2 Days 2 Nights | Upstate NY Road Trip

When I moved to Los Angeles to attend college, one of the first and most common questions I was asked was “Where are your from?” My response would be “New York.” That would typically be followed up by something like, “Oh, I love the city! Which borough are you from?” Which would prompt me to clarify that I was from Upstate NY. This would bring about the question, “Oh, so like Buffalo?” Nope. That’s about six hours away. I would then tell them I was from the Albany area, hoping they learned their state capitals in primary school. Sometimes, I’d even have to use my hand as a makeshift map of the state, pointing out the various cities they’ve heard of to identify the Albany area.

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5 Questions with Tamir Danon of Novel Strand Brewing

In order to stand out as a new brewery in one of the country’s most densely populated beer cities, you need make incredible beer, you have to bring something different to the table, you must maintain discipline, and you have to have a strong business plan.

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Crystal Lake Brewing & Signature Room | Top View Brew

Crystal Lake Brewing may be located on the outer edges of the Chicago Metropolitan region, but the brewery is as much a “Chicago beer” as any brewery located within the city limits. So much so, the Crystal Lake Beach Blonde Lager has become a staple at the Signature Room, a posh restaurant & lounge located 1,000 feet above Chicago on the 95th & 96th floor of the John Hancock Center.  And now, the brewery has created Top View Brew Golden Wheat Ale exclusively for the Signature Room and Signature Lounge. “Aside from occasionally being on draft at the Crystal Lake Tap Room, it’s only available 95 floors up in the Hancock building. Guests at the restaurant will be able to order this beer year-round while they enjoy the great menu and amazing views of Chicago,” explained Crystal Lake Sales Manager, Jesse Able.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | July 10, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More

Ultimate 6er | Fruit Beer Salad

It’s a weird observation, but summer is one of the best smelling seasons. Burgers on the grill, the saltwater from the ocean, flowers in bloom and the sweet, decadent fruit tray being passed around at the summer picnic. The fruit salad is one of the most underrated, but highly appreciated item at every summer party. There’s nothing better than taking a bite into a slice of watermelon on a 90-degree, humid day. And in the summer months, fruit is the second-most refreshing summer snack (after beer, of course). So, why not have some fruit beer salad?

While fruit beers are present all year round by a lot of breweries, you can’t get enough of their endless refreshment during the sweltering months. They give you an opportunity to deviate from your traditional style to enjoy a fruity, thirst-quenching beverage. Bearing that in mind, this Ultimate 6er focuses on fruit forward beers that are perfect for all summer activities.

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Barrel + Beam | Terre Magique

Michigan’s magic is in its power to make locals forget winters exist. We suffer for half the year as ice-pops, then thaw for a couple months of good season. Thankfully, summers around here are peak. Life blooms, lakes warm, that ice cream truck jingle haunts our city streets. Best of all: fruit. We have bushels coming out the ears, blueberries and tart cherries especially, but also apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes—the list goes on. For brewers, it’s not a question of if they can find fruit for beer, but which ones they’ll pick. For Barrel + Beam Terre Magique, blackberry is our lucky winner.

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CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective Continues to Disrupt

In 2015, the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective was born out of Oskar Blues Holding Company in what began as a financial partnership with Fireman Capital Partners, a Boston area private equity firm. The Collective brought together a group of like-minded brewers who still maintain their independence under the Brewers Association’s definition of a small and independent brewery, but have also become part of a unified entity that has allowed for greater collaboration of ideas, resources and distribution networks. Just two months after the formation of CANarchy, Oskar Blues brought Michigan’s Perrin Brewing Company to the fold and have since added four others.

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Triptych Brewing | Wake Up, Neo

Triptych Brewing started from a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2012 but didn’t push out their first beers until February of 2013. Located in Savoy, IL (a small village just south of Champaign, in the middle of the state), the brewery has released more than 200 beers in the past six years and recently just expanded distribution so you can find them all across central and northern Illinois.

With the brewery’s recent expansion, I am finally able to enjoy its beers. Today, I found a four-pack of Triptych Brewing Wake Up, Neo: a Double IPA “brewed the hazy way.” This variation was brewed with Citra, Ekuanot and Mosaic hops and is sold in four-packs of 16-ounce cans that cost $17. The good news is each pint has a solid 8.4% ABV.

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Chicago Quick Sips | July 8 Chicago Beer News & Events

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected]

A few of the featured events occurring from July 8 – 21 are listed here. Enjoy.
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Revolution Brewing to Release Two Barleywines in July

Big Stouts and Barleywines are typically released in the fall and winter. The cold and sometimes downright freezing temperatures create a perfect atmosphere to drink beers that are more than 12% ABV. So naturally, when Revolution Brewing announced that two big English Barleywines are getting released in mid-July, it turned heads.

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Local Brewing Company | Duboce IPA

There are moments when we don’t appreciate the constants that exist in our lives. When we don’t stop to wonder in awe of electricity, the access to nonstop show binging, the simple and comforting knowledge that every California brewery is going to have a truly pine-sapping West Coast IPA on their tap list. But a haze has set over California, and not just Karl the Fog. It’s nice to see the West Coast IPA embraced again on taproom boards and specialty can drops.

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What We’re Drinking | July 5, 2019

I’m not hungover, you’re hungover. America had a mean beer selection at her birthday bash yesterday, and if you partook in the celebration, you might be feeling a little fuzzy today like me. Between fire trucks blaring their sirens–racing to put out a dozen fires from the idiots in the world who still haven’t caught on to the fact that fireworks are flammable–and dogs barking at the constant explosions, I didn’t get a whole lotta sleep.

Nevertheless, it’s Friday, and it’s a beautiful day for a beer, right? If you have to work today, I feel your pain. If you’re off, all the more reason to start day drinking. And we’ve got a helluva list of beers to get you started in this week’s What We’re Drinking. 

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Allagash Brewing Company | Tiny House Session Beer

In the heat of the summer, a beer ideally hits on three marks: refreshing, light, and delicious. Sometimes there are exceptions, like when a somewhat seasonal style–for example, a Stout–can’t be left alone for several months out of the year. Guilty. Similarly, nobody will blame you for drinking your wheat or sour beers throughout the entire year, either. Read More

Belgian-Style Baseball | Dubbels & Tripels

This time of year nothing’s more American than watching a baseball game with a beer in hand. Everyone knows the power of singles, doubles and triples in baseball’s major leagues, but few are familiar with Belgium’s similarly-named heavy-hitters. Belgian-style of Dubbels and Tripels often cause confusion since they aren’t as intuitively familiar as counting the bases in the ballpark.

Starting with the basics, the majority of craft beers fit the category of a single, or table beer as the Belgians would say. These beers typically fall into the 4 – 6 percent ABV range and encompass a wide range of styles and flavors.

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2 Day 2 Nights | Charlottesville, Virginia

About an hour’s drive west of Richmond, Virginia, the small city of Charlottesville offers an ideal weekend getaway for beer lovers. Being a college town, summer is a great time to visit with many of the college kids home for break. Here are some ideas on how to spend a weekend here. Read More

Great Lakes Brewing Company | Buckin’ Mule Moscow Mule Ale

Great Lakes Brewing Company has been busy this year, releasing two new beers during the first few months of the year. So far, we have Great Lakes IPA now out for year-round distribution and Midnight Moses as a part of their Holy Moses variety pack. Late last month, a third offering arrived ready to meet our taste buds during this summer season. Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Buckin’ Mule Moscow Mule Ale is a unique and refreshing alternative to the mainstays one normally comes across in the beer cooler.

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