The wider world has known about sahti for a few decades now, but many attempts to brew it have little to do with the real thing. For those who want to make something much closer to the Finnish farmhouse tradition, Mika Laitinen explains the basics.
Modified yeast strains and products such as Phantasm have unlocked the massive aromatic and flavor potential of thiols. Now, brewers are learning how best to tame that power in service of balance and nuance.
Brewers don’t make beer, yeast do—but they also make a lot more yeast. Here’s a look at some of the specialized gear that brewers use to propagate and ensure consistent pitches from batch to batch.
It’s been five years since Wayfinder brewed its first cold IPA and more than two since it went mainstream. Despite predictions of a passing fad, breweries continue to embrace that lean, “wester than West Coast” frame. Here, Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson muses on what defines it—and what really makes it work.
The quality of your beer hinges on the yeast and handling it properly—but it need not be difficult. From our Illustrated Guide to Homebrewing, here’s what you need to know about types of yeast and how to manage them so that your fermentation goes to plan.
The popularity of cold IPA has blown the cover off a quiet yet long-running practice in commercial brewing: using lager yeast to make beer sold as ale. Sam Tierney, brewing manager at the Firestone Walker Propagator brewery in Los Angeles, offers some perspective.
A recent release at California’s Firestone Walker may be a window into where IPA is headed, going for clarity and lean fermentation while borrowing hop-saturation hocus-pocus from the hazy grimoire. Brewmaster Matt Brynildson explains.
Two brewers of our featured Best 20 Beers in 2022—Carey Fristoe of Black Spruce and John Garcia of King Harbor—discuss the creative and technical processes that went into their exceptional beers.
Lauren and Joe Grimm of the eponymously named Brooklyn-based brewery have built processes to optimize yeast health and performance, whether brewing hazy IPAs or wild and spontaneous beers.
If you don’t like the phrase “cold IPA,” blame Kevin Davey, brewmaster at lager-centric Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon. He coined it to describe a particular lager-ale hybrid; since then, a growing throng of brewers have picked up on the trend. Here, he explains more about the term and where it may be going.