I’ve been home brewing – off and on – for roughly 20 years, but I’m always eager to see how things are done at commercial breweries. I recently had the opportunity to help brew a batch of beer at Menace Brewing in Bellingham, and it was yet another learning experience. While [...]
It’s 6:30 in the morning on a cold and dreary Wednesday in February. I pull up to the Atwood Ales Farm Brewery, which is a mere 2 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border, and I see owner/brewer Josh Smith quietly laboring away through the fogged-up windows of the old barn. After [...]
Sour ales, or beers that feature acidic and tart qualities derived from one or more strains of lactic acid bacteria, can be made in many different ways. Generally speaking, there are traditional, long-aged sour ales and there are quick/wort-soured sour ales. Most of the commercial sour ales on the market are [...]
Stoup Brewing's Upstairs at Stoup taproom Differentiation in the craft world is what drives competition. It's integral to what keeps the industry evolving, shifting and improving. But every once in a while a brewery finds a synergy with another. This leads to collaborations and a strengthening of the [...]
With every decision Aslan Brewing’s owners make, they ask themselves: Does this support our principles? And as you may know, one of their core principles is producing 100% organic beer, which is a challenging and expensive way to make beer. Raw ingredients are limited and difficult to source, additives that [...]
There are all sorts of brewer collaborations these days, but the best ones happen naturally. (Isaac, Josh, and Rowan) After enjoying some Atwood Ales beers, Rowan Chadwick and Isaac Koski, co-head brewers of Urban Family Brewing, contacted Atwood Ales owners Josh and Monica Smith about collaborating on a beer. [...]
Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles on Skagit Valley Malting. We'll be looking at SVM's impact on craft brewing, their importance to our region and the impact they can have on the malting industry. ------- There are now more than 5,300 breweries in America, and [...]
With all the new breweries opening in Bellingham and across the country, it’s easy to forget that this growth isn’t occurring in every city. Anacortes is one example, which, until recently, has had just one brewery for many years. The Anacortes Brewery (at The Rockfish Grill), which opened in 1994, is [...]
Any self respecting beer lover has at least peered through brewpub windows at the stainless hardware in the brewery, where the magic (blood, sweat, and tears) happens. Most of us have set foot in a real brewery to dream about what goes on inside those shiny vessels. Some of us [...]
The latest book from Brewers Publications, Brewing Local: American-Grown Beer, examines the increased demand for locally brewed beers as well as beers made with “non-traditional” ingredients. Author Stan Hieronymus chronicles the history of how distinctly American beers came about, visits farm breweries, and forages for both plants and yeast to discover how brewers are [...]
Wander Brewing’s new coolship (an anglicized term from the Dutch/Flemish word, koelschip) may not be the sexiest-looking piece of equipment in the brewery, but it’s arguably the most romantic. This large, shallow and open stainless steel vessel will be used to make spontaneously fermented ales, similar to how they’re made by [...]
Not long after Anheuser-Busch purchased Elysian Brewing early last year, I learned about an Elysian brewer named Steve Luke and his plan to open Cloudburst Brewing. At first I thought it was one of those ship-jumping scenarios we’ve seen before, but Luke’s plans had been in the works well before A-B’s [...]
The most common homebrew batch size is 5 gallons, which results in about two cases of beer. 5 gallons became the standard for a variety of reasons. Supposedly, glass carboys of this size were readily available when homebrewing took off decades ago. Nowadays, 5-gallon glass and plastic carboys and food-grade buckets [...]
Before I begin, let me say one thing up front: I realize “Top 10” and “Best of …” lists are subjective. I’m also aware that some people do not like these lists for one reason or another. But the fact remains, many more people like to read them for a variety [...]
Apparently, there are many homebrewers out there that are more passionate about water than I realized. Shortly after posting an article about Beer Dust, I received quite a few PMs, tweets and emails from homebrewers both near and far. Curiously, my article on water got more of a reaction than why [...]
America's first Trappist Brewery, Spencer Trappist Ales, discusses it's process and story. It became a certified Trappist brewery in 2013. You can check out their whole story here.
Image via Bellingham Home Brewers Guild According to the beer writer below, hops are ruining beer. In a region that is run by hops, this whole debate holds some interest for me. Yakima, WA produces about 75% of the nation's hops. SEVENTY PERCENT! "Hop Bomb", "Hop Head", "Palate Wrecker" are all [...]
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