The Guide: Summer Beer

ALPHA

WRONG THEORY

3-D PRINTING EMERGES FROM A PLASTIC SOUP

It might be the future of manufacturing, but 3-D printing is built on a 2-D foundation: A Maker Bot is essentially an inkjet printer that spits out plastic instead of ink. Keep printing in the same spot over and over and the layers will form a 3-D object from the bottom up. But an outfit called Carbon3D is taking the opposite tack. Its new rig creates objects from the top down, in one continuous motion. It’s faster, with no layering required.

Inspired by the mercurial T-1000 bot from Terminator 2, University of North Carolina prof Joseph DeSimone wanted to make objects emerge from liquid.

The process, which is based on a 30year-old technology called stereolithography, starts with a bath of liquid resin that hardens when exposed to UV light. A projector under the bath delivers targeted blasts of UV to shape the form from below as the overhead platform lifts, drawing the object out of the soup. (The glass between the projector and the resin is permeable to oxygen, like a contact lens, and that O2 keeps the resin from hardening too soon, before the object is complete.) The Carbon3D can print up to 100 times faster than leading 3-D and stereolithographic printers.

The startup has prototypes running at auto behemoth Ford, at an athletic apparel company, and at an f/x house, with an eye to hitting the market in 2016. But it has no phase-shifting bots that are hell-bent on destroying us. Yet. —Lexi Pandell

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Carbon3D Printer

1. Object-building platform

2. UV-curable liquid resin

3. Microthin layer of oxygenated resin

4. Oxygenpermeable glass

5. Ultravioletlight projector

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ALPHA

THE GUIDE SUMMER BEER

AS THE CRAFT BREWING industry continues to grow, it continues to get weirder—in the best way possible. Beer is better than it’s ever been, thanks to experimental hops, funky yeast strains, and a spirit of hackerlike ingenuity. It’s not just craft, it’s science.

Sours

IPAs

Lighter Ales

Saisons

Wheats Saisons

Raspberry Tart Dogpatch Sour

Duchesse de Bourgogne

Sculpin IPA

Fresh Squeezed IPA 60 Minute IPA

Somersault Ale Krankshaft Wünderbier

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace Hennepin Saison-Brett

Traditionally farmhouse ales, these highly carbonated, pleasantly tart summer brews have recently exploded in popularity. —Bryan Gardiner

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace

Brooklyn Brewery, NY (7.6% ABV) A classic unfiltered saison that uses Sorachi Ace hops to give it an extra- bright and spicy punch.

Hennepin

Brewery Ommegang, NY (7.7% ABV) A moderately hoppy drink with a crisp start, a malty sweet middle, and a refreshingly bitter finish.

Saison-Brett

Boulevard Brewing Company, MO (8.5% ABV) Dry-hopped and bottleconditioned with yeasts like Brettanomyces, this saison manages both zippiness and a wonderful yeasty stank.

Unfiltered Wheat Beer Oberon Ale A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale Allagash White