Logo
 
MoreBeer!

3 Tips to Brewing New England IPA
By Nick Lesogor

By Nick Lesogor (@Exit12Homebrew on X & Instagram, Exit 12 Brewery on Facebook) I remember when I had my first New England style beer. It was from a new brewery in Boston called Trillium Brewing Company. For those of you hip to the game, Trillium is one of the breweries in the...

Czech it out: Czech Dark Lager
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa History of Czech Brewing The geopolitical history of central Europe has been long and storied. For example, the nation of Germany was only started in 1871, making the United States older than Germany. Similarly, the nation of the Czech Republic was only started in 1993...

Recipe Formulation for a Balanced Beer
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa Introduction In my recent article about Witbier I mentioned the word “balance” many times since achieving balance is very important for this specific beer style. But how does one achieve proper balance for a given beer? A balanced beer is one...

Notes on the Home Production of Authentic Bavarian-Style Weissbiers
By George Brooks

By George Brooks The Mash Let’s first address 2 bones of contention regarding process and production of Bavarian-style wheat beers such as Hefeweizen, Dunkelweizen and Weizenbock: whether the presumed fuss & bother of performing a decoction mash as described by Eric Warner in...

The Ultimate Guide to Witbier
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa Were Belgian brewers among the first “craft” brewers? First you might ask what does craft brewing mean? I took a crack at defining the ‘modern’ era of craft brewing in this article:  ...

Brewing a Best Bitter
By Tim Chandler

By Tim Chandler The pursuit of a Best Bitter got me into brewing beers at home. I was fascinated with cask ales when I visited England. Watching and hearing pints in a pub get pulled was a completely new experience. The clean biscuity aroma just slid down the pallet. The low...

Cask Ale: At Home, Not Just Abroad
By Ryan Reddinger

By Ryan Reddinger   There is nothing like sitting in a pub drinking a pint of well-made and tended cask ale, it is a truly magnificent beer experience. Cask ale is the traditional English way of serving ale – but don’t give in to the classic tropes calling it...

A Belgian Quadrupel Ale Recipe First Date Quad
By MoreBeer!

A special episode dedicated to our video director Joe! We brewed a beer for his wedding, in honor of he and his wife's first date, by brewing a Belgian Quad! We discuss how we attempted to clone the world renowned St. Bernardus Abt. 12 belgian ale, go over some of the brew day, Vito's...

How to Brew a Reconstruction of the Original Michelob Beer
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa Why brew an old-time beer? I wrote an article discussing the benefits of homebrewing vs. buying beer: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Why_Homebrew_Beer One of the reasons within that article was we get to homebrew beers that are not commonly produced. And...

Brewing a Dortmunder Lager | Dortmunder Beer Recipe!
By MoreBeer!

This was our second year brewing a Dortmunder for the National Homebrew Competition, using a recipe created by Mike "Tasty" McDole. The recipe was given to us by Tasty's son Lee, and we're excited to walk you through this year's brew and offer up the recipe below. If...

Mexican Lagers
By John Fortunato

By John Fortunato   Ever since the 19th century, German immigrants residing in Mexico, and to a lesser extent, Swiss natives, brought then-modern brewing techniques to the northernmost Central American nation. Though Spaniards were the first to brew in Mexico, the lack of...

Weiss Beer
By Jacob Wachtel

By Jacob Wachtel   Literally translated as "White Beer", the Weiss Beer (Weißbier) has a long, rich history within Germany. Hailing from the Bavarian region, and possibly Bohemia before that, this style of beer has become synonymous with a wheat dominant grain...

Intro to Bavarian Beers
By A. Dustin Gunter

By A. Dustin Gunter A Maß is the typical serving glass for a Munich Helles and Dunkel   When hiking through a pristine forest, you come to a clearing. Your immediate view is of a small village with pastel-colored buildings amongst the rolling bucolic countryside. In...

A Belgian Golden Strong with Homegrown Persimmons!
By Brian D. Wood

By Brian D. Wood The first thing coming across my mind as we planted yet another fruit tree (can one have too many?) was, what can I do with a persimmon? Frankly, both my wife and I had never grown any persimmons before and never even tasted a persimmon prior to my good neighbor...

The Benefits of Homebrewing over Buying Beer
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa There is a myriad of good reasons to homebrew your own beers and below are some of them. Click each reason to learn More! and watch the video to learn how to brew beer in 6 minutes! Top 5 Reasons to Homebrew! #1. It can Save you Money! #2. You can...

Decoction Mashing – Is it Worth the Effort?
By Chris Pfeiffer

By Chris Pfeiffer   Do you love malt-forward, European lager styles?  Do you enjoy exploring historical brewing methods and techniques? If so, then you have likely thought about decoction mashing.  You may be wondering if it is worth the effort. Below, we’ll...

Bock
By Dustyn Cormier

By Dustyn Cormier We’re here to talk about beer history again. One could say that we’re going bock to the past. I wouldn’t say it, because it’s a bad pun, but I guess someone could say it if they wanted to. There are several different styles of bock beer, but most...

Cold IPA
By Patrick Boyles

By Patrick Boyles   Prost! Salud! Cheers!   My name is Patrick Chase Boyles. I live in Winston Salem, NC and have been engrossed with craft beer and the beer culture since 2010 and have been home brewing since 2015!   Today we are going to talk about...

Italian Pilsners
By John Fortunato

By John Fortunato     Do you crave a delicately balanced soft-toned brew to go with light Italian food dishes such as pizza, pasta and shellfish? Then what better way to quench a thirst after chowing delicious Mediterranean cuisine than with a floury baked breaded...

Dortmunder Export Lager
By Dustyn Cormier

By Dustyn Cormier   Hello, friends and well-wishers! My name is Dustyn Cormier. I live in a small town in the Hudson Valley in New York and I have been an avid and award-winning homebrewer for about 15 years. By day I’m an assistant principal at a middle school...

Vienna Lagers
By John Fortunato

By John Fortunato     Once amongst the most popular beer styles in Austria and Germany, Vienna lagers fell out of favor after World War I. Occasionally nebulous in nature, coppery clear Vienna lagers may not demand the regional nor national admiration trendy...

Crafting Beer
By Vito Delucchi

By Vito Delucchi Quick Links Section 1: What Is Craft Beer Section 2: Crafting Your Own Beer Section 3: Enjoying & Sharing Craft Beer   Introduction If you’re reading this, it’s safe to say you probably like beer; so much so that you even...

Saison Beer
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa Tis the Season I took four years of French in high school (which was many years ago) and since I never use French the best I can do today is remember and pronounce some words. For some reason one of those French words is saison which translates to season. Why...

What is a Kölsch beer?
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa Quick Links History of Kölsch beer Homebrewing a Kölsch Recipe: Jack’s Kölsch   The Kölsch beer style is interesting on many levels. First is that it is a nod to the old manner of brewing in Germany in that it is...

Gluten Free Brewing
By Cale Baldwin

By Cale Baldwin   Gluten Free Beer As time passes it becomes harder and harder to remember a time when the term “gluten free” wasn’t embedded into my brain.  I loved drinking tasty microbrews stuffed full of hops, malty scotch ales and German...

A beer drinker’s tale of visiting the Czech Republic
By Jack Horzempa

Prologue In the early summer of 2019 my wife (Kathleen) suggested we take a trip to Europe. I immediately yelled out: Prague! I have wanted to visit Prague for well over a decade. For its beautiful scenery but mostly because of beer! I have been homebrewing for over 25 years and I...

Sahti - A Remnant of Finland’s Rustic Past
By Ilkka Sysilä (Brewing Techniques)

Article Updated by Ilkka Sysilä (Brewing Techniques)     Though modern brewers have taken some liberties with modern brewing materials, this anachronistic style is still being brewed by sahti masters as it was 400 years ago: in wooden vessels with a...

Pilsen Beer
By Jack Horzempa

The Family of Pilsners By Jack Horzempa A topic that I have often read on Internet beer discussion forums is: what type of Pilsner is Brand X from Brewery Y and what is really the difference between the different types of Pilsners? This article will address this topic...

Sour Beer
By Vito Delucchi

By Vito Delucchi     Looking to learn More! about Sour Beers and make one yourself? In this article our own award winning home & commercial brewmaster Vito talks about what sour beer is, the differences between mixed fermentation and kettle sours. He also shares...

Gluhwein
By MoreBeer!

How To Make Gluhwein   The traditional beverage served at outdoor Christmas Markets or Christkindlesmarkt is a warm spiced wine concoction called Glühwein. Muttled wine made with spices and fruit has a festive holiday flavor. Learn how to prepare this delicious and...

Pulque
By MoreBeer!

How To Make Pulque at Home   Pulque is a traditional fermented beverage native to Mexico made with the sap of the agave plant. This brew has more in common with beer than agave-based spirits such as mezcal or tequila. Learn more about the origins of this drink and how to brew...

American Wheat Beers
By Roger Bergen (Brewing Techniques)

By Roger Bergen (Brewing Techniques)     Summertime is prime time for wheat beers, which have traditionally been associated with Weissbier of Berlin and Hefeweizen of Bavaria. American wheat beers, however, are finding a place of distinction on the...

Thinking about Beer Recipe Formulation
By Darryl Richman (Brewing Techniques)

By Darryl Richman (Brewing Techniques)     Trials, errors, and creative thinking led to an award-winning dopplebock.      Brewing the doppelbock that led the bock category at the 1990 American Homebrewers...

Blending and the Art of Salvage
By Chris Studach (Brewing Techniques)

By Chris Studach (Brewing Techniques)     What to do with that unfortunate mistake of a recipe? Design another beer that is out of balance in an opposite and complementary way.      It invariably happens, even to the best of us....

Oktoberfest Alternatives
By Roger Bergen (Brewing Techniques)

By Roger Bergen (Brewing Techniques)     As summer turns to fall, many brewers start to plan their Oktoberfest brewing. This installment of “Brewing in Styles” looks at the materials and techniques used for brewing traditional and modern Märzen beers...

Shaking up the Beer World - The Milkshake IPA

  Style Overview   Impression: An addition of lactose to a New England IPA amplifies all of the characteristics that originally set the haze craze in motion, creating a beer with an even juicier appearance, and a smooth and soft body that is the perfect backdrop...

IPA - The Origin of India Pale Ales, Part I
By Thom Tomlinson (Brewing Techniques)

By Thom Tomlinson (Brewing Techniques)     In this first of two articles on India Pale Ale, Thom Tomlinson presents the history of the style’s invention and early development in 18th century Britain. In the next issue, Tomlinson reviews the evolution of...

There and Back Again, A Brut IPA Tale!
By Vito Delucchi

By Vito Delucchi     A Brewer’s Journey Through Several Brew Days, Enzymes, and Cities.     Brut IPA Style Overview   This hybrid IPA is the brainchild of Kim Sturdavant of Social Kitchen and Brewery in San Francisco,...

So it Gose! A History of Gose Beers

The "New" Style That Started in Germany Over 1,000 Years Ago     Style Overview Pronounced “go-suh,” this ancient German beer survived against the Reinheitsgebot Purity Law of 1516, despite featuring more ingredients than what the law...

Brewing Lambic at Home
By Jim Liddil and Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)

By Jim Liddil and Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)     Practical Strategies for Brewing Lambic at Home Part I —Wort Preparation Lambic represents an irresistible challenge to many beer aficionados’ most deeply ingrained beliefs about brewing....

Crystal Clear 100% Wheat Beer? You Bet!
By Roger Jones

Brew a bright, barleyless, 100% wheat beer! by Roger Jones (Brewing Techniques) If you are like many home brewers, you don’t like to be told you can’t do something. If you have a taste for wheat beer, you have probably been frustrated that you couldn’t brew an...

Popular Craft Beer Styles - A List of Types of Beer
By MoreBeer!

A Guide To Craft Beer Styles     Brewers and drinkers enjoy more variety in their beer options today than at any point in history. The Beer Judge Certification Program recognizes over a hundred distinct styles, many of them mere umbrellas for a wide range of...

For Those About To Bock and Doppelbock!
By Darryl Richman

by Darryl Richman and Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)     Big, bold, and malty, yet amazingly subtle, Bocks and Doppelbocks are excellent reasons to look forward to spring.     The historical record concerning the...

The Road to an American Brown Ale
By Pete Slosberg

A learner’s beer? A bottled beer? A British style? An American style? All of those and more. by Pete Slosberg and Martin Lodahl column editor (Brewing Techniques) My first homebrew in 1979 was a brown ale. When I started Pete’s Brewing Company in...

Reviving the Classic American Pilsner
By Jeff Renner

by Jeff Renner (Brewing Techniques)   A Shamefully Neglected Style     Modern American lagers bear little resemblance to their forebears, which were full-flavored beers with deep, rich characters. Experimentation with the classic style...

The Science of Beer Color
By Ray Daniels

Beer Color Demystified The Nature of Light Light is a type of radiant energy — a class that includes everything from radio waves to X-rays. These energies follow a wave model of behavior; they oscillate uniformly about a central line that indicates the direction of travel for the...

Brewing Comes Full Circle in America
By Kieran O’Connor

From Craft Brewing and Back Again by Kieran O’Connor (Brewing Techniques - 1996) This is a three-part article about the growth of craft brewing in America. The first part covers the earliest prominence of beer in the colonies, local breweries, pasteurization, taxation,...

Weizen - An Old Style Finds New Life
By John W. Ostrom

Crisp, spicy, and refreshing, Bavarian-style wheat beers are once again as valued as they were in days of old. In the early days of German brewing, wheat beers were one of the most popular drinks available. Dr. Jacobus Theodorus Tabernämontanus in 1613 offered some observations on...

Shedding Light on the Bavarian Dunkel Style
By Jay S. Hersh

by Jay S. Hersh (Brewing Techniques) Bavaria’s Dark Secret     Revered from London and Paris to St. Petersburg and Scandinavia, the Bavarian dark style defined the essence of beer during the 18th and 19th centuries. A recent tour of traditional Dunkel...

The Beers of Christmas!
By Ben Jankowski

The brewing of holiday beers is a long-standing tradition. It provides an opportunity for limitless creativity by the addition of a variety of spices, herbs, fruits, and adjuncts. Use your imagination! By Ben Jankowski The last month on the calendar brings the winter solstice, and with...

Tips on Tasting Beer
By Scott Bickham (Brewing Techniques)

Tips on Tasting Originally Published by Scott Bickham in Brewing Techniques (Volume 5, Number 6) Here are some points to keep in mind if you are getting set to do any kind of serious beer tasting. Baby your taste buds. Palate preparation is all too often neglected in beer...

High Gravity Brewing
By Victor Buckwold (Brewing Techniques)

By Victor E. Buckwold (Brewing Techniques)     Brewing beer with a high ABV can be intimidating. This article aims to offer up some easy-to-follow guidlines and procedures that can be utilized while brewing high gravity beer to reduce some of the intimidation. ...

Determining the Sugar Contribution of Fruit in Beer
By Gary Spedding (Brewing Techniques)

By Gary Spedding (Brewing Techniques Magazine)   Your fruit adds more than just flavor to your beer.   I recently learned a valuable lesson about brewing with fruit. I found that the original gravity of a cherry wheat beer I had made was much higher than I had...

Focus On Beer Flavor
By Scott Bickham (Brewing Techniques)

by Scott Bickham - (Brewing Techniques)   The Four Basic Tastes     The first stop on the Beer Flavor Wheel takes us to the four basic tastes: bitter, salty, sweet, and sour. We will identify their sources, provide commercial examples, and offer tips on...

Pliny the Elder is #1!
By Matt Monroe (MoreBeer!) and Jill Redding (Zymurgy)

Once Again, Pliny the Elder is Voted #1...

Cream Ale - An American Classic
By Ben Jankowski (Brewing Techniques)

By Ben Jankowski (Brewing Techniques)     Cream Ale — An American Classic Is it a lager? Is it an ale? Its pedigree may not be pure, but cream ale has satisfied American drinkers for nearly a century.     Not many beer...

Brewing With Herbs and Spices
By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)

By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)     Spice up Your Brewing with Ancient Ingredients   Adherents to the Reinheitsgebot rules about barley, hops, yeast, and water as the only permissible ingredients in beer could take some lessons from more ancient...

Berliner Weisse - From Past to Present
By Florean Kuplent (Brewing Techniques)

by Florian Kuplent Berliner Weiβbier     Once brewed in over 700 Berlin breweries, the beer that Napoleon called “the Champagne of the North” is sadly now on the endangered species list     Berliner Weisse, a light, sour...

Barley Wine - The Revival of the Tradition of Big Beers
By Fal Allen and Dick Cantwell (Brewing Techniques)

by Fal Allen and Dick Cantwell (Brewing Techniques)       The brewer’s answer to brandy or pinot noir, barleywine is a strong (8–14%), malt-rich ale aged to complexity and oftentimes sipped with the same respect awarded to rare wines. Brewing a...

Preparing for the BJCP Certification Exam
By Scott Bickham (Brewing Techniques)

North America’s only recognized judge certification program provides a structure for mastering the essentials of beer judging and an exam that recognizes accomplishment in expert beer evaluation. Master the Essentials of Beer Evaluation- How to Prepare for and Pass the Beer Judge...

American Porters
By Ben Jankowski (Brewing Techniques)

by Ben Jankowski (Brewing Techniques)   American Porters- Marching to Revolutionary Drummers     From their earliest days in colonial experience, American porters have evolved separately from their British ancestor and today stand in a class...

Brewing Lager Beer
By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)

By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)     Part I: An Overview of the Lager Beer Brewing Process Patience is required to master the complex process of lagering, but U.S. home brewers are embracing the technology to brew lagers every bit as clean and delicate as those...

Lactobacillus Beer - Brewing With Lactic Acid Bacteria
By Dr. Brian A. Nummer

By Dr. Brian A. Nummer     Usually considered an unwanted infectious pest in the brewhouse, lactic acid bacteria can be harnessed as an exquisite ingredient for selected beer styles.      Since the days of Pasteur, lactic acid bacteria...

Beer Color Demystified
By Ray Daniels (Brewing Techniques)

by Ray Daniels (Brewing Techniques) The articles featured in this section are sourced from Brewing Techniques Magazine. The content has been added without editing for authenticity and integrity. Part I: How to Measure Beer Color in the Home and Microbrewery    ...

Brewing With Fruit
By Randy Mosher and Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)

by Randy Mosher and Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)     When adding fruit to a beer, the brewer must make sure the beer will work with the character of the fruit. In home brewing competitions, judges like to be able to detect “a beer in there...

Lambic: Belgium's Unique Treasure
By Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)

by Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)       Lambic: Belgium’s Unique Treasure   But is it really beer?” The first taste of a lambic is almost always a surprise — sometimes even shocking — especially to those whose concept...

One Beer, Two Batches!
By Dave Miller (Brewing Techniques)

High-Gravity Brewing Q: Is it advisable to brew a strong 5-gallon wort, divide it into two batches and add an equal amount of water to each batch, to get two new 5-gallon batches, each containing half of the original wort? For example, could I brew 5 gallons of 1.080 wort, divide it into...

Beermosa
By Olin Schultz

Sure,  you've had a Mimosa, but have you ever had a Beermosa?? Well neither had the MoreBeer! crew until the 2011 National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego.  It was Saturday morning, the morning after the MoreBeer! sponsored Club Night, and everyone was a little worse for the...

Making Lagers - Q&A with Jonathan Plise
By The MoreBeer! Team

The former California HomeBrewer of the Year and MoreBeer! employee answer a few questions about making Lagers at Home! Jonathan won the prestigous California HomeBrewer of the Year in 2008 after winning the most points in select California homebrewing competitions. Not only is it a...

Snob or Connoisseur? It’s a Matter of Taste
By Alan Moen (Brewing Techniques

Snob or Connoisseur? It’s a Matter of Taste by Alan Moen (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 6, No.4) Learning to appreciate beer is not a “booring” experience. One day as I was tending the towering hop vines in my backyard, a neighbor stopped by to ask me a...

Inside Orval - Sancity Meets Modern Times in an Evolving World Classic
By Christian Thomas DeBenedetti (Brewing Techniques)

Inside Orval - Sancity Meets Modern Times in an Evolving World Classic by Christian Thomas DeBenedetti  (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 6, No.3) Orval’s renowned ale is the product of an authentic Trappist monastery deeply imbued with grace and antiquity. Yet as...

A Toast to the Universality of Beer
By Alan Moen (Brewing Techniques)

A Toast to the Universality of Beer by Alan Moen (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 6, No.3) In the language of beer, native speakers aren’t the only ones with something to say. St. Patrick’s Day, for those of us living outside Ireland, is always a great time to haul out the...

Tools for Recipe Conversion
By Brian Dixon (Brewing Techniques)

by Brian Dixon (Brewing Techniques) All-Grain to Extract, Extract to All-Grain     With a few simple conversion tools, you can brew any recipe you encounter, whether extract or all-grain.     At one time or another every brewer faces...

Wheat Beer Recipe Myths
By Todd Steele (Brewing Techniques)

by Todd Steele (Brewing Techniques)     Shredding Wheat Beer Myths   With the abundance of specialty wheat malts and the availability of natural lautering aids, brewing with 100% wheat grists is not only possible, it is easy, and it is opening...

An Introduction to Sensory Analysis
By Scott Bickham (Brewing Techniques)

by Scott Bickham (Brewing Techniques)     Focus on Flavor   This first installment of “Focus on Flavor” introduces the complex world of beer flavor and how brewing methods create and influence it — for good or for ill. In each...

Brewing in Styles: Mild Ale
By David Sutula (Brewing Techniques)

by David Sutula (Brewing Techniques)  Mild Ale — Back from the Brink of Extinction?     Mild ale endures as one of the most elusive styles of beer in the world. Ubiquitous in the history of British brewing yet rarely present in the...

Belgian’s Magical Beers and People Revive One Man’s Love of Brewing
By Hubert Smith (Brewing Techniques)

Redemption of a Beer Lover by Hubert Smith (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 5, No.5)  The small bar has just opened on a Sunday afternoon and only three of us are in it: the dark-haired woman of about 30 who poured our beer, my wife, and me. We all stare out the front windows at a...

A Visit to the Court of Germany’s Kölschbier
By Forrest Williams and Martin Lodahl (Brewing Techniques)

The Queen of Köln— A Visit to the Court of Germany’s Kölschbier by Forrest Williams One style alone is served in the Köln region of Germany’s western edge — a gentle reminder that a beer can rule with a light touch. “You can’t...

Brewing Success in Long Island’s Wine Country
By Alan Talman (Brewing Techniques)

Brewing Success in Long Island’s Wine Country by Alan Talman (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 7, No.2) Supported by savvy restaurateurs, a brewer creates unusual beers that are making beer lovers out of wine drinkers in Long Island’s tony Hamptons. In New York City,...

The Reinheitsgebot - One Country’s Interpretation of Quality Beer
By Stephen R. Holle and Manfred Schaumberger (Brewing Techniques)

by Stephen R. Holle and Manfred Schaumberger (Brewing Techniques) The Reinheitsgebot - One Country’s Interpretation of Quality Beer     This 500-year-old edict still governs brewing in Germany, and brewers everywhere feel its influence. The...

Shepherd Neame - Three Centuries of Tradition
By Robert S.Wallace (Brewing Techniques)

Shepherd Neame - Three Centuries of Tradition by Robert S.Wallace (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 6, No.6) This year, Britain’s oldest continuously operating, brewery celebrates its tercentenary, establishing a milestone in British brewing history. When a brewer thinks of Kent in...

The Troubled Renaissance of British Craft Brewing
By Peter Haydon (Brewing Techniques)

By Peter Haydon (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 6, No.5)     An observer of the UK microbrewing scene explains microbrewers’ battle to place their beers before the British public.     Whenever I try to explain the British brewing industry, I...

Reflections of a U.S. Beer Judge at the GBBF
By John R. Calen (Brewing Techniques)

By John R. Calen (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 6, No.5) A New York Yankee in CAMRA’s Court A UK-trained beer judge from the United States recalls last year’s Great British Beer Festival as being both more formal and more sociable than beer competitions on this side of the...