I was bested last night. The subject of the beer tasting was the vaunted strongest beer in the world, Samuel Adams Utopias. It's brewed every other year in limited quantities — they made 10,000 bottles of the '09s — and comes with a proportionately high price tag of $150. This year's batch weighs in at [...]

The Marshall Plan. NATO. David Hasselhoff. Collaboration between Germany and the United States is not new. But rarely has it spilled over into the world of beer–the glue that, almost as much as the Bundesrat, holds Germany together. After all, what could German brewers possibly have to learn from their German brethren? Over the summer, [...]

For all its storied beer history, the Czech Republic has essentially two beer styles: dark and light. It’s a spartan selection even in comparison to Germany and its Reinheitsgebot. There’s the dark, chocolaty cerny (pronounced with a “ch” sound), and there’s pilsner, the famous light-colored lager from the city of Plzen. Poured fresh, they’re clear, [...]

If you've ever stepped into the Black Rooster at 1919 L Street, NW, you've come as close as you can get to experiencing a townie bar in downtown DC. We mean that in the best possible way. It really is a place where "everybody knows your name," or they soon will if you stop in [...]

In the September/October issue of Imbibe, the editors selected their 99 favorite beers in different categories, such as seasonals or beers to drink with a burger. In "Imbibe Vs. Beerspotter," Y&H's Beerspotter takes each list to task. The editors of Imbibe write that their ideal burger beers "complement, rather than overwhelm" the flavors of their [...]