With Memorial Day weekend just days away, it's officially time to fire up the grill and get ready for summer (random temperature drops be damned). So what are you drinking while you're marinating some meats in advance of a backyard dinner, or during your hours-long sun soak on the beach? Sure, you could go with a glass of…
In November 1980, Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi, two Northern California homebrewing enthusiasts who had recently launched a brewery called Sierra Nevada, came out with a pale ale that was unabashedly citrusy and bitter. They called it, simply, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and released it in the spring of 1981.It was their Chico-based brewery's second commercial offering…
With National Grapefruit Month upon us, it's only appropriate that brewers are going absolutely bonkers for grapefruit IPAs right now. And while many homebrewing circles — and even breweries — have experimented with the citrus fruit over the last two decades, credit must be given to Ballast Point Brewing of San Diego, California, for popularizing the…
The double India pale ale was born in May 1994 of necessity. A young brewer named Vinnie Cilurzo was conjuring up a strong, bitter ale for a Temecula, California, brewpub that he co-owned called the Blind Pig. Aware that he was working with secondhand equipment and that such equipment might foment off-flavors, Cilurzo went heavy on the…
In late June, Tony Magee, founder and chief of Lagunitas Brewing Co., announced over his loquacious Twitter feed that the company would open its third plant in Azusa, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles, in early 2017.Lagunitas, arguably America's fastest-growing craft brewery, already has two locations: one just north of San Francisco, in Petaluma,…
How do you ignite a debate at a summer cookout? Ask guests which beers pair best with the smoked and/or spicy meats you’re about to serve. Undoubtedly, you’ll get myriad answers, including cautions about what not to serve: nothing too sweet, nothing too bitter, nothing too strong, nothing too in-between.What are your options then? These…
Boston-based burger blogger, chef, recipe developer and newly minted cookbook author Richard Chudy is one of our culinary heroes. His impressive mastery of all things fried, cheesy and dippable has expanded to his brand-new book, American Burger Revival: Brazen Recipes to Electrify a Timeless Classic. Cowritten with chef-author Samuel Monsour, winner of Boston Magazine’s “Best Burger” award, American…
When it comes to massive West Coast double IPAs, Knee Deep and Kern River do them just about better than anyone else. This is bound to be a juicy, tropical, bitter hit to your hop receptors. Last year Double Dose from Lawsons/Otter Creek was a surprise collaboration runaway for my favorite new IPA – I…
Extreme trends in the beer industry can be a tricky thing. As it goes, no sooner has one brewer done something experimental that creates hype than another even more extreme product is tossed on the scene by a competitor. The hype train is a tricky one to ride, and if you took the time and…
One could say that 2013 was the year IPA freshness became a "Thing." Stone came up with their now-famous Enjoy By series, which “expired” on a certain date (about a month after brewing). Other breweries continued the trend, printing "best before" dates on bottles and cans, the latter being the container of choice for many…
Today marks the beginning of August, and the bitter dog days of summer are here. Thankfully it’s also National IPA Day! We gave India Pale Ales (IPAs) a full month of coverage in June, but we saved one of our favorite styles of IPAs just for this day of celebration. Many IPAs are defined by…
Now that you have our list of 10 craft beers that pair very well with fireworks, brush up on some of our latest and greatest beer news — interviews, recommendations, a website that tells us whether or not our recommendations are good — to ensure there's never a moment of silence. "Oh yeah, it's just…
Give that pretentious wine afficionado a run for his money by retaliating with some serious beer knowledge. You know enough to place a confident order for a nice, hoppy IPA, but the bartender can see right through it. You don't know squat about hops. Worry not — we've got the lowdown on 5 popular varieties…
Sam Calagione limps into The Breslin in Manhattan on a recent Friday night, on the eve of the big craft beer fest Savor, and refuses a bar stool — citing a barking back, he insists on standing. There's not point in arguing with the man behind Dogfish Head, the craft brewery based in Delaware that…
We'll just say it again: here at Food Republic, we care about beer a lot. We care about the brewing companies and brewmasters who make it, the people who buy it and drink it and the publicists who often send us the best new ones so we can stay on top of making sure you…
Though the start of summer is only a few days away, today we’re taking a look at the darker side of India Pale Ale. But first, it begs the question: how can a beer be described as black and pale at the same time? All Black IPAs are in fact black — the pale just…
We'll just say it again: here at Food Republic, we care about beer a lot. We care about the brewing companies and brewmasters who make it, the people who buy it and drink it and the publicists who often send us the best new ones so we can stay on top of making sure you…
Craft beer in cans is definitely on the rise, with 9% of America's craft breweries canning at least one beer. Not only is the diversity of styles available in a can remarkable, but also impressive is the variety within a single style. Of all the canned beer styles, the India Pale Ale (IPA) has benefited…
You've seen ads for those little squirtable bottles of "water enhancer," right? They're obviously a vast improvement to water, nature's formula for KEEPING THINGS ALIVE. You know, with their superfruit...uh, flavors, and ability to conjure energy out of "nowhere." While we should all be able to agree that water can't really be improved upon outside…
You go up to the bar and order an IPA. You're not specific, but you know you want one thing: hops. For the next six weeks we’ll be exploring India Pale Ales at Food Republic, and we’re kicking it off in extreme and regal fashion with Imperial IPAs. IPAs: the style that send beer geeks,…
Now that June has arrived, drinking season is officially in session — session beer, that is. Named because you can savor several of them in a drinking session, this loose category of lower-alcohol beers (usually 4.5 percent ABV and below), following the guidelines at the Session Beer Project blog, dials down the booze but still…
British beer gets a bad rap as being boring. They're best known for milds and bitters—beer styles whose nuanced pleasures and restrained ABVs seem quaint to American craft-beer drinkers conditioned by hoppy, boozy beers that are about as subtle as a Will Ferrell film. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. Over the last decade the…
Thirty years ago, the concept of a craft-beer power ranking system was inconceivable. Back then, there were only a handful of breweries pumping out suds that deviated from the watery-lager norm. Fast-forward to 2012, and there are more than 1,900 breweries in the country — with another 600 or 700 on the way. The scope…
If the American craft-beer movement flew a flag, it’d feature an image of a pint glass filled with frothy India pale ale. Though this bitter brew has its roots in Britain, the IPA has become a runaway American sensation. Brewers have gone gaga for hops, crafting increasingly bitter brews bursting with flavors of citrus, pine…