Joe Stange

Joe Stange


Podcast Episode 387: Best in Beer 2024 Special with Jamie Bogner and Joe Stange

Hear the stories behind the stories, as Jamie and Joe share your Readers’ Choice picks for favorites of the year, and as they reveal and discuss Craft Beer & Brewing’s Best 20 Beers in 2024.

The Best 20 Beers in 2024

A year of focused tasting panels plus two full days of blind judging and lively discussion among our editorial panel—including Kate Bernot and Stan Hieronymus—culminates in this: the roll of honor. Here are the 20 beers that awed, delighted, and inspired us the most, representing the pinnacle of the craft today.

Kyoto’s Bungalow Fuses Local Craft with Izakaya in Japan’s Cultural Capital

From our Love Handles files on the world’s great beer bars: In Kyoto, the atmospheric Bungalow eschews burgers and wings while catering to local tastes and pouring fresh beers from smaller Japanese independents.

American IPA, Remastered

Before there was hazy or even a defined West Coast style, there was an IPA that emerged as a brashly hopped counterpoint to British ale. It never went away—but it evolved. And today’s brewers are making it better than ever.

Special Ingredient: Ube

It’s sweet, it’s purple, it’s trendy, and many folks from the Philippines will be delighted when you make some beer with it.

Brewing with Wind Malt

Perhaps the oldest way of preparing grain for brewing, drying malt in the open air was traditional for lambics, white beers, and various rustic ales scattered around Europe, Africa, and beyond. Today, brewers and maltsters interested in history, terroir, and old-fashioned methods are taking their malt back out into the sun.

Special Ingredient: Tortilla Chips

Dipping in to put the crispy in crispy bois, this is nacho usual adjunct. (Sorry, was that corny?)

San Francisco’s Toronado Endures as a Monument to Characterful Beer

From our Love Handles files on the world’s best places to drink great beer: Steadily approaching four decades in operation, this influential bar continues to combine unpretentious atmosphere with a powerhouse selection of independently brewed beers.

Special Ingredient: Kimchi

It can be a polarizing dish for those who didn’t grow up with it, but there are some affinities between certain styles of beer and this fermented Korean favorite. Can you brew with it? Of course you can.

Editors’ Picks: Fresh Ingredients

Looking for something fresh to give your beers an edge? Check out these new yeasts, hops, and flavor extracts.