Celebrating Craft Beer, One Pint at a Time
A craft brewery moves into a vacant warehouse in a struggling neighborhood, and a few years later, the block looks completely different. It's a story that's played out in cities across the country — but the full picture is more complicated, and more interesting, than a simple success story.
Everyone says they can tell the difference between a craft IPA and a big-brand beer. But can they really? We gathered a room full of enthusiasts, casual drinkers, and a few industry veterans, poured some mystery pints, and let the taste buds do the talking. Spoiler: it got complicated.
Long before Prohibition swept the country dry, American brewers were crafting ales and lagers with recipes that have been largely lost to time. A growing movement of craft brewers, historians, and fermentation nerds are teaming up to dig those recipes out of archives, attics, and old newspapers — and pour them back into your glass.
Long before light lagers dominated every cooler in America, this country had a rich and surprisingly diverse brewing tradition. A growing number of craft brewers are digging through dusty archives, old newspaper ads, and century-old brewing logs to resurrect the flavors that shaped early American beer culture. What they're finding — and pouring — might just change the way you think about what 'American beer' really means.
The image of a craft beer taproom as a space dominated by one particular kind of drinker is getting a serious overhaul. From breweries founded specifically to center women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities to taprooms stocking robust non-alcoholic menus that make everyone feel genuinely welcome, a new generation of craft beer spaces is proving that the best thing you can pour is a sense of belonging. Here's what that looks like in practice.
Sour beer isn't an accident anymore — it's a calculated dive into microbial complexity that only the most patient brewers dare to take. From spontaneous fermentation pits to carefully curated barrel rooms, American craft breweries are turning funky into fantastic. Here's how they're doing it, and why your taste buds should be paying attention.
Your neighborhood bottle shop used to be a place you ducked into for a six-pack and a quick conversation about what was new on the shelf. Not anymore. Across the country, independent beer retailers are transforming into full-blown community hubs — think tasting flights, food pairings, rotating taps, and events that rival anything a taproom has to offer. We went inside some of the best to find out how they're pulling it off.
Forget just trusting your gut — today's craft brewers are pairing old-school instinct with spreadsheets, sensors, and flavor analytics to dial in beers that taste incredible every single time. We went behind the scenes to find out how data is quietly reshaping the way your favorite pints get made. Spoiler: the science is just as fascinating as the beer.
Across the country, craft beer bars are doing something unexpected: building their own breweries right on the premises. It's part business strategy, part passion project, and it's changing what it means to drink local. We look at why this hybrid model is catching on — and what it means for the people sitting at the bar.
After the mash is done and the wort is on its way to becoming beer, most breweries are left with mountains of wet, nutty spent grain — a byproduct that used to go straight to a dumpster or a local farm. But a wave of sustainability-minded craft breweries across the US is rethinking what happens to that leftover grain, turning it into everything from artisan bread to dog biscuits to fresh pasta sold right at the taproom counter.
For a growing number of passionate home brewers, what started as a five-gallon kit on the kitchen counter has evolved into something much bigger — a full-blown taproom with a line out the door. We talked to founders across the country about the messy, thrilling, and deeply personal journey from backyard batch to breakout brand. If you've ever wondered whether your homebrew could go pro, this one's for you.
Forget the usual suspects. While Portland and Denver still deserve their reputations, a handful of smaller American cities have quietly built brewery scenes that are every bit as compelling — and a whole lot less crowded. Pack your cooler and point your GPS at these hidden gems before the rest of the craft beer world catches on.
For years, 'sessionable' was practically a polite way of saying 'watered down.' But a new wave of craft brewers is flipping that script entirely, engineering low-ABV beers so loaded with character that you'll forget you're sipping anything under 5%. We talked to brewmasters across the country about the techniques and ingredients making it all possible.
Not all hops are created equal — and where they're grown makes a bigger difference than most drinkers realize. We took a deep dive into America's hop-growing regions, talked to farmers and brewers about what makes each area's cones unique, and put together a practical tasting guide to help you identify regional hop character in your next pint.
Across the country, craft breweries are ditching the lone-wolf mentality and joining forces to create some of the most exciting limited-edition beers on the market. These co-branded collaborations aren't just about the liquid in the glass — they're reshaping how breweries relate to each other and to the communities they serve. We dug into the trend to find out what makes these partnerships tick.