Brewers Almanack is a brewing knowledge MCP server designed to provide AI assistants with beer styles, ingredients, off-flavor diagnosis, water chemistry, and recipe guidance. It is based on real brewing data rather than model hallucinations, helping users obtain reliable brewing information.
Main capabilities:
- Provides 6 tools, covering beer styles, ingredient queries, off-flavor diagnosis, water chemistry, recipe construction, and food pairing.
- Built-in data on BJCP 2021 beer styles, hop varieties, malts, yeast, water profiles, off-flavor diagnosis, recipe suggestions, and food pairings.
- No API key required, no network dependency, all brewing data is embedded.
- Works with all MCP-compatible IDEs, zero configuration.
How to use: Add the server to your IDE's MCP configuration file. For example:
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json
- VS Code: .vscode/mcp.json
- Windsurf: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json
- Other: settings.json
Example conversations:
- "What hops are suitable for a Belgian Dubbel?" - Searches for hops that pair with Belgian styles, returning varieties such as Styrian Goldings and Saaz, including alpha acid ranges, aromas, and substitutes.
- "My beer tastes like butter, what went wrong?" - Diagnoses diacetyl, identifies the compound, explains the causes (incomplete fermentation, racking too early), and provides prevention steps (diacetyl rest, healthy yeast pitch).
- "Recommend a recipe for a West Coast IPA" - Builds a complete recipe: pale malt base with crystal malt, Centennial/Cascade hop schedule with dry hopping, American ale yeast, and a Burton-style water profile.
- "What food pairs well with a stout?" - Returns pairing suggestions (oysters, chocolate desserts, grilled meat), and explains the principle behind each pairing (complementary, contrasting, or cleansing).
Applicable scenarios:
- Homebrewers or professional brewers seeking data support during recipe design, off-flavor troubleshooting,and ingredient selection.
- AI assistants integrating brewing knowledge to provide accurate answers.
Limitations:
- Current functionality is limited to the 6 tools above; features planned in the roadmap (ROADMAP.md), such as brewing calculators, recipe intelligence, BeerXML/BeerJSON integration, and brewing logs, are not yet available.
- Data contributions are welcome, but the specific contribution method is not yet provided.
- The specific steps for running the local version are not yet provided.
