Bulletin № 005BrewingSaccharum densitas
What the Hydrometer Knows
A weighted glass float and two readings are all it takes to know how strong your beer is. The trick is understanding what the numbers actually measure.
2 min read
Field notes on drinkVol. I
The science, history & craft behind exceptional drinks.
Most drink writing hands you a recipe. We are after the better question: why does this work? Bitters, vermouth, brewing, barrel aging, and the chemistry and history underneath the glass, studied the way you would study anything worth getting right.
The latest specimen№ 006
Gentiana lutea · Bitters
Why a Few Dashes of Bitters Fix a Whole Drink
Bitters are not an ingredient so much as a corrective lens. Here is what those dashes are actually doing to your tongue.
3 min read
From the index
All bulletins →Bulletin № 004VermouthArtemisia absinthium
Vermouth Is Wine That Went to Finishing School
It is wine, fortified with spirit and seasoned with botanicals. It is also the bottle most people are quietly mistreating in a warm cupboard.
2 min read
Bulletin № 003Shrubs & SyrupsAcetum fructus
The Shrub: Drinking Vinegar That Predates Your Refrigerator
Before cold storage, people kept fruit by drowning it in sugar and vinegar. The result turned out to be delicious, which is the best kind of accident.
3 min read
Bulletin № 002FermentationSaccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeast Is Doing All the Work
You do not make beer or wine. Yeast does. Your whole job is to set the table and then get out of its way.
2 min read
The Brewshed Journal · Weekly
One cocktail, one brewing idea, one piece of history, one experiment.
A short letter most weeks. No filler, no recipe-blog throat-clearing, just the good part of the conversation, sent to your inbox.
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Most recent: Issue 02, Salt, Wormwood, and a Stuck Fermentation · read it
The Classification
Eleven fields of study
Bitters
1Gentiana lutea
Tinctures, botanicals, and the bittering agents that make a drink legible.
Vermouth
1Artemisia absinthium
Fortified, aromatized wine. The most misunderstood bottle on the shelf.
Shrubs & Syrups
1Saccharum officinarum
Acid, sugar, and fruit. Preservation turned into flavor.
Brewing
1Humulus lupulus
Mash, boil, and ferment. Where the Brewshed earned its name.
Cocktails
0Composito miscela
Builds, ratios, and the why behind a balanced glass.
Barrel Aging
0Quercus alba
Oak, char, time, and the angel's share.
Tasting
0Sensoria gustus
How to taste on purpose, and put words to what you find.
History
1Memoria potionis
Where these drinks came from, and who we have to thank or blame.
Fermentation
1Saccharomyces cerevisiae
The quiet chemistry of yeast, bacteria, and time.
Ingredients
0Materia prima
Single botanicals and base materials, studied one at a time.
Glassware
0Vitrum potatorium
Why the vessel changes the drink.