropical fruit, mint, spices, citrus, and pine.

Besides a hearty embrace of spicy Saaz hops, this partial-mash recipe for a Czech-style pilsner includes a method for pressurized fermentation in a corny keg.