From the Editor (Issue 50)

Welcome, one and all, to the landmark 50^th edition of The Beer Connoisseur Magazine.

It’s been a long, strange trip full of delicious brews and engaging stories, so we thought we should lead off this issue by highlighting the highest-scoring beers from all 50 issues, as well as some of our favorite stories that have been featured in our pages.

We hope you enjoy these trips down memory lane as much as we did.

Of course, this issue is far from being all about looking backwards, as this issue features a wide array of interesting features for our devoted readers.

Beyond our Top 50s, the issue leads off with Jim Dykstra gives you the skinny on how to host a successful whiskey tasting party that won’t leave your guests tottering home after overindulging.

After that, Josh Weikert tosses his hat in the ring on the topic of the ever-controversial Pumpkin Beer. In this piece, Josh provides the backstory and history of pumpkin beer in the U.S. while providing details on notable ingredients and other facts about this seasonal style.

Then, Michael Thacker aims to answer an important question for all beer drinkers: Is Beer Healthy? Michael provides a multitude of answers on a variety of topics revolving around this question, some of which may surprise you. Following that, continuing the health kick, Jason Johnson details the wide world of low-calorie beers with 23 of his favorites.

Michael Maloney offers up three delicious recipes for fall comforts foods that make for excellent accompaniments with craft beer. These hearty dishes are sure to satiate you as temperatures begin to drop.

Finally, Jessica Zimmer joins us again, this time for an in-depth brewery tour of Philadelphia’s Evil Genius Beer Co., which gives us a glimpse of how this new Philly institution has stayed afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, no issue would be complete without our standard collection of beer reviews, brewer Q&As and industry news, and our 50^th issue does not disappoint. We also collect our most recent podcast episodes for your convenience.

To our dear readers: Thank you so much for being with us on this incredible journey of learning about (and imbibing) craft beer and its wonderful brewers.

We hope you enjoy this 50^th edition, and here’s to 50 more!

Cheers,

Chris Guest
Managing Editor