Brewing

Bigger is better… except when it isn’t.

There is an art to designing, brewing, and blending tasty beers that get their complex character from mixed cultures and time on oak. To give your art its best shot, however, it’s best to know the science.

This lauded brewery in central Oregon proves that smart operational decisions can pay dividends—and land you on the awards podium.

In this excerpt from their conversation for Craft Beer & Brewing Podcast Episode 400, editorial director Jamie Bogner and WeldWerks founder Neil Fisher look back on the industry’s past decade, looking for light to shed on its present and future.

Amid craft lager’s surge, smaller maltsters are sending up signals for an unlikely trend, producing small batches of unusual smoked malts made with a variety of woods. Brewers dig it, too—but will drinkers follow?

In the hills of rural eastern Ohio, you won’t find Wooly Pig Farm Brewery by accident. Yet with an accomplished brewer who brews only unfiltered lager, sells it all on-site, and feeds spent grain to the hogs, there are plenty of reasons to find it on purpose.

In today’s hop-forward beers, whirlpool additions contribute many of the IBUs—yet the results are less clear-cut than adding to the boil. Research—some new, some not so new—may provide direction.

Beer is already made from plants, and foraging for local flavor is nothing new to terroir-focused breweries. So, what does it mean to brew with botanicals—and could your brewery capitalize on the trend?

Keeping a brewhouse running efficiently is an even taller order when tourism and weather create major demand swings throughout the year. Here’s how breweries manage production through the seasonal ups and down.

Going beyond barley into ancient grains can be a way to form stronger connections with local farmers, promote sustainable agriculture, and produce more distinctive beers.

From incubators to accelerators, a range of business models aims to help would-be breweries overcome barriers and launch their brands.

Based on insights from those who’ve done it successfully, we look at how small breweries can set up training programs that both widen and deepen craft beer’s talent pool.

Whether farm breweries are out in the country or right downtown, state licenses for them depend on flexible benchmarks for local ingredients. There are lessons to be learned for any state considering similar privileges for breweries that aim to buy local.

For some breweries looking beyond beer, copackers have become vital partners for launching new products. Here’s what to know when weighing your options.

Minnesota’s peculiar beer laws compelled Austin Jevne and Annie Henderson to spin off a contract-brewed brand distinct from their original brewpub. Turns out, the lemonade they made from those lemons tastes pretty sweet.

At the helm of North Carolina’s Highland Brewing, founded by her father Oscar Wong in 1994, Leah Wong Ashburn discusses how they’re doubling down on people, values, and experience in today’s challenging environment.

From software price hikes and CO2 scarcity to electrolytes and THC, here is a roundup of some recent news and announcements from around the industry.

Expensive equipment and a steep technical learning curve make contract brewing nonalcoholic beers an attractive option for smaller breweries.

The economy’s so-called “Great Resignation” isn’t affecting only the hospitality side of the brewing business—it’s also affecting the brewhouse.

It’s not standard equipment in every malthouse, but many maltsters large and small are using their own pilot breweries to test, demonstrate, and help customers get the best possible malt for their needs.