Amalgam Brewing | Present Time (Pilsner)

Making world-class lagers is no easy feat. The knowledge required to do so is not gained overnight, and no amount of luck can produce a clean and drinkable bottom-fermented beer without the requisite skill. A successful lager brewer must put in their time and learn from their mistakes on the way to creating something great. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a renowned mentor along the way.

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Horus Aged Ales | Built Different (CrystAle)

Continuing a trend of California brewers developing new Barleywine-based beer styles, we now visit SoCal where Kyle Harrop of Horus Aged Ales has developed CrystAle. This 100% Crystal Malt riff on Barleywine began as a self challenge and morphed into something truly unique, combining elements of several styles into a new barrel aged option in Kyle’s repertoire. Built Different is the first CrystAle Kyle released, giving a peek into the philosophy and method behind developing a new beer style.

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Firestone Walker Brewing | Dividing Time (Munichwine)

Beer styles reflect the times in which they originate. Once upon a decade or so ago in craft beer, the idea of a pint glass filled with opaque orange juice-looking liquid whose taste most closely resembles a tropical smoothie would be preposterous. Alas, over the past 10+ years Hazy IPAs have come to dominate the craft beer landscape. Some styles are but a blip on the map – Brut IPAs sought a dry easy drinking alternative to the Hazy but had no staying power. This more easily palatable yet still juicy desire has led to the recent proliferation of Cold IPAs and modern West Coast IPAs utilizing lager yeast and modern hop varietals to reach that desired end. Despite this constant evolution, some beer styles seem timeless despite only recently being developed. Such a style is Munichwine developed by Brad Clark of Private Press Brewing. Having tweaked and perfected the style to his liking, Clark worked with Firestone Walker Brewing to brew a collaboration Munichwine at their facility and then age it in bourbon barrels, resulting in Dividing Time – an exclusive release for members of Firestone Walker’s beer club, the Brewmaster’s Collective.

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milieu fermentation company Announces Denver Area Opening

Amongst the rash of brewery closures throughout 2023, it is refreshing and reassuring to hear of a new brewery planning to open their doors in 2024. milieu fermentation company is giving us hope for the new year by announcing their plans to open in the former Ursula Brewing space in Aurora with a target date of late Spring. 

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New Image Brewing | Madera 2023 Horizontal Tasting

Every beer is a journey. From the ingredients used to the processes by which they’re combined and fermented to a finished product ready for enjoyment, beer tells a story of evolving time and ingredients. New Image Brewing has fully embraced the journey and evolution of beer with first their Estufa series and now various Madera releases.

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2023 Colorado Best in Beer Year End Honors

It continued to be a tumultuous year for beer in Colorado as we saw a continued frenzy of openings, closures, acquisitions, and industry moves. However, despite the flurry of shakeups, … Read More

Westbound & Down Brewing Acquires Aspen Brewing & Capitol Creek Brewing

It’s continued to be a wild week in the Colorado craft beer scene with yesterday’s sale of Ursula Brewing followed by Living the Dream Brewing’s announcement of a new taproom in Sterling Ranch. Today Westbound & Down Brewing has announced they are acquiring Aspen Brewing and Basalt, CO’s Capitol Creek Brewing from High Country Brewing LLC.

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Primitive Beer Moving Operations to New Image Brewing Wheat Ridge

After operating out of Longmont for the past six plus years, Primitive Beer is moving operations to an annex at New Image Brewing Wheat Ridge. While leaving Longmont is bittersweet, operating out of New Image will allow Lisa and Brandon Boldt, co-owners of Primitive, to focus entirely on brewing, blending and packaging their spontaneous fermentations. “Given that our entire family-run operation is just two people strong, we’ve reached the conclusion that our current professional juggling act which includes running a retail space, outside sales, marketing, brewing, blending and packaging isn’t sustainable,” says Lisa. 

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Top Finds from Snallygaster 2023

We went. We drank. We got very wet. Snallygaster 2023 is in the soggy books and lived up to its hype as a massive beer festival serving some of the best breweries and their rarest beers. While the picturesque view in front of the US Capitol building was marred by persistent rain throughout the day, spirits were not overly dampened. Great beer and great conversations with the people making the beer define what Snallygaster is all about.

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Event Preview | Snallygaster Beer Festival 2023

A mythical creature stalks the nation’s capital, flashing its fearsome teeth and terrifying those who dare catch a glimpse of the beast. One would be wise not to – hold on, that’s not the snallygaster we’re speaking of. Snallygaster, the Washington, D.C. beer festival, is decidedly more inviting and less likely to swoop down from the sky and carry you away to your quick demise. The 11th installment of this epic festival will feature 170 beverage producers bringing 400+ beers and ciders to Downtown D.C. on October 14, 2023.

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Firestone Walker Announces 2024 Brewmaster’s Collective

Beginning today, Firestone Walker has opened up membership to its 2024 Brewmaster’s Collective, an exclusive beer club that allows members to dive deep into the minds of the brewers and experience the barrel-aging mastery that Firestone Walker has obtained. “If you’re into barrel-aged beers, you’re going to love what we have in store for you,” says Matt Brynildson, Brewmaster at Firestone Walker. 

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Cerebral Brewing | Triple Mash Pappy Van Winkle Here Be Monsters

There are certain spirits in the world of barrel aged beer that elicit perked up ears, and then there are those brands that generate whiplash causing sore necks and desperate trips to the chiropractor. Pappy Van Winkle (PVW) falls squarely in the latter category, a mythical wheated bourbon whose popularity and even legend has skyrocketed in the past decade causing bottles to sell on secondary markets for 20-30x their retail prices of $120-$300. Even the used barrels from these 15-23 year aged whiskeys sell for exorbitant prices as breweries clamor to get their hands on them. Cerebral Brewing was lucky enough to land two Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year barrels, and they chose to rest a triple mash version of their Here Be Monsters Imperial Stout in those barrels. This particular single barrel expression aged for 39 months, an incredibly long time yielding an incredible creation.

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2023 Denver Rare Beer Tasting Pour List

Do you find yourself craving some exciting and rare beer? Do you struggle to find those specialties on your local dusty liquor store shelves? Have no fear because the Denver Rare Beer Tasting is (almost) here! The festival has announced its pour list, and there are many treats to entice you to attend.

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Firestone Walker | Rum Barrel CocoRado

Not content to rest on its niche beer style laurels, Firestone Walker has taken its classic Helldorado, a barrel aged Blonde Barleywine, and applied a tropical treatment, aging the beer in a combination of rum and rhum agricole barrels before conditioning it on coconut. The result is Rum Barrel CocoRado, a delightfully unique subset of a subset within beer styles. If you’re being different, you might as well dial the eccentricity up to 11.

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Event Preview | 2023 Denver Rare Beer Tasting

The events of GABF week in Denver are starting to come into focus, and the Denver Rare Beer Tasting is set to celebrate its 14th anniversary on Friday, September 22 with an always impressive lineup of breweries. This year features 64 different breweries, 22 of which are pouring for the first time ever at DRBT. 

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Top Finds from the 2023 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

Another wildly successful Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival is in the books, and PorchDrinking has lived to write about it. Over 65 breweries from across the U.S. and various international locations descended on Paso Robles, California, with their best beers to delight thousands of beer fans. While it’s primarily a beer festival, it would be a disservice to not mention the incredible lineup of local food vendors who slang their wares as well, providing some much-needed sustenance to soak up the suds being poured. 

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Can’t-Miss Beers at the 2023 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

Time is upon us yet again for one of the most anticipated beer fests of the year, the 2023 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival. Saturday, June 3 in Paso Robles, California, over 65 of the best breweries from across America and some international locations will be pouring some of their best beers to the delight of beer fans traveling from all over. As with any beer fest, it’s inadvisable if not impossible to visit every brewery’s booth and try all of their beer, so we at PorchDrinking have combed through the list and picked out some especially noteworthy beers you should make a point to try at the Paso Robles Event Center. Special thanks to Robert French for his help in curating the list.

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5 Questions With Alex Kidd Of DontDrinkBeer

Author’s Note: This interview occurred before Alex announced his diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer. A GoFundMe has been set up to help Alex’s family through this tremendously difficult time, and PorchDrinking has partnered with Tom Maugeri of “It’s Always Stout Season” and Mélodie Simond, an admin of Barleywine is Life, to host a razzle fundraiser with all proceeds going to support Alex’s family. Please visit this link to learn how you can help out Alex and his family as a brewery or an individual.

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Crystal Springs Brewing Celebrates Historic 13th Anniversary

The number 13 has appeared repeatedly throughout the history of Crystal Springs Brewing. Co-owner Tom Horst was born on the 13th. His son was born on the 13th. Multiple other family members were born on the 13th. The opening day for the brewery was May 13, 2010. When they were poised to open their first taproom, they closed on the property on the 13th, a date randomly set by the title company. That taproom — guess how far it was from their original brewery / home? 13 miles. With their approaching 13th anniversary, Crystal Springs has proved that 13 does not have to be an unlucky number and can in fact turn a garage homebrew operation into a successful commercial brewery.

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WeldWerks Invitational Paused, Medianoche Market Introduced

Colorado craft beer fans will have one less major beer festival on the calendar for 2023. WeldWerks recently announced they are hitting pause on hosting the WeldWerks Invitational as they focus time and energy on their largest brewhouse expansion to date. “This is a good year to pause and reevaluate what the experience of the Invitational is and what we want it to be and how we want to keep progressing it,” says Kristin Popcheff, director of events & experience at WeldWerks.

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