From Beer to H2O | Breweries Lending a Can After Hurricane Michael

On Wednesday, October 10, Hurricane Michael slammed into the coast of Florida into a tiny town called Mexico Beach. On Monday, Oct. 8, the storm had been a Category 1 as it made its way to the Panhandle; by the time it hit, it was a Category 4. Though news reports, complete with eye-witness testimony and photos and videos released after the fact, try to illustrate the devastation that this storm wreaked, it’s hard to fathom. Even when you hear it from friends and family, it’s hard to take in.

My family was lucky. The trailer that my grandparents bought in 1985 is still standing, with only a few windows blown out. The house my parents’ built and have been living in full-time since 2008—my home for half the year—sports shattered windows like empty eye sockets, a hole in the roof and an exterior that looks as if it’s been skinned due to the siding being torn off, but it’s standing as well. We were lucky. But it’s going to take time to rebuild. In the meantime, many areas are still without power and running water.

In these times of disaster, when most of the luxuries that we take for granted are gone (electricity, internet, flushing toilets and potable water), all help is appreciated. But the necessities: a place to sleep, food and water to drink, are even more important. It’s times like these that breweries and beer companies step up.

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Beer Showcase | Lakefront’s Pumpkin Imperial Ale Slays the Competition

Fall in Wisconsin is an exciting time of year. Hearty, Midwestern men and women come back from the lake, stock up on cheese curds and bratwursts and prepare for Packer season. The crisp, cool air signifies a clear changing of the seasons and thus the beer aisle at your local Woodman’s begins to change with it. The aisles formerly populated by the Midwest’s finest kolsch and summer wheat beers seemingly overnight are now enticing thirsty patrons with Oktoberfests, maibocks and pumpkin beers. Oh God, so many pumpkin beers. Everyone makes them now. My recommendation, coming from years of industrial grade levels of drinking, is to avoid the constant disappointment of so many of the macro breweries “take” on pumpkin beers and go straight to the one pumpkin beer that lays waste to its vast and meager competition.

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What We’re Drinking | October 12, 2018

Festival season is in full swing, and the PorchDrinking staff has been busy putting together a collection of the week’s finest brews. Festival season in fall can mean unpredictable weather, and in some parts of the country the unpredictable weather is serious; we don’t take that lightly. We hope everyone is staying as safe as possible with friends and family.

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Beer Lover’s Guide to Paris: French Friends & Belgian Beer

It’s hard to believe it’s already been over two months since our summer 2018 Europe trip. It still feels like just a couple weeks ago we were walking the black sand beaches of Iceland, gazing out over the Cliffs of Moher and admiring in revered silence the beauty of Westminster Abbey. We talk about our trip all the time and are already dreaming up our next one. But I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s one more country and ale adventure story to tell…

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The Weekly Buzz | October 5 – 11

Another week has come and gone, and my life is just as crazy as ever. We are still unpacking everything in our new house, and I’ve been working a ton of overtime. At least I have beer to keep me sane. Delicious, comforting beer… Anyhoo… Here’s some stuff I found on Twitter and Instagram. This is The Weekly Buzz. Read More

Sierra Nevada | 2018 Oktoberfest

Beer: one of America’s staples. One of the biggest, most popular industries in our beloved country. When you think of beer, you think happy hour, late nights with friends, summer nights, fall nights, unwinding after the kids go to bed or maybe even visiting one of your local establishments to find something new to taste. When I’m joining in on any of those festivities, I think about finding a beer that will satisfy my never-ending quest for delicious beer. I don’t care which craft brewery I get my beer from; I just care that it’s good, and that it was made with the hopes that the craft beer world would enjoy it.

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2018 Shelton Brothers The Festival Pour List Announced

Over the past 19 years, Shelton Brothers has grown to become one of the country’s most prestigious importers of international beer, as well as one of the more recognizable distributors in the U.S. Gaining recognition for carrying elite level brands like Cantillon, Blaugies, Fantôme and more, the MA-based wholesalers have also laid claim to one of the most elite-level beer festivals in the country. The Festival, which rotates cities each year showcases not only the Shelton Brothers catalog but also some of the country’s best and brightest up-and-coming breweries.

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Solemn Oath in Logan Square | Emporium Pop-Up Bar & A New Taproom

Solemn Oath Brewing, located in the large and populous Chicago suburb of Naperville, has remained a stabilizing force within the broader, changing Chicago craft beer market. Since opening in 2012, the brewery has adapted to internal and external changes without ever losing its identity, nor its popularity among beer fans; that’s what good people serving well-executed beer will do for a brewery.

Solemn Oath is now ready to take the next step in its craft beer journey by expanding to a second location and joining a slew of breweries in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. But first, a pop-up bar is in the works.

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2 Days, 2 Nights | Southwest Michigan

Now that summer is officially over, a weekend getaway to the Great Lakes State may not be high on your travel bucket list. However, fall is the perfect time of year to travel north, as the opportunity awaits to get two tours for the price of one! The changing colors of Michigan’s beautiful landscape provide a stunning backdrop for a craft beer tour in Southwest Michigan.

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Brew Detroit | Cerveza Delray

October brings with it many things: changing leaves, the full onslaught of pumpkin beers and the end of outdoor parties. But my favorite part of October is, after the buzz of GABF, getting my hands on the Michigan medal winners. Luckily Michigan is a large enough brewing state that at least someone within a 30 minute drive will win something. This year, Brew Detroit snagged an International-Style Pilsner Bronze with Cerveza Delray, named after the beleaguered neighborhood just south of Mexicantown that is currently home to a lot of pollution but will soon welcome the Gordie Howe International Bridge (a welcome addition to everyone besides a company that is the literal embodiment of a bridge troll).

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | October 10, 2018

The Denver Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, etc.
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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Atlanta Beer Beat | October 10 – 16

The Atlanta Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings and more!

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Rockyard Brewing | The Gondolier

As a kid, I loved Halloween and all the teeth-rotting candy that came along with it. Warheads and Sour Patch Kids were my favorites. In the same time period, my parents (in an attempt to prove to me that beer was gross) let me take a sip of a certain domestic lager. It worked, for a while, because I still remember that sip of beer and it was disgusting. But palates change, and now of course I know how delicious craft beer can be. My love of mouth-puckering sour treats, however, was left behind long ago with my last pair of Bugle Boy jeans.
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4 Noses Brewing Adds Primitive’s Brandon Boldt to Kickstart Sour Program

We’ve gone into great detail in previous articles about the strength of Colorado’s sour and wild beer scene, from pioneers like New Belgium and Avery, to more recent trailblazers like TRVE and Crooked Stave, and now fast risers like Black Project, Atom Brewing, Amalgam, Westbound and Down and countless others.

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Brew Day Playlist | Revolution Brewing

We may have fallen more in love with Revolution Brewing after getting a look at this month’s playlist. Motörhead, Faith No More, Alice In Chains, The Stooges and the all mighty Slayer, oh my! Read More

Eddyline Brewing | Mango Kettle Sour

Sometimes a beer is more than a beer. Sometimes it’s a symbol of support, solidarity, girl power, fearless females even — like Erin Moynihan, the brewer behind Eddyline Brewery’s new sweetly-sour creation, the Mango Kettle Sour.

The first sour in Eddyline’s lineup (and Erin’s first solo effort) was born with a purpose, with the Colorado Women’s Rafting Team in mind. This group of intrepid ladies based in Buena Vista and Salida won the Nationals in this international sport and will represent the United States in Argentina in November 2018. Anyone who has priced international flights knows that kind of travel doesn’t come cheap so a percentage of the sales of this feisty, fruity brew will help support their bid for the prize.

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