The Hoptripper

Brewmaster Mitch Steele’s official beer blog brings you all of his thoughts about beer related trips he’s made, his take on the state of the brewing industry, and fun stories from his illustrious past. Oh, and he might just occasionally get on his soapbox to discuss polarizing topics like quality, beer style trends, and what being a Master Brewer actually means.

Thank You Anchor Brewing Company! July 14, 2023 Anchor Brewing Company has been a real institution in our business. They are the original craft brewery. I know they’ve struggled over the past several years, have gone through ownership changes and ultimately couldn’t survive. It can get really depressing looking at what’s happening with the craft beer industry I’ve known and loved for over… Full Beer Blog

Blackberry Smoke, Music and Craft Beer September 12, 2022 I wanted to explain why our collaboration with the band Blackberry Smoke is such a big deal for me. Warning, it’s a long story … and it involves a lot of beer, a lot of bands, and the truth about my guitar playing. Full Beer Blog

What’s Going on with Craft Beer in 2022? April 4, 2022 When I get together with my brewing colleagues, there’s often a lot of head scratching as we ask each other “what’s going on?” and “what’s next?”. Truth is, we don’t know! Lots of beer styles have been touted as the “next big thing” over the last few years, and none of them have fully materialized.… Full Beer Blog

Mitch Steele and the Prision Pals Brewing team

Trip to Miami to Brew with Prision Pals Brewing March 7, 2022 Collaborations are educational, create excitement, demonstrate the unique camaraderie in the craft beer business, and most of all, are fun! Full Beer Blog

Supply Chain Woes February 1, 2022 Supply Chain Woes About 3 years ago, I volunteered to be the Chair of the Brewers Association Supply Chain Subcommittee. It’s been my first time volunteering for a support role in the BA, and it’s been an incredible experience, and it’s nice to give back a bit to this business that I love. The mission… Full Beer Blog

Return of the Hoptripper January 18, 2022 Return of the Hoptripper Shortly after I published my book on IPA in 2012, I started a blog, which I called Hoptripper. It seemed like the thing to do at the time! My goal at the beginning was to share information and photos from my IPA research that didn’t make it into the book for whatever… Full Beer Blog

What a Brewer Does What a Brewer Really Does I get asked, on a regular basis, what my daily routine is like. I sometimes think people are disappointed with my response, as it’s remarkably unexciting for the most part, although my routine is peppered with moments of fun. After all, we are making beer! A lot of brewers refer… Full Beer Blog

The Russel Schehrer Award At the annual Craft Brewers Conference held in Denver this year (2014), I was honored to be awarded the Brewers Association Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing Full Beer Blog

My Favorite Beer Cities I thought maybe I’d just list my favorite beer cities, and why I enjoy them as much as I do, without trying to decide which is best, because I like them all for different reasons. Full Beer Blog

Mitch Steele And The New Realm Of American Ipa

American Hop Ale and 1996 Winter Brew Recipes I was straightening up the bookshelf in my office today and found an old spiral bound notebook that I used to log my old home brewing recipes in. And as a nice surprise, I found tucked between the pages some recipe summary spreadsheets on some of the beers I’ve been discussing recently that I was… Full Beer Blog

The Anheuser-Busch Specialty Brewing Group Beers (Part 2) Right around the same time AB came out with the Elk Mountain beers, the beers I discussed in my last post, they also released a new amber lager called Red Wolf. Full Beer Blog

The Anheuser-Busch Specialty Brewing Group Beers (Part 1) Beers before my time: The Elk Mountain Family Elk Mountain Amber Ale: This beer really got me excited for our fledgling new products efforts - I was still a Supervisor at the Ft. Collins CO brewery when this beer was first released in 1995, and I remember going to a special tasting after work in… Full Beer Blog

Beers from My Past: The Anheuser-Busch American Originals The story told about the American Originals beers was that AB found old recipes from Adolphus Busch in their archives, and used his handwritten recipes to recreate some of the more flavorful beers that existed before prohibition. Full Beer Blog

Craft Beer Sales Are at an All-Time High Craft Beer Sales Are at an All-Time High Dave Edgar, when he was with the Association of Brewers (now the Brewers Association) always included this shout out to the industry in his annual state of the industry address at the Craft Brewers Conference. It’s been a true statement every year since I’ve been a brewer,… Full Beer Blog

The Real Quality Issue: Oxidation The Real Quality Issue: Oxidation The recent buzz about the lack of quality in some of the new breweries is gaining noticeable momentum on the internet and social media. I have written much in this blog about beer quality and what every brewer should have in their arsenal to deal with quality issues. Many people… Full Beer Blog

Craft Beer Sales Are at an All-Time High – And Why This Could Be Scary Craft Beer Sales Are at an All-Time High - And Why This Could Be Scary And now, the things that concern me about the future… OK, so the easy and obvious route would be to discuss how consolidation and craft brewer buyouts by large brewers are a huge concern. And they are. Almost everyone in… Full Beer Blog