Bean to Barstool Podcast | Tasting & Pairing with Estelle Tracy (Episode 100!)

For our 100th full length episode of Bean to Barstool, we’re talking with an old friend and supporter of the pod, Estelle Tracy. Estelle leads chocolate tastings and pairings … Read More

2025 Collaboration Fest Recap

Another epic Collaboration Fest has come and gone, leaving us with memories of a great day spent with all our beer drinking friends. Nearly 2,000 attendees got to sample over 130 different beers crafted by a record 180+ breweries. Collaboration Fest continues to stand out amongst a crowded field of beer festivals for its brewer-centric feel. Colorado Brewers Guild Executive Director Shawnee Adelson explains it thusly: “We like to say that it is a brewers party that the public is invited to, and because of that it feels like a class reunion for many.”

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BREAKING | 2025 World Beer Cup Results Announced

The largest international competition for craft beer has crowned its newest class of medal winners.

This year’s 2025 World Beer Cup awards took on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Indianapolis, IN, as part of the yearly Craft Brewers Conference. Launched by the Brewers Association in 1996 to celebrate brewing and brewers across the world, the World Beer Cup is often referred to as “The Olympics of Beer Competitions.”

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Colorado Breweries Win Big at 2025 World Beer Cup Awards

It was another impressive showing for the Centennial State at the 2025 World Beer Cup competition, as many Colorado breweries once again earned top marks. Often referred to as the Olympics of Beer Competitions, the World Beer Cup features breweries from across the world vying for medals.

This year’s competition featured 8375 entries from 1761 breweries and cideries across 49 countries entered into 112 beer categories, 5 cider categories, and Colorado’s contingent showed out in a MAJOR way, taking home 21 medals from 16 breweries, including 8 gold medals.

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Q/A with David Lin as Comrade Brewing Joins 2025 Mile High Asian Food Week

Despite serving as a hotbed for Chinese immigrants who helped construct the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, Colorado hasn’t had the best history in embracing Asian culture. In fact, the Denver Riot of 1880, led by a white mob, resulted in the destruction of Denver’s Chinatown and ultimately displaced much of that initial influx of the region’s Asian population.

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2025 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Guide | April – August 2025

The 2025 beer festival season is already well underway, with last weekend’s Collaboration Fest serving as the unofficial kick-off. As we close in on more consistently warmer weather in the … Read More

Bean to Barstool Podcast | Music and Irish Whiskey with NearyNogs Chocolate

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, host David Nilsen talks with Dorothy Neary of NearyNogs Chocolate in Northern Ireland. They discuss the importance of music in Irish culture and how it’s influenced several of their chocolate bars, the use of distinctly Irish ingredients like gorse flower and seaweed, and the beautiful natural landscape around their factory that influences them creatively. We also discuss their use of Irish whiskey in several bars, and pairing with whiskey.

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The PorchCast Ep. 116 | Fiction Beer Co.

In episode 116 of the PorchCast, Tristan, Bryant, and Korey spoke with Ted Menendez and Elise Sjostedt, two of the seven new owners of Fiction Beer Co who helped revive the brewery after its announced closure in December.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Jukes Ale Works

It’s been since November that PorchDrinking has been able to feature a new brewery in the Collaborating for a Cause series, but ending the drought is Nebraska’s Jukes Ale Works. This brewery team—like many others in recent installments—were quick to show their support for Alex Kidd. Their dedicated effort included an exclusive, draft-only reincarnation of their Bayonet barleywine to help raise money for Alex Kidd and his family.

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Pour List & Can’t-Miss Beers to Try at the 2025 Collaboration Fest

Throughout its eleven year existence, the Colorado Brewers Guild’s Collaboration Fest has not only captured the incredible spirit of camaraderie and togetherness that helped fuel the explosion of the craft beer industry for nearly three decades, but it has also served as a platform for experimentation and innovation for Colorado’s diverse brewing landscape.

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Hogshead Brewery | Gilpin Black Gold

Before I moved to Denver, I covered food and drink for local alt-weekly publications like the Houston Press and Houstonia. That was a great experience in that I learned a lot, developed my palate, and also got the opportunity to try lots of unique beers and other offerings.

But at a certain point, I was getting invited out to taste so many rare, incredibly heavy beers — 15 to 20% Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts, Barleywines, and the like — and at some point, I realized that in my free time, I didn’t want to drink like that. 

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Drinking Intentionally with Namesake Coffee

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, host David Nilsen talks with Michael Beans of Namesake Coffee in Dayton, Ohio. Michael and his wife and business partner, Jessica Beans, run Namesake with thought and intention, infusing their personalities into every aspect of their business. They want to remove the intimidation factor from good coffee, eliminating the snobbery and gatekeeping that can keep people from seeking out good coffee, but that doesn’t mean they want to remove education and appreciation. Instead, they take coffee drinkers by the hand and lead them into a gracefully self-guided exploration of great coffee. Michael and David discuss how to make great coffee at home without fancy equipment, how he develops roast profiles for new bean origins, and how to taste coffee thoughtfully.

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Event Recap | Feast Wilmington 2025

Feast Wilmington returned for its second year March 29 and 30 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The jam-packed weekend included three events to feature the area’s food and beverage scene. Things kicked off with Craft and Cuisine Saturday afternoon, and were followed by the classy Pier Party Saturday night. No Sunday morning would be complete without brunch, so the weekend concluded with Brunch Elevated.

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Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits

Dogfish Head is notorious for bringing unique recipes to its beers, often with a culinary flair. This thinking spills over into its event world as well. Naturally, a multi-day bash built around beer and food pairings felt right up Dogfish’s alley. The always anticipated Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits has come and gone… and what a weekend it was.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Diego’s Chocolate

Diego Hernandez started Diego’s Chocolate at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in 1990. Diego and his family are of Tz’utujil Mayan heritage, and he adapted his abuela’s sipping chocolate recipe into a unique format—rolls of untempered chocolate, often made with unique inclusions. All of the cacao and inclusions are grown in Guatemala. In this episode, host David Nilsen talks with Nico Silverman, Diego’s U.S. representative, about Diego’s story, the details of their chocolate, and Nico’s experiences with pairing Diego’s Chocolate rolls with craft beer and craft cider in New York state.

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Milieu Fermentation Company | smol.

The Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer is a legendary beer festival and competition held annually in Chicago. Each year breweries from across the U.S. enter their barrel-aged creations for judging, hoping to earn a coveted medal in one of 13 categories. As expected from a competition highlighting barrel-aged beer, most entries are high ABV bruisers where a couple sips is all the flavor and alcohol a drinker could reasonably handle.

Milieu Fermentation Company of Aurora, Colorado, bucked the trend by entering smol., a 2.7% ABV barrel-aged mixed culture ale made in collaboration with Baere Brewing Company in neighboring Denver. For their effort, they were handsomely rewarded with a gold medal in the Wild Beer Mixed Culture (Acidic) category, a huge honor for a tiny beer. 

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