RahrBSG Blog
What We Drank (and Loved) at CBC 2026
Posted May 4, 2026 in Brewing
The Gang Serves Excellent Beer
Every year as winter fades into spring, we here at RahrBSG start counting down the days to the annual Craft Brewers Conference. With this year’s show taking place in the great beer city of Philadelphia we knew the event was going to be a great time, filled with good people and wonderful beer. One of our favorite parts of CBC is presenting the RahrBSG Village in the expo hall; here we host our North American and European suppliers, and serve a lot of special beer from brewery partners near and far at the Malt Shop Bar. (This year we poured through the equivalent of 12 barrels of beer over the two-and-a-half days of the conference. Y’all were thirsty!)
A lot of planning goes into curating the epic tap list as many of the beers are unique one-off brews or collaborations between breweries and ingredient producers. From the brewers themselves (often using new ingredients for the first time) to the hard-working Brewers Association cellar crew on-site at the conference, we all learn throughout the process. We want to share the story behind some of our collective favorite jawns on tap in the RahrBSG Village.
In no particular order, of course.
The Gang Saves CBC West Coast IPA | Masthead Brewing Co.
As you can imagine, there was no shortage of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia references throughout the conference (including some phantastic stickers by our own in-house design squad), but one of our favorites was The Gang Saves CBC West Coast IPA (6.5% ABV) from Masthead Brewing Co. out of Cleveland, Ohio. The brewery explains that the beer was brewed between highly competitive rounds of Chardee MacDennis in partnership with RahrBSG and Yakima Chief Hops to showcase the new low-color Ultra Dingemans Pils™ malt in a potently hopped West Coast IPA.
“We’ve brewed quite a few West Coast Style IPAs and won a Great American Beer Fest Bronze in the category in 2024,” said Founder and Head of Brewing Mike Pelechaty. “For The Gang Saves CBC we took our standard malt bill and substituted Ultra Dingemans Pils for our domestic Pilsen base malt. We did boil slightly longer to ameliorate any DMS risk. Overall, Ultra Dingemans Pils performed well. The crackery malt character layers nicely.” On the hop side, Masthead highlighted Krush™ Brand Cryo Hops® with Mosaic complementing. They have brewed with Krush extensively, but this was the first time brewing with the Cryo version. And “Boom!,” it was a hit with the crowd. The beer was bright, crisp, and dry with pronounced mango and guava hop character. Heyo!
7 Hügel Franconian-Style Landbier | Gretz Brewing Co.
We were especially eager to share this beer at the conference as RahrBSG visited Gretz Brewing Company back in January 2026 to document the brew day with head brewer Kyler Gretz and his father Steve Gretz. From barley to booth, as we say! [Check out our brew day video here.] Inspired by beers enjoyed while visiting Germany and the book Dark Lagers by Thomas Kraus-Weyermann and Horst Dornbusch, this beautifully amber-colored Franconia-Style Landbier was brewed with 100% Weyermann malt including the base malt of Weyermann® Isaria 1924®.
Kyler Gretz said the malt initially presents toffee with echoes of caramel and subtle roast on the palate, but finishes relatively dry. He dreamily described the aroma as that of a cart selling roasted nuts in New York City, but not as sweet – like the initial scent you catch from half a block away. For future brews of the beer, Gretz said he’d possibly add Vienna or Munich malt to the mix for stronger support of the specialty malts, and is considering adding Weyermann® Isaria 1924® to other Gretz beers for a more layered malt profile. For their overall dedication to brewing with Weyermann malts, the Gretz family was awarded this year’s commemorative CBC malt shovel by Franziska and Klaa Weyermann.
Russian River in the House!
Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. are both longtime friends of Karl Dingeman and fans of malt from Mouterij Dingemans. They showed up all smiles with two beers to share at RahrBSG Village, both prominently featuring Dingemans Pilsen Malt. Vinnie brewed an new experimental West Coat IPA RND IPA #97 (7.0% ABV) as part of the brewery’s recipe development program on the brewery’s five-barrel pilot brewhouse. The beer was 90% Dingemans Pilsen Malt and 10% sugar, hopped heavily with Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic, Nectar, and Tangier for a piney, citrus-y, clean, bright, extremely drinkable WCIPA.
Natalie was on hand the following day to tap the brewery’s award-winning Damnation (7.5% ABV. Bronze, World Beer Cup 2025: Belgian-Style Strong Blonde Ale), the beer that started it all for the brewery’s renowned line-up of Belgian-inspired beers. Attendees lined up for the beer and were rewarded with its effervescence, delicate spice, fruit, and earthy flavors. Never sleep on a Russian River tapping!
Mooey English-Style Pub Ale | Bonn Place Brewing
This award-winning ordinary bitter is one we got to know well during a road trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a few months back when we visited Bonn Place Brewing for a brew day and recorded a most wonderful conversation with owner and head brewer Sam Masotto. Bonn Place brewed a one-off 4.8% ABV variation on the theme of Mooey for CBC that included Simpsons Finest Maris Otter®, Dingemans Wheat Malt, Dingemans Biscuit Malt, and the new Gambrinus Chit Malt. It was hopped with Centennial and Cascade, and fermented with a blend of English and East Coast ale yeasts. “The beer dried out a bit more than our standard Mooey,” said Masotto, “but it still presents quite malt-forward with a nice husky grain platform for the hops. And we love US hops for that grapefruit, orange, lemon/citrus thing. It all reminds me of lemon-biscuit, or orange Pekoe tea soaked tea biscuits.”
Two Beers from Hidden River Brewing Co.
Hidden River Brewing Company (Douglassville, PA) brewed two beers for the RahrBSG Village at CBC to showcase new ingredients. Head brewer Josh Gwinn describes Prudence American Pilsner (4.5% ABV) as a “mostly German-style Pilsner with a little American flair from the use of Chinook in the whirlpool.” The beer started with a simple grist of Ultra Dingemans Pils™ and flaked barley. Alongside Chinook, Hidden River incorporated Hallertau Mittelfruh and aged Tettnang hops. The result was a very pale lager with a clean, crisp beer with assertive bitterness and touch of residual sweetness. The combination of hops provided a dominant grassy herbal character with a unique underlying earthiness, and low notes of resinous citrus peel and pine sap.
Hidden River’s second collaborative effort came in the form of Where It Begins Hazy IPA (7.4% ABV) utilizing Rahr To Thee Pils™ for the majority of the grist alongside Rahr Extra Pale White Wheat, Gambrinus Chit Malt, and flaked oats. “The goal of the grain bill was to push pale to the extreme,” said Gwinn. “Unsurprisingly, we achieved this goal as the beer is one of the palest yellow IPAs we’ve crafted.” Hops included Citra and NZ Riwaka, but the star of the show was Nectaron® pellet hops amplified by TNS HopBurst® Nectaron® Hop Oil addition very late in the process. The finished beer was a hyper pale, super soft-bodied, layered expression of honeydew, kiwi, white grape, and white pepper taken to another level of pungency by TNS hop oil.
Witzbold Hopfenweisse | Schilling Beer Co.
Generally known for stellar lager beers, Schilling Beer Co. took a different approach when we asked them to make a beer for CBC, going for an ale but keeping with their tradition of producing modern takes on European classics. Enter Witzbold Hopfenweisse! That this 5.3% ABV beer was deliciously playful is no accident; after all, the word witzbold does translate in German to ‘prankster.’ To pair the traditional Bavarian weissbier character with American hops, production manager/brewer Justin Slotnick said brewers chose to use the fairly traditional grist of 60% Weyermann ® Pilsner and 40% Weyermann ® Pale Wheat and Erebus hops from Hopsteiner’s American breeding program to add citrus- and blueberry-forward notes to the banana and clove weissbier foundation through the use of the Fermentis SafAle™ W-68 yeast strain. “It is always exciting to tackle a new beer style for us and incorporate an interesting new hop variety,” said Slotnick. “Schilling always aims for balance and complexity and the hopfenweisse style has delivered that for us.” The beer made for a perfect früschoppen (literally “morning pint”… well, morning sample cup anyway) at RahrBSG Village with hop-driven notes of citrus and stone fruit layered atop a smooth and drinkable traditional weissbier.
Mista Callista Helles | Rhinegeist Brewery
The inspiration for Mista Callista Helles (4.8% ABV) began more than a year ago in Germany, where Alexander Epplen (International Sales Manager for HVG) had enjoyed a Helles lager that used German Callista as the main hop and was very impressed by usage of the hop variety. Talking with Nick Brehm, Director of Innovation and Raw Materials at Rhinegeist Brewery, ahead of CBC 2026, Epplen suggested that brewing something as a nod to that beer would be a fun collaboration to serve at RahrBSG Village during the conference.
“Callista reminded me of a more fruit-forward noble hop,” said Peter Mooney, Innovation Brewer at Rhinegeist. “It had notes of peach and citrus.” The brewery chose Huell Melon to complement the Callista hops and used Weyermann® Barke® Pilsner for the grain bill to lend a more traditional German malt profile. The bright golden lager had a floral nose and flavor, with notes of fresh black currant, and a soft black pepper finish.” Certainly a modern twist to the classic German style.
Gelb Mond Northern German-Style Pils | Human Robot Brewery
To celebrate the Craft Brewers Conference landing in their backyard this year, lager-obsessed Human Robot Brewery brewed Gelb Mond Northern German-Style Pils (5.0% ABV) with 100% Weyermann® Pilsner and a combination of Titan and Aurum hops from HVG. The use of solely Weyermann malt is common for Pilsners at Human Robot, but utilization of these particular hops is not. In fact, this was the brewery’s first time brewing with them.
“HVG and RahrBSG worked to bring in hops that I had never used before,” said Head Brewer Andrew Foss. “Aurum is an aroma variety with good agronomics and classic noble hop profile – mellow citrus and herbal. Titan is a big, oily bittering hop.” Inclusion of these hops was a departure for the brew team, which typically uses low alpha hops all the way through brewing to create an intensely integrated flavor. “Titan are high alpha [18% aa] compared to any European hop we have ever used before,” said Foss, “and I think we struck the right balance where the beer has a pleasant but not overwhelming bitterness. I am super happy with the way Gelb Mond came out. It is more hop focused than most of our lagers – including Pils – but still tastes like our beer. I think it shows how nice some of the more drought resistant and agronomically viable hop varieties are.”
Wandern Maibock | Burghers Brewing Company
Spring in Pennsylvania (or anywhere for that matter) calls for Maibock. With CBC scheduled for late April 2026, Burghers Brewing Company knew exactly what they wanted to brew for CBC, and who they wanted to brew it with.
Answer #1: An elegant, malt-rich Maibock.
Answer #2: The fine folks from Bierstadt Lagerhaus.
Thus began the journey of Wandern Maibock. [Wandern, in German, means to trek, hike, wander, roam.]
“We all discussed recipe elements, composition and style traits, ingredient attributes, and brewing techniques at length,” said Burghers Co-owner/Brewmaster Neil Glausier. “And we arrived at the most boldly nuanced, delicate, and expressive beer we could harness from our new equipment in Pittsburgh.”
The grist includes Weyermann® Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner and Weyermann® Floor Malted Bohemian Dark, which was acidified with Weyermann sauergut and double decocted. Bittered at first wort with Hallertauer Tradition and flavored with Hallertau Mittelfrüh. “I am infinitely pleased with this beer,” said Glausier. “Its simplicity and elegance captures the joy of lager. It appears a brilliantly clear rich golden color. Floral notes leap off of the meringue-like foam. It tastes of wildflower honey with a subdued yet ample malt structure. The delicate bitter checks all the boozy goodness into proper proportion, and the crisp dry finish leaves just a wisp of floral noble hop resonance. This beer wants to be your handheld companion all night long, but the 7.2% ABV could easily invoke the safe word mid-session if one is not careful.” Thank goodness for four-ounce conference pours!
NovaCrisp English Pale Lager | Wissahickon Brewing Co.
You’ve heard of a Crispy Boi. Well, this beer is a straight-up Crisp Boy! Crisp Malt, that is. For a unique English oat lager (4.7%) Wissahickon Brewing Co. used Crisp Lager Malt, Crisp Extra Pale Marris Otter, and Crisp Naked Oat Malt for a distinct, traditional English malt character with added complexity from the oats. Head brewer Jake Blitzer said Amira, Amarillo, and Saaz hops were chosen to provide flavors reminiscent of UK-style beers as well as traditional lagers. The beer was fermented cold, under pressure, and lagered for over a month. Natural carbonation added a spritzy quality to the beer. Clean fermentation highlighted classic English bready, oat and grainy malt flavors while the hops delivered a crisp,earthy bitterness accompanied by zesty floral aromas. Some tasters noted enjoyable berry notes and smooth mouthfeel from the oat malt to complement the more classic dry lager finish. A very fun beer indeed!
Rahr Eagle Brewery Represent!
We can’t wrap up this recap without a big shout-out to our in-house R&D brewers Jake Thompson and Sean Tynan, who brewed their own series of beers at Rahr Eagle Brewery to present at CBC including Chit Czech Pale Lager, Hoppy Thiolized Lager, and Simpson Slumlord Best Bitter. These beers showcased new ingredients such as Gambrinus Chit Malt and Fermentis SafLager™ SH-45 thiolized lager yeast, as well as other tried-and-true favorite raw materials. Read all about their beers here.
Putting the Fun in Functional Beverage
Finally, a non-beer honorable mention goes out to Brühaven Craft Company and Pathfinder Ingredients / Bevie Partners Limited for three collaborative Brüwell functional beverages served at the conference, especially the Brüwell Hydration beverage produced with Pathfinder’s Recovery blend of electrolytes which was the cure for what ails ya for many brewers after long, fun nights out on the town in Philly. Think salted watermelon slices in a cup. Take that, Gatorade!
We want to give a huge thank you to all the participating collaboration breweries for this year’s Craft Brewers Conference, as well as our rockstar brewery customers from across the country (and world) who stopped by the RahrBSG Village to say hello, hang out, and share some wonderful beer. It’s one of the highlights of our beer year and we can’t wait to see everyone at the conference next year in San Antonio, Texas.
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