Malting may be one of the most fascinating yet least celebrated step of the brewing process. That is likely because hardly any brewers still malt their own grain and it is therefore not on the brewery tours that we have come to know and love. Also, the most interesting part of the process is microscopic and probably does not make for a very good show. Nevertheless, I am fascinated by it. Malting begins by soaking the raw barley. It is dumped in steeping tanks where it spend

One of the things I hear frequently from people who find out I’m a technical guy for winemaking is, “I’m allergic to the sulfite in wine. What can I do?” My heart sinks when I hear this. Sulfite allergy is such an all-pervasive myth that it seems like an endless tide of misinformation to stand against, and even some of the people who should know better (like wine educators and salesfolk) sometimes give the impression that there’s some validity to the idea that sulfite is in s

German beer purity law be-damned, modern brewers can’t be confined by the basic four ingredients of beer (water, barley, hops and yeast). Our creative beer-makers are visionaries, creative thinkers who want to put weird stuff in their beer and see what happens. And I’m not just talking about cocoa nibs and jalapeno peppers here, people. I’m talking about poisonous arachnids and beard yeast. Yes, beard yeast. We found eight beers with really off the wall ingredients. Read this

It’s no secret that many craft beer enthusiasts have a deep appreciation—bordering on cult-like obsession—for the India pale ale. In honor of #IPAday 2014 (August 7), we’re taking a look at Community Beer Works‘ Dan Conley’s attempt to crack the code of the IPA’s commercial success. Conley’s recent post on the Buffalo, N.Y. brewers’ blog entitled “The IPA Hegemony,” really caught my attention, so after a quick Google of hegemony, I dove into the piece. “The IPA is our best se

Many people, myself included, count wine as one of the joys in life. Cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, zinfandel, nebbiolo, sangiovese, cannonau … the list goes on and many seem like dear friends. We all know that there's a line between enjoying some wine and suffering the terrible consequences of alcoholism, but where do you draw that line? Do you have a second, third or fourth glass? Do you drink regularly? As I have to counsel patients on these questions, and deal with my ow