Joe Stange

Bangkok

Freelance Writer and Blogger, Thirst Pilgrim at Freelance

Managing Editor at Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine

Managing Editor at Craft Spirits & Distilling

Journalist person, decoction enthusiast. Managing Editor, Craft Beer & Brewing. Author, Around Brussels in 80 Beers. Co-author, Good Beer Guide Belgium.

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Articles

Malted Rice Is on the Rise

5 days ago | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange

It’s possible that rice malt, in the years to come, never really grows beyond the gluten-free category—a niche, but an important one in which studious brewers have worked hard to raise expectations, often producing beers as tasty as those made from barley and wheat. Yet there’s another fork in the road, and it’s one that could send rice malt into the brewing mainstream.
Case Study: The Seed Celebrates Saison

3 weeks ago | brewingindustryguide.com | Joe Stange

Founded in 2020, the Seed is perhaps not what you’d expect to find in downtown Atlantic City, just 15 minutes’ walk from the Hard Rock’s giant guitar. In contrast to the clanging casinos and bustling boardwalk, the Seed offers respite. Even the names of its beers are somehow relaxing: A Place to Rest, Stay Awhile, Unhurriedly, Quiet Fields, As Simple as Home?, and so on.
Showtime: IPA on the World Stage

1 month ago | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange

IPA is local, and IPA is worldwide. A quick peek behind the curtain: We almost never choose a theme—such as “IPA on the World Stage”—until the issue is mostly done. Sure, we knew that we wanted this one to be the annual IPA issue, but we don’t predetermine the focus beyond that.
Finding Growth, Driving Traffic, and More: Your Spring 2025 Brewing Industry Guide is Here

2 months ago | brewingindustryguide.com | Joe Stange

Appearing ahead of the Craft Brewers Conference, where so many conversations about the state of the industry happen, this issue is always a special one for us. For our Brewing Industry Guide, our team of editors and writers are continually working to understand the industry’s most talked-about problems, so that we can make useful contributions to those conversations—and, we hope, the solutions that come out of them.
Lager is BIG at Little Lager in St. Louis

Mar 22, 2025 | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange

What it is: When it opened in 2023, owner Manny Negron conceived this as a place of reverence for Czech lagers and pours—and it is, but its early evolution has been a more entertaining conversation between that Bohemian ideal and the pointedly unpretentious local drinking culture. The five drafts and 20-ish cans and bottles are always shifting among local and regional lager all-stars, plus a few from Czechia and Germany.
Behold: The Expanding Maltiverse

Feb 21, 2025 | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange

So, our latest issue just dropped and—guess what?—we’re proud of it. As usual, its pages are packed with recipes, geeky rabbit-hole deep dives, brewer insights, and more. Before I say more, indulge me in a quick peek behind the curtain: We put out these issues quarterly, but the creative process that gets one finished and off to the printers takes many more months—or, in some cases, years.
Case Study: Wooly Pig Brews Lager for the Locals (and for the Hogs)

Feb 7, 2025 | brewingindustryguide.com | Joe Stange

Matt Cole of Fat Head’s in Cleveland is one of the most respected, award-winning brewmasters in the country. So, when he names his favorite beer from the state of Ohio, it’s wise to take note. That beer is the Zwick’lbier Hoppy Pils from the Wooly Pig Farm Brewery in Fresno, Ohio. “And if I close my eyes while drinking one in their beer garden, it feels like I’m back in a beer garden in Bavaria,” Cole says, including it in his Pick 6 for the Winter 2024 issue of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®.
Special Ingredient: Haskap

Jan 30, 2025 | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange

If you’ve never heard of haskap—we had not—here are a few reasons why that may be the case. One is that not many places cultivate it, although that’s gradually changing as more people discover and taste the previously wild shrub. Another is that most of those places are farther north, where it grows best. Finally, it’s possible that you simply know it by a different name—because it has many. Camerise. Honeyberry.
The Bier from the Keller

Jan 20, 2025 | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange

Beware: This rabbit hole is deeper, darker, and more mysterious than any limestone cellar that riddles a hill in Upper Franconia—and, once you’re down here with me, you’ll find that it’s also much, much cooler. It starts with drinking a good one—ideally from a cool steinkrug on a warm day—and trying to pick apart why it has so much character.
Recipe: Thai-Style Homemade Sato

Jan 7, 2025 | beerandbrewing.com | Joe Stange |Nattachai Ungsriwong

For more on this traditional drink, see Sato: Thailand’s Enigmatic Sticky-Rice Beer. ALL-GRAIN Batch size: 1.5 gallon (5.7 liters) OG: 1.083 (20°P) FG: 1.000 (0°P) ABV: 11% [PAYWALL]MALT/GRAIN BILL 5.5 lb (2.5 kg) Thai sticky rice YEAST 1 luk paeng ball, powdered; or a pure Amylomyces rouxii mold culture plus a beer or wine yeast of choice DIRECTIONS Rinse the rice until the water is clear, then soak in fresh water overnight.