Homebrewing

[Photographs: Maggie Hoffman] Last week, we enjoyed some malty brown ales from England. But those beers didn't really prepare us for the brown ales produced by American craft breweries. While some of these beers take after their British forefathers, others diverge widely from the classic style. We tried bright, hoppy brown ales and sweet, pruney brown ales; rich, heavy brown ales and dry, lighter ones; reddish brown ales and blackish ones...