Jamie Bogner is the cofounder and editorial director of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®. Email him at [email protected].
From more than 1,000 beers winnowed down via blind judging throughout the year—and then winnowed further by more blind tasting with our top writers and editors—here are 20 beers that represent the very finest in brewing today.
From its outpost an hour outside of downtown Chicago, Art History has quietly built momentum by focusing on a range of Czech- and German-inspired lagers as well as bitters, milds, and other English styles. In this episode, head brewer Greg Browne and cofounder Tom Rau share their approach to making traditional beers cool again.
Over the years, Metazoa has won more than a dozen GABF and World Beer Cup medals. The latest gold—for a double-decocted, Scottish-style ale made with ingredients on hand, minimal specialty malts, open fermentation, and yeast borrowed from their hazy IPA—is proof that there is more than one way to make a compelling and malt-forward ale.
From New Year’s Eve to breakfast to making new best friends, New Belgium’s Lauren Woods Limbach guides us through six beloved beers that represent excellence as well as those moments that remind you what it’s all about.
Jason zumBrunnen of Ratio Beerworks and Jeremy Claeys of Protagonist discuss their respective 2023 GABF gold medal–winning saisons, from Protagonist’s classical take to Ratio’s carrot- and elderflower-infused rendition.
In this panel discussion from our recent Brewery Accelerator, Jake Gardner of Westbound & Down, Marni Wahlquist of Odell, and Sean Buchan of Cerebral discuss their approaches to contemporary IPA—hazy, clear, and everything in-between.
It’s two GABF gold medal winners in one episode, as Joel Stickrod and Spencer Longhurst of Nashville’s Barrique discuss the making of their Wet Hop Strata 2023, while 1840’s Kyle Vetter shares the process behind I Don’t Want To Wait.
In a former dairy creamery in northern Vermont, Wunderkammer creator (and former Hill Farmstead head brewer) Vasili Gletsos has developed a decidedly manual, hands-on process using locally foraged ingredients, a wood-fired copper kettle, and no glycol.
Over the past 12 years, Nat West has built a brand focused on flavor-forward cider made with a craft brewer’s mentality. Now, Reverend Nat’s is in its final act—winding down business operations—but not before leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of Pacific Northwest craft beverages.
In Sunnyside, Washington, Chris Baum and his team at Varietal Beer enjoy firsthand access to growers and a nuanced understanding of hop quality. In this episode, recorded mid-harvest in the heart of the Yakima Valley, Baum shares his thoughts on brewing hop-forward and fresh-hop beers, and more.