Good Beer Hunting

What is an IPA? Most drinkers around the world would probably identify IPA as the flagship style of the modern craft beer movement. As its popularity has grown, it has become known for a bunch of different—and often contradictory—characteristics. A modern IPA is either bitter or not bitter; pale, white, or black; very strong, sessionable, or nonalcoholic. But while IPA in all its forms is loved ar...

The intersection between digital media and the more slow, meandering works of book authorship is one that, on its surface, might not seem to be well populated. But these days, to be a writer at all means being a lot of different things. You might work across channels, platforms, industries, styles, digital and print, freelance and newsroom, and all that mode switching is a lot. It's just, a lot. T...

Where does inspiration end and innovation begin? When it comes to contemporary takes on established traditions, that line can seem a bit blurry at times. But in David Neimanis' piece "The Architecture of Brooklyn Amaro — What it Means to Make Amari in the New World," which was published on August 19, 2021, he expertly explores that line, its lineage, and what the future holds for American-made ama...

There's a lot of change taking place in beer and broader beverage alcohol, but you might not notice it. It's not the form of sales shifting for hard seltzer or Mountain Dew announcing an uncaffeinated, alcoholic version of the soda, but in the quiet space of distribution. Alcohol sales are broken out into three traditional tiers—the producer (tier one) who makes it, distributors (tier two) who mov...

Finding good, honest people making good, honest beer isn't as easy as craft beer has led us to believe. But every once in a while, a truly singular brewery—shielded by geography and rooted firmly to the land—reveals itself, putting forth artistry in liquid form while also providing a safe, beautiful, and intentional space for everyone who stumbles across its path. Fox Farm Brewery is one such plac...

Every once in awhile I like to have someone on the podcast who I've been talking to or working with for awhile. It's not always easy to know when the right time is — I have to keep my eagerness in check. Often for a long time. Whether it's the state of their business, or a major transition, or as market factors shift around it — I try to look for a sweet spot where the guest has learned enough abo...

The last few months in the British beer industry have been tumultuous. Inspired by the brave work of Brienne Allan, Britshbeergirl – real name Siobhan Buchanan – used her instagram platform for British beer people to tell stories of sexism, sexual harassment and exploitation in the industry. Scandals rocked several much loved small breweries as well as some of the UK's biggest – including BrewDog....

As much as craft beer places value on authenticity and artistry, it's not always an industry that likes looking backwards. Instead, the search for innovation—innovation in beer styles, in brewing techniques, and in the raw materials of beer—is what propels it forward. That means many older ways of doing things have been left by the wayside. On the malt side, with technological and agricultural adv...

Today's guest is a rare revisit action with a previous guest - Phil McFarland from episode 25 - when he was on the even of shutting down what had been one of Chicago's premier craft beer bars. The advertising career that gave way to his life as a craft beer bar operator was about to give way to something new - as he took on the sales director role at one of Chicago's premier craft breweries, Half...

What's in beer today? Unless you're a brewer, do you know? I mean, do you really know? Usually, Western beer is made up of water, hops, a malted grain like barley, and yeast. That's the standard answer you'll get from books, articles, even podcasts. There's even a famous law in German history, called the Reinheitsgebot, which decreed that proper beer could only contain those four ingredients. But...

What is art? Throughout the course of human existence, critics, academics, and common people have all attempted to unpack the meaning and value of art as part of society, as well as its role as a reflection of the current discourse. Art can be political. It can be reflective. It can be a weapon. And it can be history in itself. In her latest piece for Good Beer Hunting, titled " Gin Lane vs. Beer...

What happens when politics and public health intermix? We've spent the last year learning all too well that, unfortunately, just about anything can happen. And that's always been the case. In the mid-1800s, when lager beer was still pretty new to the United States, Americans had to figure it out where it fit into a society that wasn't much newer. The country was growing, it was urbanizing, it was...

Holly Regan believes that we are all surrounded by opportunities to have transcendent experiences. As humans, we're often prone to looking inward, thanks both to our egos as well as our desire to seek solace from the chaos and noise of the world. But when we're able to tap into the beyond, through whatever means available, we have the potential to commune with each other, ourselves, and all creati...

While I cover the beer and beverage alcohol industries, I started from a simple place as an enthusiast. I was excited to drink different beers, then it was fun to homebrew, and eventually write about all those experiences. But for many people - perhaps most - beer is just beer. I can't tell you how many times I've had discussions with friends and family who ask about "beer flavored beer," and they...

The overlaps between beer and whiskey are plentiful. Both rely on craftsmanship and quality ingredients, and share certain production methods in common. Modern makers in either category have the luxury of looking at tradition while pushing the boundaries of innovation for the future. But it's the differences between the two that keep things interesting. Single malt whiskey producer Stranahan's in...

You're listening to a special-edition, three-part podcast series about Charleston's Schützenfest, a mid-19th-century German gun and beer festival that initially was a diverse and welcoming environment, but which gradually evolved into a site of white supremacy. In our first two episodes, we delved deeper into both the history of the fest itself and the kinds of beer you might see around Charleston...

You're listening to a special-edition, three-part podcast series about Charleston's Schützenfest, a German gun and beer festival that initially was a diverse and welcoming environment in the mid 19th century, but which gradually evolved into a site of white supremacy. In our first podcast, we spent a lot of time exploring how African-Americans were excluded from the Schützenfest and later the craf...

Charleston, South Carolina:, a city with a villainous history and a place I call home. From the palmetto-lined streets to the many saltwater creeks and whiffs of pluff mud, The Holy City is a place of geographic charm with a history rooted in exclusion and racism. It's also the subject of this three-part podcast series, which explores a lesser-known chapter in the city's past. The Charleston Schüt...

Through her business—Zymology Labs, based in Essex Junction, Vermont—Amy offers analytical testing, training, and consulting for the fermented beverage industry. And she's working to expand the conversation on beer quality in both producer and consumer circles. Although Amy spends much of her time in her own lab space, she's no stranger to brewery environments. She was a keen homebrewer in college...

Intangible, hard-to-define terms like "local," "craft," and even "ethical" remain debatable within beer spheres, but they're far from limited to one industry. Longtime beer writer and more recent bean-to-bar chocolate expert David Nilsen touches on these topics and more in his newest piece for Good Beer Hunting, titled " Cacao, Brewing, and the Price of Nostalgia — Toward a Better Future for Choco...

I first heard about Keyatta Mincey-Parker from Donnie, a wine buyer at my local bottle shop. As Donnie rang up my purchases, she told me how Keyatta had created a community garden for bartenders during the summer of 2020, aptly named A Sip of Paradise Garden. The garden's mission is to provide a healthy and safe space for bartenders to recharge, and during the height of the pandemic, the space qui...

Over the past couple of decades, brewers and beer historians have recreated a growing number of formerly lost beer styles, like Grodziskie, Merseburger, Horner Bier, and others. Many of those styles come from the traditional brewing regions in Europe. But almost any country with any brewing history at all has its own lost beer styles. Sometimes, those recipes are completely indigenous. Sometimes t...

If you follow news in the beer world, May 2021 became synonymous with the word "reckoning" as a wave of stories about sexual harassment, assault, and inappropriate behavior toward women were shared from across the country and world. Massachusetts brewer Brienne Allan was the catalyst for this, first sharing her own experiences on Instagram, then asking other women for their own stories, and amplif...

What does it take to succeed in one of the country's most competitive markets for craft beer? That's at the core of this conversation with Sam Pecoraro and Tom Cook of Portland, Oregon's Von Ebert Brewing. As founder of the brewery, Tom has become acutely aware of changes necessary for his business, which has included a rush to get beer into cans, and then get those cans into grocery stores as mor...

Today, lager beers represent the comfort zone for most American beer drinkers…and a stereotyped monolith for many craft breweries to rebel against. But 170 years ago, lagers were both the outsider and the trendsetter. Their arrival caused ongoing debates over what beer was, what it should be, and the role alcohol ought to play in American social life, to take a sharp turn. This debate was anchored...