Photos: A. Sussman / Getty Images

The craft-beer movement presents a classic David-and-Goliath scenario: Thousands of indie breweries make endlessly diverse ranges of brews, yet they’re dwarfed by corporate giants and their nearly 90 percent market share. And yet the artisan beer world continues to expand, while the established brands struggle to hold on to what they have. The Feed learned this and more during an afternoon talk and tasting at The Gate, part of The New Yorker Festival. The event was hosted by Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales founder and president Sam Calagione and New Yorker staff writer Burkhard Bilger, who last year penned an article about “extreme” brewing for the magazine. The crowd gathered under a tent in the bar’s outdoor patio area, where a small-scale brewing rig had been assembled to demonstrate some of the basic principles of making beer, as well as some of Calagione’s more experimental techniques.

Calagione discussed his decision to go outside of the German Reinheitsgebot purity laws, which limit the number and type of ingredients in a beer (and are still respected by many brewers outside of Germany). He argued that the laws themselves are only 500 years old, while the history of brewing is much more ancient; it would have been perfectly normal in the past to include any number of ingredients in a brew. At Dogfish Head, he experiments with fruits, spices, even shellfish.

During the tasting—which included beers from Dogfish Head, Allagash, Sierra Nevada and Captain Lawrence, along with cheeses, ham and chocolate—Calagione and Bilger fielded audience questions. One of the handiest tidbits we picked up had to do with pairing beer and food: Calagione advised that we think of lagers like white wine, and ales like red. We’re sure there are exceptions, but it’s a rule of thumb we’ll gladly pocket.