What We’re Cooking | Deschutes Easy Porter Cupcakes

For this week’s edition of What We’re Cooking, PorchDrinking’s Emma Wargolet provides this Porter cupcake recipe that comes from Betty Crocker and was adapted by Deschutes Brewery using their Black Butte Porter. Emma loves this recipe because it’s easily adaptable, and if you’re short on time, you don’t need to make the frosting from scratch (don’t worry, we won’t tell). These Easy Porter Cupcakes are rich enough without being overpowering, and the beer provides complementary notes of chocolate and coffee. Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter is available year round, so rest assured you can bake off a batch of these cupcakes every season of the year. Enjoy!

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Arvon Brewing Co. | The Grand NE Style IPA

Arvon Brewing Co. didn’t have much chance to bask in the afterglow of opening a brewery. Before even a month had passed at their new taproom in Grand Rapids, Michigan, quarantine hit, forcing them to close off the space they’d worked so hard to prepare. But instead of letting the pandemic rain on their parade, they improvised. 

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Ultimate 6er | Beers to Pair with Your Memorial Day Cookout

A large Memorial Day cookout may not be an option this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the delicious foods that come with the barbecue. For those who are social distancing together, you can still put together a fun, albeit small, Memorial Day event. While PorchDrinking can’t do the cooking for you, we can give you the perfect pairings for those classic cookout foods! Read More

Zero Gravity Brewery | Green State Lager

I remember my first time like it was yesterday. It was late March in the winter of 2016. My wife and I were looking for some après-ski nourishment. After a long day of skiing at Stowe, this was an absolute necessity. Making our way down the mountain access road we eventually wandered into a restaurant called Doc Ponds. 

Gazing at the beer menu while taking a seat at the bar, I asked the bartender, “what do you recommend?” An avid Vermont skier, I’m very familiar with the Green Mountain State’s vast craft beer market. However, I always like a local’s take when I can get it. Ultimately, his response pushed me in the direction of Zero Gravity Brewery Green State Lager, a beer that they had just put on tap. One sip and I was in love, hooked on the light, crisp, bready Pilsner bearing the state’s name. 

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Examining the Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Series

In this new COVID19-driven world, to-go options and canning have taken center stage in the craft beer industry. So it’s no surprise that the first brewery to put craft beer in cans, Oskar Blues, is still producing and distributing a variety of beer styles. One such collection is the Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss IPA series, a rotating release of IPAs the brewery unveiled in 2019. The idea behind the project is to “showcase unconventional combinations of exceptional hops.” The result for beer drinkers is a series that celebrates the diversity of hop flavors and aromas.

The brewery sent PorchDrinking a few samples to try: Tropical IPA, Hazy IPA and Citra DIPA. The Tropical will return next spring, but the seasonal Hazy IPA is available now and the DIPA is a year-round treat. Oskar Blues will also release a new Citrus IPA in September 2020.

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Birds Fly South | Virtual Mystery Bag Bottle Share

As we all know, breweries have been affected by the current pandemic that has swept our towns and cities across the country. Many local breweries have had to quickly evolve and adapt to the changing landscape, closing taprooms and offering to-go beer purchases.

A standout during these trying times is Birds Fly South in Greenville, SC. The booming “funk first” brewery’s 2020 plans came to a screeching halt, but that didn’t stop them from finding fun ways to serve up their award-winning beer. In order to evolve, shift and engage their community, the brewery has developed a series of virtual beer events to keep people connected in new ways, pioneering how we can all enjoy beer together. Read More

3 Floyds Brewing Co. | Robert the Bruce

As winter turns to spring, the weather can be pretty deceptive—particularly in the Midwest. Depending on what the weather has decided to do each day, it can go anywhere from warm and sunny to a bit chilly to downright cold. If you’re the type of beer drinker who enjoys matching the beer you’re drinking to the weather outside, what are you supposed to do? This is where a beer like Robert the Bruce from Munster, Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing comes in. A full-bodied Scottish-style ale with an IBU of 24 and an ABV of 6.5%, it’s warming and malty, yet just light enough to sip while lounging on the porch as the evening turns from warm to chilly.

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The Last Beer Festival

We miss beer as it was, how we drank beer as we did, and how we hoped the community and
culture could grow into something more along the way. To do that, especially distanced from
one another, the future comes down to how we grow now, alone with ourselves, living in the
shadow of the last beer festival. While PorchDrinking.com typically publishes non-fiction news, features and long-form stories, this is a creative fiction piece from author, Tyler Malone.

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Devil Wind Brewing | Dankel Dunkel

Munich Dunkel might seem like an unusual style to lead a brewery’s portfolio in 2020, but Devil Wind Brewing Dankel Dunkel is thwarting expectations in Xenia, Ohio.

This small brewery was founded in 2018 and takes its name from a devastating F5 tornado that leveled much of the town in April 1974, killing 33 people. Xenia rebuilt, and Devil Wind carries on the town’s legacy of both heritage and progress.

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Chicago-Area Breweries and Bottle Shop Host Beer Hunt 2020

Illinois Craft Beer Week my be postponed due to the COVID19 lockdown, but that’s not stopping six suburban-Chicago breweries and one bottle shop from celebrating craft week in spirit. Together, they have put together the 0th Annual Suburban Beer Hunt. From May 15 to May 30, beer fans can solve a series of puzzles that will take them on a to-go journey to six breweries and one bottle shop located in Chicago’s western suburbs. If they can solve each puzzle correctly, and in the correct order, prizes await the participants.

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120+ New Colorado Beer Releases to Enjoy This Weekend

Since Colorado Governor, Jared Polis enacted stay-at-home orders in mid-March, breweries around the state have had to pivot their business models to focusing solely on beer-to-go, beer delivery, and retail sales.

As a result, many Denver breweries have ramped up … Read More

What We’re Drinking | May 15, 2020

While life has been different for most people these last couple months, one thing that remains the same is our love for craft beer. I’m personally thankful that breweries are continuing to produce delicious and innovate beers during these wild times. The writers on our team are continuing to savor the best liquid gold that we can get our hands on and I can assure you, it’s all highly delectable. This is What We’re Drinking. Read More

The Sweet Tastin’ Good Life Is so Easily Found | Over Yonder Brewing Company

Perched above the Denver metro area at the absolute foot of the Rockies, Golden’s Over Yonder Brewing waits with propped-open doors and beers to-go at the ready. Inside, a colorful mural and projector screen (playing a live concert stream) welcome its socially distanced pickup patrons. Upon greeting co-founder and head brewer Jason Bilodeaux, we (OK, I) forget briefly not to shake hands and then we go in for the elbow-five.

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Inside The Tank | Brewery Faisan

The Coronavirus pandemic has touched every part of the nation, from how we meet, work, play, and come together. As an industry that relies heavily on building relationships with consumers, craft brewing has been especially hit hard. We have reached out to find out what its like to try and keep business thriving while the country remains largely indoors. Paul and Rachel Szlaga of Brewery Faisan, located in an eclectic Detroit neighborhood, were nice enough to take some time out of operations to speak with us about what it’s like to be operating in the midst of the uncertain.

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Yards Brewing Company | Jefferson’s Golden Ale

Philadelphia: The city of brotherly and sisterly love. Whether you live in Philadelphia, the surrounding area that wishes it was Philly, or are just visiting, the significance of the history of the eastern Pennsylvania city is undeniable. From statues of individuals such as William Penn, John Barry and George Washington, to the bricked neighborhood of Old City and an almost deity like appreciation of Benjamin Franklin, the 300+ years of history are sure to include beer as well. Yards Brewing Company, in the city’s Northern Liberties neighborhood, thrives off the old world tradition of beer styles with Jefferson’s Golden Ale, formerly called Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale.

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What We’re Cooking | Beery Cheesy Fondue

Beer, like a great meal, is best when shared with others. This recipe brings that holy trinity of beer, food (in this case the king of foodstuffs, cheese), and people together around one delectable pot of gooey awesomeness. PorchDrinking’s Karl Kalinkewicz has been using this recipe for over a decade as a way to satiate cheese cravings while also hosting an interactive and communal food experience. Invite over your cheesiest friends, crack some beers, duel with your fondue spears over the last morsels of melted deliciousness, and enjoy this delicious recipe provided by Karl!

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