Celebrating beer writer Fred Eckhardt's birthday for the seventh year in a row while raising money for charity, the annual FredFest at Hair of the Dog Brewing showcased rare and one-off beers from 22 breweries for its 2012 extravaganza. Read on to discover our choices for the 8 most memorable sips from FredFest 2012. More

Beers from Speakeasy Ales & Lagers seems to have a tap handle in just about every bar around San Francisco. We visited with Kushal Hall, Speakeasy's head brewer, to get a look at the brewing facility, and find out a little about his career in beer—from the time he accidentally emptied the mash tun onto the floor, to the newest beers he's brewing at Speakeasy right now. More

As a Serious Eater, you've mastered the art of the dinner party. Your kitchen table for six leafs out to seat twenty, the last time you hosted a potluck, everyone brought booze, and the clicking of your barbecue's ignition is followed closely by hastened footsteps and the tell-tale ring of your doorbell. You're a whiz in the kitchen, and everyone knows it. It's time to take it to the next level. The right beer, paired with your killer eats, will create satisfaction beyond the sum of their liquid and solid parts. Here's how to go about hosting an awesome beer dinner, in 8 easy steps. More

When beer geeks get together, talk often settles on beer styles we love—especially those styles we just don't see enough of. Brewers are answering our dreams by boiling up more session beers but there are still some styles that cause us to sigh. Why don't we see more Gose? Couldn't we all use another super-fresh local pilsner? And why isn't there more Berliner Weisse? More

To the untrained eye, a homebrewing recipe can look like a secret code with abbreviations, acronyms, and lists of numbers. Over the years, brewers have condensed the essentials of a brewing recipe into an easy to reference format that can be quickly reviewed during the brewing process. But today we're going to demystify the code so that you can read a brewing recipe like the pros. More

Last week we covered some fine examples of recently released hoppy session lagers and ales. This week we're adding 5 favorites that rely more on yeast and malt and don't lean quite as heavily on the hops. Though some are a little above 5% ABV, we'd still consider them easy-drinking. More

Remember a month or so ago when every Serious Eats employee got a promotion except for me? Now Kenji's called some grand, Oprahesque thing, the maniacal Jones woman is newly empowered to yell at me, and even Hambone got kicked up to Senior Office Dog. As happy as I was for my friends—which was barely happy at all, because what do I care about their good fortune if it doesn't put any extra mustard in my fridge?—I was still a bit disappointed to have been passed over. What's the harm in letting me call myself the Executive Director of Cheap Booze and Long Wind, say? More

The flowers have started to bloom, love is in the air, and the big boozy beers you enjoyed so much in the cold of winter have started to seem slightly less appealing. 10% ABV barleywines and imperial stouts are getting shoved to the back of your fridge, and your tastebuds yearn for the impending spring and summer seasonals that have just begun to line the shelves at your local bottle shop. Enter the session beer. Here are 3 recently released examples that we think you'll love. More

In today's edition of our brewer interview series, we're chatting with Jeremy Danner, one of the brewers at Boulevard Brewing Co. in Kansas City, MO. They've got some new collaborations and special beers up their sleeve...Take it away, Jeremy. More

Maybe it's because I've turned old and wise and maybe it's because I'm six months away from marrying into some primo health insurance, but for whatever reason I've become a long-view, big picture kind of guy who will gladly trade April showers for August tomatoes. I've also become a saver of sorts: I didn't drink beer on either of the rainy days, which means I get triple beer on the next sunny day. I have many things to live for. More