Ah summer, a time of beaches, bikinis and of course, beer. Sandals and coolers emerge from storage as people start planning their summery escapades. Unfortunately, a common companion to these outings is bland and flavorless beer. Many people have come to expect a certain bargain basem...  more »

English Bitters are perhaps one of the most misunderstood beers on the market. Designations like ''Extra Special Bitter'' and ''Extra Strong Bitter'' have given these beers a bad reputation. English Pale Ales as a style are actually very mild by today's standards. Some defining charac...  more »

I've been on a barrel-aged beer kick lately. ''Barrel aging is the current hot trend in American craft beer'' according to Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at the Brooklyn Brewery and one of world's foremost experts on beer. Back in the day (before Prohibition) barrel aging was a common way...  more »

Few brews reach legendary status in the craft beer world. They are the brews that every beer geek knows about and only a handful have experienced. Beer names like Pliny The Elder and Sink the Bismarck adorn this exclusive list and they are treated like the Loch Ness Monsters of the be...  more »

At the beginning of the craft beer movement, IPAs were relatively simple and straight forward brews. At a baseline, they were nothing more than extra bitter pale ales. Fast forward to today where even the simplest IPAs can punish palates and strip tooth enamel. As a result, the style...  more »

In the lands of better beer, the pale ale is perhaps the most widely recognized baseline brew. Almost every brewery you come across will have their own version of the APA (American Pale Ale) which is often their most popular beer. This is simply because the pale ale as a style is extr...  more »

As the seasons change, so do the options on the beer store shelves. Most people would be surprised to know that there are many more options from a seasonal beer perspective than from a year-round one. Most breweries only craft a handful of core staple beers that they are recognized fo...  more »

In some ways, being a craft beer enthusiast is a lot like being a scientist. Based on research and data, you formulate conclusions about your topic of study. You compare notes with peers and then apply that knowledge until better knowledge presents itself. And much like with science,...  more »

Despite its amazing successes, the American craft beer movement still has plenty of naysayers. It's often looked at as awkward or nontraditional. But to anyone who still doubts the impact of American craft beer, I need only say something like this: I just ordered a tasty Belgian-style...  more »

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. If you truly want to understand what hops bring to the beer table, then explore a single hop series of beers. The concept is simple: a brewery will craft a beer (usually an Imperial IPA) using only one type of hops. The best single h...  more »