Craft Beer Muses

Truth in advertising is vital in craft beer culture. There better be fresh hops in our fresh hop beers, real cherries in our krieks, and just as seasonally-relevant, real pumpkin in our field or pumpkin beers. Yet the distinguished British classic, nut brown ale, contains nary a nut. These craft brewers are putting the nuts back in nut beers.

Being food itself, craft beer complements all types of dishes and flavors, but for some reason many people can’t get past pizza and pretzels. Andy Sparhawk takes three classic food combinations and makes a craft beer pairing connection for each.

No one mentioned that my future understanding of brewing science would vastly benefit from retaining a little more than the gossip of my first period chemistry class.

Julia Herz takes a look at the mystical world of esters, those fruity smelling metabolites created by yeast during fermentation that are perceived in the aroma and flavor of craft-brewed beer.