Stone Brewing, man, they do whatever the hell they want and each time...I freakin’ love it. They dashed in a little extra crazy in their latest mega-hop-bomb by infusing rare citrus fruit and mother flippin’ habaneros! Yes. Habaneros. Those tiny little orange peppers that could signal an overnight stay in an emergency room are a bold-ass addition to their new Fruitallica Double IPA -- and yet, Stone manages to elegantly (ahem, am I still talking about Stone here?) layer...
You read the title. Gourmet dining with incoherent layers of toasted, brined, shaved, flambeed ingredients is fine once in a while, but you work too hard to work too hard for your meal. Sometimes, you just need a bloody steak. Pun intended. After handpicking that thick-as-a-brick T-bone, ribeye, or strip steak, you need a no frills beer that will hold up to your grilled masterpiece -- and that beer is the boozy darkness found within Crooked Fence’s Sins of...
Pretty soon those leaves will be falling by the bushel to the ground, flashing their colors to let you know: FALL IS FINALLY HERE. And in Germany, that means things are about to get real -- real bellies full of sausages, real lederhosen, and real millions of liters of Oktoberfest Lagers going straight down the gullets of thirsty partiers. Texas’ Rahr & Sons was molded by masterful German brewing, and their take on the Oktoberfest is a reminder Americans can...
The Mexican Lager is blasting through as the fastest growing style in craft. Why? Perhaps it’s because it’s refreshing. It could be that it’s uncomplicated yet delicious. But I think the real reason is because there’s no other beer better suited for the spicy, rich cuisine of its mother country. Bring on the tacos and the best this style has to offer. Two of the greatest craft Mexican Lagers are coming out of the West in...
I love having a beer with a meal. I believe that for any dish, no matter how spicy, sweet, or complex, there’s a beer out there ideally suited to balance and accentuate a meal’s flavor. But Deschutes’ dark and boozy Black Butte XXIX is not one of those beers. Black Butte XXIX needs no pairing, wants no pairing, is a five-course delicacy onto itself. It brings together a world famous Porter, bourbon barrels, Jamaican rum barrels, Dutch cocoa,...