We're fielding beer questions all week on Y&H, so now's your chance to inquire about everything from food pairings to hangover cures. Fresh out of the mail bag, reader Dan Riley asked: Here’s something I’ve been wondering: Why are there so few craft pilsners out there? I’m a big fan of that style of beer [...]

Y&H readers were surprisingly vocal about yesterday's discussion of whether the emerging style of dark, hoppy beers should be called "black IPAs," "Cascadian dark ales," or "darkhoppytastygoodnessofneedlessdispute." I'm pushing for "black IPA"; WaPo's Greg Kitsock likes "Cascadian dark ale." Here's what you thought: "CDA" garnered votes from industry folk, such as @ThBlackSquirrel and @KnuckleHeadDC, a.k.a. [...]

WaPo's Greg Kitsock and I are both beer writers in D.C., and we frequent many of the same bars, shops, and overly geeky listservs, but rarely do we actually cross paths. So it's significant that we both happened to choose the emerging "black IPA" style for our columns this week. Well, at least that's what [...]

Where Spotted: Cork & Fork, 7333 Atlas Walk Way, Gainesville, Va. Price: $9.99 per 6-pack Art of Darkness: Black IPAs are a fresh take on that distinctly American style of beer, pairing the citrus-peel and herbaceous bitterness of hops with the French-roast-coffee notes of dark malts. The result, particularly in the balanced Back in Black, [...]

Ha ha! Business! The New Yorker reports (via Danwei) that Pabst Blue Ribbon, the reliable can o' swill, is selling a new upmarket beer in China — way upmarket. The ads for Pabst Blue Ribbon 1844 feature stylized lighting you'd expect from a luxury car commercial, and the bottle looks like it holds perfume, or [...]

Pencils down, drunkards. The Brickskeller announced a trio of beer classes designed by manager and bartender Rachel Murray, to be conducted Monday through Wednesday of the remaining weeks in July. The first, "What Is Beer?" is a sort of 101 class, breaking down the main ingredients and illustrating how each affects a beer. Session two, [...]

When I interviewed Stillwater brewmaster Brian Strumke last week, we talked mostly about philosophy, food, and his reinvention of the saison style. Not once did he indicate that, given the time and space, he could produce sour beers that would rival Belgium's most rarefied beers. The beer was Red 33, a bracingly sour prototype he [...]

I caught a pleasant surprise while scanning the beer menu at Birch & Barley one recent Sunday. It was a recovery brunch, and between my hangover, my caffeine deficiency, and the 14th Street traffic and blazing heat pounding our streetside table, I wasn't looking to order a beer so much as brush up on new [...]

How to shop for beer, from the indispensable Married to the Sea.

Stillwater Artisanal Ales is less than six months old, but their signature Stateside Saison, a fresh take on farmhouse ale with American and New Zealand hops, has found a following in D.C. Founder Brian Strumke, a Baltimore homebrewer turned pro, released his first offering in February, and since then has collaborated on brews with Oliver [...]