Everything new becomes old, eventually,
but there’s nothing like rediscovering what was once familiar. Many of us who enjoy craft beer developed the love in some earlier time that looked dramatically different than the way it does now. For me it was 1995—right before IPA started becoming absurdly popular in the United States—and some of the beers that got me hooked were far different than the ones that fill my beer fridge now. Pete’s Wicked Ale and Bert Grant’s Scottish Ale were go-to beers, and if I drank a hazy beer it was probably because the brewery didn’t own a filter. I’d order occasional pints of Brooklyn Monster barleywine in the early 2000’s because it was strong and fueled my nascent sense of craft beer superiority (look at how strong this beer is!), and I’d order a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale if I felt like something hoppy.
Over time, I gravitated away from many of those beers. Bert Grant’s and Pete’s changed ownership and then ceased to be. Beers became hoppier, driven by advances in hops breeding and new flavors available to brewers. I bought more and more IPAS, then those stouts I liked started going into barrels, and sour beer became a viable thing among U.s.–based brewers. It became hard to keep up with all the new developments happening all the time, and those old familiars started to seem dustier and more dated than ever.
But I didn’t forget them, because I couldn’t. They were tied to specific memories that I never wanted to let go of—that college kegger my senior year where I showed up with a keg of Pete’s Wicked Summer Ale and all of my friends groaned because I made them drink craft beer, or drinking one dollar Mcewans Scotch Ales at a casino on the Vegas strip with my buddy Jeff and his ska band Insatiable while on tour. We’re now more than twenty years past those malty memories, but I still remember how cloyingly sweet that Mcewans was.
It was those fond memories I channeled when planning this issue. These malt-forward ales—ambers, reds, browns, Scottish, barleywines, and more—are the bedrock of modern craft beer, and the styles that helped drive its popularity in the early days. But they’re no less relevant or interesting today, if appreciated in the proper context, and we hope that more brewers today avail themselves of the flavorful opportunities that lie within these styles. Fashion is cyclical, after all, and I’m calling it now—they’re coming back. Hops have had a hell of time over the past few years, but malt’s moment is on the near horizon and approaching fast.
No matter when you started drinking or brewing craft beer, and which styles hold a special place in your heart, we hope you enjoy this issue. We made it for you.