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to make (beer, ale, etc.) by steeping, boiling, and fermenting malt and hops.
to make or prepare (a beverage, as tea) by mixing, steeping, soaking, or boiling a solid in water.
to concoct, mix, or cook (a beverage or food, especially one containing unmeasured or unusual ingredients):
She brewed a pot of soup from the leftovers.
to contrive, plan, or bring about:
to brew mischief.
to make a fermented alcoholic malt beverage, as beer or ale.
to boil, steep, soak, or cook:
Wait until the tea brews.
a quantity brewed in a single process.
a particular brewing or variety of malt liquor.
a hot beverage made by cooking a solid in water, especially tea or coffee.
any concoction, especially a liquid produced by a mixture of unusual ingredients:
a witches’ brew.
Informal.

beer or ale.
an individual serving of beer or ale:
Let’s have a few brews after the game.

be brewing, to be forming or gathering; be in preparation:
Trouble was brewing.
Contemporary Examples

Maier arrived in the coastal town of Newport, Oregon, just in time for the first brew.
The Hop-Crazy Master Brewer Nina Strochlic June 8, 2014

The problem is that by making foreigners the scapegoat of the violence, anger toward anyone deemed an outsider continues to brew.
A Girl’s Murder Sparks Riots Ruthie Ackerman March 25, 2010

Industrial production and technology have permanently altered the way we brew our inebriating ethanol.
‘Drunk History’: A Booze Cruise of Red, White, and Blood Rich Goldstein July 7, 2014

Ghost Shark hides inside the water used to brew a pot of coffee.
The Craziest Moments From ‘Ghost Shark’ (VIDEO) Kevin Fallon August 22, 2013

Add into the mix laws on forfeiture and seizure of assets, and the brew can, and often does, become toxic.
Hey, Whitey Bulger: They Tried to Make Me Snitch, Too Mansfield Frazier August 12, 2013

Historical Examples

Mrs. Eckenrod threw a log on the fire and went to brew hot coffee.
The Cry at Midnight Mildred A. Wirt

Whatever the brew might be worth, the whisky certainly was efficacious.
The Heart of Thunder Mountain Edfrid A. Bingham

Thither Lenore herself now carried a bottle of rum and some lemons, that the sentinels might brew themselves some punch.
Debit and Credit Gustav Freytag

From then on your face was associated in her mind with the whole hell’s brew in the mirror.
The Ideal Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

Mrs. Jones found, however, that Patty and Jenny contrived to brew as well as to bake.
The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain and Other Tales Hannah More

verb
to make (beer, ale, etc) from malt and other ingredients by steeping, boiling, and fermentation
to prepare (a drink, such as tea) by boiling or infusing
(transitive) to devise or plan: to brew a plot
(intransitive) to be in the process of being brewed: the tea was brewing in the pot
(intransitive) to be impending or forming: there’s a storm brewing
noun
a beverage produced by brewing, esp tea or beer: a strong brew
an instance or time of brewing: last year’s brew
a mixture: an eclectic brew of mysticism and political discontent
noun
(Northern English, dialect) a hill
v.

Old English breowan “to brew” (class II strong verb, past tense breaw, past participle browen), from Proto-Germanic *breuwan “to brew” (cf. Old Norse brugga, Old Frisian briuwa, Middle Dutch brouwen, Old High German briuwan, German brauen “to brew”), from PIE root *bhreue- “to bubble, boil, effervesce” (cf. Sanskrit bhurnih “violent, passionate,” Greek phrear “well, spring, cistern,” Latin fervere “to boil, foam,” Thracian Greek brytos “fermented liquor made from barley,” Russian bruja “current,” Old Irish bruth “heat;” Old English beorma “yeast;” Old High German brato “roast meat”), the original sense thus being “make a drink by boiling.” Related: Brewed; brewing.
n.

c.1500, “a brewed beverage,” from brew (v.).

noun phrase

A glass, bottle, or can of beer; a beer •Brewhaha has its own variants: brewha, haha, and ha: She treated me to a brew
Coffee or tea: Dunkin’ Donuts is my kind of brew

[first form 1940s+, third 1980s+; second form 1970s+ fr French brouhaha, ”fuss, ado”]