Jamie Bogner is the cofounder and editorial director of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®. Email him at [email protected].
Despite opening in the throes of the pandemic in late 2020, Austin’s Meanwhile has bet big on a sprawling beer garden and well-appointed taproom, quenched by World Beer Cup and GABF medal–winning pilsner, helles, and San Diego–style IPA.
As it always does, the recent Craft Brewers Conference offered glimpses of where brewing may be going, whatever your scale. From terpenes to Dynaboost to new yeast strains, here are a few finds from the trade-show floor have us excited about what’s next.
In his quest to understand the impact of every ingredient in their ever-widening family of hazy IPAs, no test is off-limits for Burlington Beer founder Joe Lemnah. From malts and adjuncts to the impact of yeast strains on surprisingly classic hop combos, the Burlington team haven’t stopped learning and tweaking in their pursuit of optimized flavor.
Lessons learned from many years of saison brewing have informed Freak Folk’s signature approach to brewing Vermont’s marquee style—hazy IPA.
In a fast-moving era, Switchback founder Bill Cherry bucks the trend by choosing slow growth and less-popular niche styles—such as smoked beer—that afford time to learn and focus through iterative brewing.
The von Trapp family history is well known thanks to the prominence of a certain Disney film, but their dogged approach to brewing lager, just down the hill from the family lodge in Stowe, Vermont, has earned them fans throughout the region and beyond.
From enchanting drinking experiences to inspirational breweries, Josh Pfriem, cofounder and brewmaster at pFriem Family Brewers, takes us on a rollicking tour through Bavaria, California, New England, and Belgium for his selected six-pack.
In this final installment of our Las Vegas CBC preview episodes, Crafthaus head brewer Cameron Fisher shares his approach to making award-winning cold IPA with flaked maize, layered hop formats, and a characterful Czech lager yeast, as well as coffee beers and Scotch ale.
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With 10 GABF medals (including four golds) and three World Beer Cup medals (two more golds) to their name, this Las Vegas brewery has cracked the competition code and figured out how to win big.