Mark it down: Baltic Porter Day this year is January 18, always the third Saturday of this month. This year’s will be the 10th edition of a commemoration that began in 2016 in Poland, where rich, hefty, cool-fermented porters reign supreme. Marcin Chmielarz has worn many hats in the industry—bar manager, brewer, video blogger—but one of his most no…

The city of Grodzisk Wielkopolski was once a major center of brewing in 19th century Poland, but political unrest, world wars, communism, and then misguided capitalism all played parts in closing the previous chapter of the city’s brewing history in the early 90’s. But the rise of craft beer also led to a resurgence in interest for obscure styles l…

This final episode of 2024 is our chance to look back at the conversations that resonated most with you, the listeners. Here, we count down the ten most-dowloaded episodes of the past year, with excerpts from each. The countdown includes: Thomas Vandelanotte of Timmermans, Waterloo, and Bourgogne des Flandres on the science of lambic Matt Cole of F…

It’s easy for New World brewers to lump Czech beer into the “historical” category, but—while many prominent brewers there focus intently on the lagers we all love—a growing contingent are also tackling evolving styles such as hazy IPA, fruited sour, pastry stout, and more—and they’re often doing it in their own ways. In Louny, a historic town about…

Kevin Ely spent many years running the brewhouse at Uinta’s production brewery in Salt Lake City, but family brought him to a farm in rural eastern Ohio. Built next to the farm where his wife grew up, Wooly Pig Farm Brewery is the result of applying big-brewery-systems thinking to the smallest, most self-sufficient farm scale. From embracing the im…

Dogfish Head has a reputation for pushing the envelope with culinary ingredients in their beer, and that penchant for experimentation was incorporated into the program at this year’s Brewer’s Retreat through this panel discussion on spices (and brewing with them), moderated by Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione and featuring Ethan Frisch of single-…

Barrel-aging is nothing new for Firestone Walker’s Matt Brynildson. He got his first exposure to the process while working for barrel-aging pioneer Goose Island in Chicago, and for the better part of two decades has been exploring the impact of wood, aging, and blending in the development of beer flavor at Firestone Walker. A post-pandemic initiati…

The Best in Beer theme continues this week, as contributing editor Kate Bernot and hops insider Stan Hieronymus sit down with executive editor Joe Stange and cofounder and editorial director Jamie Bogner. Together, they discuss their personal favorites from the past year in beer, round-robin style, recorded live at Craft Beer & Brewing office in Fo…

Our annual issue on the very Best in Beer today hits subscribers alongside this special, once-per-year episode of the Craft Beer & Brewing podcast. Hosts Jamie Bogner and Joe Stange reveal results from our annual Readers’ Choice survey—including your favorite breweries, beers, bars, and destination cities—as well as our Best 20 Beers in 2024, decid…

At the recent Brewer’s Retreat at Dogfish Head in Milton, Delaware, Steve Parker of Fidens (Albany, New York), Scott Janish of Sapwood Cellars (Columbia, Maryland), and Kelsey McNair of North Park (San Diego) answer questions about brewing hazy or New England–style IPA. In this episode, they discuss: points of difference in West and East Coast hazy…

In this special episode recorded at the recent Craft Beer & Brewing Brewer’s Retreat at Dogfish Head in Milton, Delaware, Khris Johnson of Green Bench (St. Petersburg, Florida), Doug Reiser of Burial (Asheville, North Carolina), and Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River (Windsor, California) share their answers to attendees’ questions about brewing IPA—f…

As a trained food scientist with 20 years of experience in the field, Eric Tennant entered the brewing world with a bit more background than most. And that background has served him well, as he considers both ingredients and processes required to achieve the beer flavors he envisions. Over the past few years, he’s focused Benchtop around foeder-age…

This second of two episodes recorded live at 3 Sons Lumberjack Day in September includes two separate interviews. First up is Alex Lawes, cofounder of Dublin, Ireland’s Whiplash—a modern brewery known for progressive styles, but also one that focuses on making those styles in low-ABV form for repeat drinkability. Next up is Grzegorz Ziemian, cofoun…

In Oakland Park, Florida, Brewlihan meadery sits in rarified air atop Untappd's list of top breweries in the world. Their rabid fan base has propelled them to No. 5—as of this recording—a ranking that founder John Hoolihan doesn't take for granted, as he continually applies science and chemistry to balance flavor, acidity, gravity, and tannin. In t…

As Andrew Foss of Human Robot says in this episode, “Perfection is pretty easy. To make something interesting is hard.” Those are easy words to say and harder words to brew by, but the Philadelphia brewer strives for character over lager “cleanliness,” eschewing the “crispy” moniker while searching for something more substantial. To accomplish that…

While Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery and Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River need little introduction, the grain they’ve grown fond of brewing with—an African millet known as fonio—may be unfamiliar to many brewers. In this episode, these two brewing legends discuss the grain’s background, as well as how and why they’ve used it in a series of new b…

Paul Schneider of Cinderlands is an optimist and a realist—but first and foremost he’s an analyst, studying the evolution of consumer trends and working tirelessly in the brewhouse to find creative and process solutions. He’s not afraid to use all the tools at his disposal—pulling solutions from food science, where necessary—while testing, honestly…