Beer Brewing

Belgian Tripel is the style that humbled me most thoroughly on my first attempt. I thought high gravity meant more of everything — more malt, more hops, more yeast character. The batch came out sweet, heavy, and hot.

Kölsch is the style that taught me the importance of cold conditioning for hybrid ales. I expected it to taste like a light ale and was caught off guard by how lager-like a properly made Kölsch is — clean, delicate, …

Flanders Red Ale is the most wine-like beer I make — complex, acidic, with layers of dark fruit, oak character, and a tartness that functions more like a good Burgundy than anything typically called beer.

Black IPA is the style I use to settle arguments about whether appearance affects taste perception. Poured blind, most people identify it as a hoppy dark ale with roast notes — it tastes more like what it is than what …

Belgian Golden Strong Ale is the style that most surprises people who drink it without knowing what it is. It looks like a pale lager — brilliant gold, white foam — but at 7.5–10.5% ABV it has the complexity of …

Imperial Stout is the style I brew when I want something that will still be interesting in two years. I have a few bottles from batches brewed in 2022 that are drinking better now than they did fresh — the …

Dry-hopped Pilsner sits in an interesting category — modern enough to be a deliberate style choice, traditional enough that the base beer is one of the most technically demanding lager styles to brew well.

Belgian Lambic is the most technically distinct style in brewing — it’s one of the few beers that cannot be replicated by following a standard recipe and process.

Gose was the style that made my non-brewing friends look at me like I was pranking them when I described it: a German wheat beer with coriander and salt. The salt is real — and it works.

Munich Helles is the style that ended my assumption that simple means easy. A Helles has almost nowhere to hide — no roast character, no hop intensity, no esters, no adjunct complexity. It’s pale malt, noble hops, clean lager fermentation, …