The eisbock story is a fun lore of beer myth, a hapless brewery employee left a barrel of doppelbock outside during a snowstorm in Germany and some of the beer froze, concentrating flavor and thus creating a whole new beer style. While the roots of this story may not wholly be true, it’s a fun addition to a beer style made by distillation processes at its most base level.

What is eisbock?

These beers are rare in the United States as you need special licenses to make them but in Europe, the rules are a bit different and in some European countries, these beers, not just eisbocks, have taken on a life of their own. And this is before we start talking about other drinks like the amazing ice cider made by freeze distillation.

How does the freezing process work and what changes does it make to these drinks? This month on the All About Beer podcast, we talk to three guests with unique views on this chilly process.

Listen to the whole conversation where you download podcasts including Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon, and Overcast.

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This episode is brought to you by LLZ™ – Hopsteiner’s new water-soluble citrus aroma extract. LLZ is formulated to deliver fresh lemon and crisp lime character to your next brew. Perfect for hop waters, seltzers, NA beers, and well beer..beers. LLZ offers unmatched versatility as a 100% hop-derived, clean-label supporting aroma extract. Give your next brew the citrus kick it’s been begging for with Hopsteiner’s LLZ. Explore LLZ™ and other flavor solutions at shop.hopsteiner.com.

Alright brewers, quick question. Have ever brewed the same beer twice… and somehow got two different results?
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Want to have great beer, but just not the alcohol tonight? Give Athletic Brewing a try. Athletic Brewing was founded in 2017 to shatter existing stigmas and perceptions around non-alcoholic beer. They took a category that had traditionally only offered underwhelming lagers and launched a full lineup of award-winning styles. In fact, it’s non-alcoholic beer so good that it’s currently on over 20% of US Michelin star menus and the team at Athletic has brought home over 185 taste awards. And these non-alcoholic beers are all brewed by the Athletic team in their custom breweries with extremely rigorous quality standards. You don’t have to be sober to enjoy the great taste of beer as a meal pairing, winding down at the end of the day, or when you’re out with friends and don’t want the alcohol.  In 2025, Athletic released over 50 different beers on their website athleticbrewing.com. Check it out for yourself.


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Em Sauter
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Em Sauter is an Advanced Cicerone®, cartoonist, author, beer reviewer, international beer judge and public speaker who runs the award winning website Pints and Panels, which focuses on visual beer education. Her first book "Beer is for Everyone! (of Drinking Age)" was published in 2017 by One Peace Books. Her second book "Hooray for Craft Beer!" was released in April 2022 with Brewers Publications. Em is also co-host of the All About Beer Podcast. She lives in New England with her husband Matt and two cats- Milbo and The Geen.

tse
Don Tse

Living near seven malthouses, Don Tse is a freelance beer and malt writer and consultant known globally as The Don of Beer. He has been active in craft beer for over 25 years and has famously sampled and written tasting notes on almost 27,000 different beers. He is the co-host of the All About Beer podcast. Don has also written for magazines and presented on beer in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine and Singapore.  Nobody in those countries thinks his jokes are funny.