Goose Island | Winter Ale

ABV: 5.3% | IBU: 25

Goose Island’s Bourbon County line is generating a great deal of buzz for the brewery — but their classic Winter Ale should not be … Read More

Ultimate 6er | Virginia’s Novemberfest

It’s fitting that a beer event called Novemberfest would fall on rainy, chilly and damp day. But Rustico‘s event did not disappoint, with generous pours, ponchos and umbrellas, plus massive, … Read More

Event Preview | Novemberfest (Washington D.C.)

Oktoberfest season is too short for many of us, with not enough time to savor the brews among the leaves and sweaters. Solution: Northern Virginia’s Rustico will host its … Read More

Brewery Showcase | Blue Mountain Brewing

Afton, Va., is nearly 140 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., sitting among the rolling Blue Ridge Mountains. But the town’s Blue Mountain Brewery’s beers are creeping north into the Beltway, slowly expanding into the region. Read More

Event Preview | One Holy Toast (Washington D.C)

Photo credit: Author’s recent visit to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The hype over the visit of Pope Francis to the nation’s Capitol on Sept. 23 … Read More

Event Preview | Hopped Up Hilarity

The DC Improv Comedy Club decided it would bring DC Brau into its bar taps to happily fuel the crews and attendees of its late-night shows and support the local brew. Being creative souls, The DC Improv team wanted to have some fun with this effort.

Photo courtesy of The DC Improv.

The Hopped Up Hilarity event on Sept. 16 will not only debut pints of DC Brau (starting with The Corruption, an IPA with a 6.5% ABV), but will also feature drinking stories. Funny drinking stories. From amateurs. Read More

Event Recap | DC Beer Week 2015

There were just too many. There were too many beers, too many happy hours and too many educational events for PorchDrinking.com to even pretend to keep up. DC Beer Week was a huge success and here’s what we loved most! Read More

Ultimate 6er | DC Swamp 6-Pack

The DC crew of PorchDrinking.com actually doesn’t get together terribly often; you all know that we’re important young professionals who wine and dine on K Street each evening. When we do get together, notably to welcome a new writer (hi, Emily Gallt!), we sip and taste beers, both old and new favorites.

Featured image is the Southwest Waterfront in DC on a muggy, sticky summer night. All other images courtesy of corresponding breweries. 

We recently met at Penn Commons, a great restaurant and bar in Chinatown that boasts a solid beer list. It was a sweltering day, so we were aching for anything to cool us down. Here’s our picks. Read More

Virginia’s Portner Brewhouse Lands Location

It’s been more than four years in the making — well, more like 99 years, if you look at it literally. Portner Brewhouse announced its location in Alexandria, Virginia this month and plans to open its doors in June 2016.

A pair of sisters, Catherine (Cat) and Margaret Portner, will resurrect a piece of family and local brewing history when they open their brewery, restaurant and craft beer test kitchen next summer. Read More

Prep for DC Beer Week

It keeps growing and growing and growing. The 2015 DC Beer Week looks to be bigger and better organized than ever. The event first started in 2008 (here’s our 2013 coverage) and is run by a slew of who’s who in the DC beer world.

It starts Aug. 9 and runs through Aug. 16. Events are spread throughout the city and the team wisely compiled a list of “hot spots,” bars and breweries that will offer multiple events throughout the week, like ChurchKey, RFD and Bluejacket. Read More

A Friend’s (Hungover) Guide to SAVOR

*I was fighting a stomach bug during SAVOR in DC and had to pass on the event. My friend and colleague, John Hanna, offered to write this fantastic guest post for PorchDrinking.com. … Read More

2015 SAVOR Preview

The fancy food-and-beer festival SAVOR returns to DC on Friday and Saturday evening. The menu of beer pairings is overwhelming; crowds at events like this can get feisty, even though … Read More

Adroit Theory Brewing Company | Persona Non Grata

ABV: 7.7 percent

IBU: 30

Adroit Theory isn’t always what it seems. This is true: It’s a bold, innovative brewery in the hills of Virginia and is charging ahead on … Read More

Living the Dream | Making a Beer Store a Reality

Beer lovers daydream of quitting their day jobs, changing their careers and getting started in the brewing world. Become a brewer or a bar owner or a distributor — anything where you taste, sip and enjoy beer all day long.

Beth Helle and Julie Drews are doing it.

Yes, be jealous. Well, sort of (no surprise, it’s a lot of work).

Beth chatted with PorchDrinking.com about the new beer, wine and homebrew store she and Julie are opening in Alrington, Va. After hours of consideration, months of saving and piles of research, The Brew Shop will open this fall with a heavy focus on all things locally sourced. Read More

SAVOR Preview | Event Returns to DC

The SAVOR craft beer festival will return to Washington, D.C., in about a month — early June will bring about 75 breweries from across the country to the National Building … Read More

Event Recap | Get Rowdy-ish

Atlas Brew Works hosted its first amateur homebrew competition on Friday night — the garage was buzzing with DC beer nerds on one of the first warm nights of the year.

The goal: Find a homebrew among the 20-some applicants that best imitated the spirit of Atlas’s Rowdy beer, the hop-forward rye ale that was originally created from a homebrew recipe.

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DC Brau-Oskar Blues Collaboration | Smells Like Freedom

The last Thursday in February came and went in Washington, D.C., just as it did elsewhere across the rest of the United States. But Feb. 26, 2015, was a notable date among the residents of the District for one particular number: 71.

This was the day Initiative 71, which legalized the possession of certain amounts of personal marijuana, was implemented by the city. Whatever regulatory views individuals residents of the District actually hold, this initiative’s implementation furthered support of “home rule,” which is the concept that D.C. residents should govern their own affairs, without full federal interaction. Read More

Devils Backbone Brewing Gets Adventurous

Devils Backbone Brewing Company is based in bucolic wine country, about three hours southwest of Washington, D.C., near Charlottesville, Va.

Photo credit Heidi Crandall

This spring, the brewery is pushing … Read More

Right Proper Brewing | Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne

A beer inspired by an electronic synthpunk musical duo? The concept is not a complete surprise, as it comes from Right Proper Brewing Company‘s Nathan Zeender and the growing establishment‘s experimental brewing program. But the beer; Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne; is definitely a surprise to the palate, as it comes during the East Coast’s single-digit February temperatures. Why was Zeender inspired by Suicide? Why did Right Proper brew the crisp wheat beer?

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DC Brewer’s Ball Returns With Impressive Lineup

The Brewer’s Ball will return on March 7 to the National Building Museum, showcasing DC, Maryland and Virginia spirits for a charitable cause. Read More