Sneak Peek: Pulpit Rock | Barrel-Aged $ticker $hock Imperial Stout

It’s alarming at how quickly time has passed since highlighting Pulpit Rock Brewing Co.’s EIGHT Imperial Stout, one of a handful of beers released as part of its eighth anniversary celebration last August. Year nine for the small Iowa brewery has mirrored this fast pace, as it has continued to grow in popularity and also increased its barrel-aged production. On April 16, the brewery announced a save-the-date for its highly sought after $ticker $hock barrel-aged Imperial Stout. $ticker $hock hasn’t seen a new vintage since 2020, and we’ve collaborated with head brewer Justin Teff and the team in Decorah to provide PorchDrinking readers an exclusive sneak peek at the 2024 iteration ahead of its July 13 public release.

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Lua Brewing | Lua’s Birthday Blend Barleywine

A curious question that arises frequently at brewery bars is “How’d you decide on the name?” Sometimes there’s quirky, meaningful backstories, sometimes it’s a spin on the founder’s names, sometimes it’s inspired by their geographic location, or it’s one of a million other possibilities. For Lua Brewing, owners Scott and Whitney Selix found no better namesake for their passion project than their beloved pup. Lua turned 13 years old on March 14th of this year, and a month later the team in Iowa released a very special birthday blend in her honor.
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Anchorage Brewing | Sister, Mother, Daughter Barleywine

For many, craft beer and brewing provides a creative outlet—a unique method of expression. Every day, a different brewery releases a new and exciting beer to share with their consumers, hoping that the quality of their ingredients, brewing expertise and distinct marketing can lead to a successful, conversation-worthy beer. But sometimes, a beer represents so much more. The story and blend of Sister, Mother, Daughter and its inspiration needs to be shared.

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Barrique Brewing | Static Between Worlds Vienna Wine

Those who have extensively followed Barrique Brewing and Blending know that they’re in for a treat whenever a new “wax top” release is announced. While often high gravity and brewed in small batches, one thing that always holds true is that these releases are particularly special to the team in Nashville. Static Between Worlds was no different. A collaboration with former Orpheus Brewmaster—and current owner and Head Brewer of The Hollows in Amsterdam, Netherlands—this massive Vienna Wine sought to capture the essence of the past and promise of what’s to come through a complex tapestry of flavors.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Alex’s Life

Our showcase for the Alex’s Life installment of this series has been a long time coming. A collaboration of six of the biggest names in today’s craft scene, this joint effort was an undoubtedly pure testament to the magnitude of togetherness exhibited toward Alex Kidd and his family as he endures this fight with Stage IV cancer. With additional thanks owed to craft beer marketplace Tavour as the outlet used to maximize the release’s scope, this Veil-headlined benefit still remains the largest fundraiser to-date for the Kidds.

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Horus Aged Ales | Year Nine Spotlight

It has been over a year now since collaborating with Kyle Harrop and Horus Aged Ales on a spotlight of his unique and formidable barrel program. Now, Horus finds itself preparing to open year seven of the Convocation membership. We reconnected with Harrop for a brand new feature, highlighting some of his recent projects as well as digging deeper into what we can hope to expect from this sought after program in 2024.

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Collaborating for a Cause | For Alex

At the end of May 2023, Wax Wings Brewing pledged their support for Alex Kidd with a dedicated bottle release. This series has always looked to highlight breweries and the benefits they’ve conducted to help support Alex and his family as he continues to fight for his life. As we approach 20 installments to this series from breweries and meaderies all over the country – and even Norway! – we find ourselves back in Michigan to take a deep dive into Wax Wing’s For Alex release.

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Saint Errant Brewing | Skosh Barrel-Aged Stout

In today’s craft beer industry, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out. To this Saint Errant Brewing said “hold my beer,” throwing something entirely new into the barrel-aged stout game. On March 19, the Chicago brewery announced the release of Skosh. A whimsical idea morphed into a pragmatic reality, this oak-aged imperial stout was packaged in a bag. In a box. With a pour spout. There was no way that we weren’t going to showcase craft beer going full Franzia mode, so we asked Saint Errant co-owner Brent Banks to send a box our way to feature on PorchDrinking.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Wren House Life Barleywine

As this series continues to surge through the spring months of 2024, it’s amazing to note just how many of these recent installments were announced during just the first few months after Alex Kidd’s cancer diagnosis. As we continue to see outpouring of support for DDB and his family, it’s also important to continue to reflect back on some of the first breweries to release dedicated beers in an effort to raise money for the cause. This week we take a deeper look at Wren House Brewing and their Life Barleywine.

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Hair of the Dog | Don Barleywine: A Vertical for Alex

Every now and then, when speaking with—or collaborating with—brewery staff, a truly organic opportunity blossoms. Those who have followed Don’t Drink Beer for a long time know that not only has Alex Kidd always championed Barleywine, but he also took opportunities to highlight the beers and breweries that were years ahead of their time as industry trends evolved. One brewery in particular that has cemented its impact on craft beer history is Hair of the Dog in Portland, Oregon. In a tribute to Kidd as he continues to fight his ass off to beat cancer, we collaborated with Hair of the Dog owner and founder Alan Sprints on a special vertical tasting.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Cerebral Brewing

For this week’s installment of Collaborating for a Cause, we head to one of the Mountain states for the first time in this series. Cerebral Brewing, based out of Denver, Colorado, was quick to show their support for Alex Kidd, the person behind Don’t Drink Beer, and his family following his devastating cancer diagnosis. For Cerebral’s fundraiser, they re-released two high-gravity beers, donating 100% of proceeds from all bottles and draft pour sales to the Kidd family GoFundMe.

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Casks & Camaraderie | Oak & Steel

In an unintended continuation from the last installment, Casks & Camaraderie is again headed to Missouri. Previously exploring Cape Girardeau’s Cask Craft Spirits and Beer Lounge, we focused on their elevation of barrel picks to expand exclusively from whiskey distillers into the realm of private picks with local brewery barrel stocks. This iteration picks up in the same barrel room it left off in, with Cory King and Side Project Brewing. His newest collaboration in the Silent Barrel series was with Kyle Howard, owner of Oak & Steel craft drinkery out of Kansas City. We took a deeper dive into his experience, the barrel, and the impact it’s had on the ever-changing beer scene in northwestern MO.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Strawberry Arabesque

Like many of the other fundraising efforts conducted for Alex Kidd and his family following the announcement of his cancer diagnosis, this benefit from Phase Three Brewing took place during the summer of 2023. On June 22 the brewery announced their newest Ambassador-exclusive release, Strawberry Arabesque. However in an unexpected move, they also stated that they would be donating a portion of all the proceeds from bottle sales, draft pours and an in-person raffle to the GoFundMe set up for the Kidds.

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Phase Three Brewing | Arabesque & Minutiae Reserve 2024

A few weeks ago, those who follow Phase Three Brewing were given a heads up to mark their calendars for a huge release to start out the month of March. Reserve Weekend 2024 celebrated a very special release of two of Phase Three’s most highly sought after beers: Arabesque and Minutiae. PorchDrinking is here to give you all some early insight into these exciting new reserve beers, including an exclusive review of each of these high-gravity beasts.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Lua Brewing

The outpouring of support for Alex Kidd and his family has been incredible over the last eight months. In particular, when backtracking to those first 30 days after he announced his Stage IV cancer diagnosis, it’s mind-blowing just how quickly so many breweries and individuals banded together to raise funds. Lua Brewing was no exception. Just four days after the unexpected announcement on Don’t Drink Beer’s social accounts, Lua organized a vintage sale offering full sets of their sought-after Destroyer Barleywine, with 100% earned going straight to the Kidd family. Read More

Collaborating for a Cause | Alex Reserve

In this week’s installment of Collaborating for a Cause, we switch gears from beer to mead. On Nov. 14 of last year, Alyson Schramm of Schramm’s Mead announced an upcoming release to represent their participation in GivingTuesday 2023. In an amazing show of kindness and generosity toward a craft beer and industry icon, Schramm’s donated 100% of profits from its Nov. 28 webstore sales to the Kidd family GoFundMe to go toward medical expenses and future needs. Additionally, Schramm’s conducted a pre-order for custom-labeled bottles of Alex Reserve, its limited-batch apple mead.

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Barrel Room Spotlight | Floodland Brewing

Up until this point, the Barrel Room Spotlight has exclusively featured brewery programs specializing in malty, high-gravity, oak-aged beers. For this installment, Floodland Brewing breaks the mold. We had the privilege of interviewing founder and brewer Adam Paysse to gain some insight into Floodland’s mixed fermentation portfolio, some of his approaches to culture collection and ingredients, and how he is able to assert his vision through unique, high-quality, bottle-conditioned beers. Read More

Collaborating for a Cause | Fox Farm Copestone

Happy New Year! When we began this series last year, we had no idea what to expect. No one was quite prepared for the sheer magnitude of support Alex Kidd and his family would receive after his cancer diagnosis, but it’s been incredible to watch unfold. This series powers ahead into the new year, beginning with Fox Farm Brewery in Salem, Connecticut.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Westum Hjemmebryggeri

Back in May, immediately after hearing the news of Alex Kidd’s cancer diagnosis, PorchDrinking helped to organize a razzle with the Barleywine is Life Facebook group to raise money for his recovery through donations to his GoFundMe.  On the 19th we published an article outlining how breweries could get involved with rare bottle contributions for the razzle, and then on June 6th officially announced the packages up for grabs. For every $10 forwarded to his recovery fund (with emailed proof), donors would receive one entry. Submissions closed at Midnight EST on June 18, with winners selected live on the morning of Tuesday, June 20 by Stephen Loh and Michael Gabriel of Malt Couture on Instagram.

One brewery donation in particular came all the way from Norway, contributing two special iterations of home-brewed, high-gravity ales that were randomly added to three winning boxes from the PorchDrinking razzle. We had the privilege to talk with Espen Westum extensively about his passion project, Westum Hjemmebryggeri, as well as the inspirations provided by Alex Kidd and what’s led him to this point in his brewing journey. Additionally, we were able to review and share the very exclusive charity releases Westum sent stateside to support the Kidds.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Life Jacket

As 2023 nears its conclusion, many families and businesses feel the strain and chaos of the holiday season and the deadlines associated with the final months of the year. Fortunately, the support for Alex Kidd and his family has not even considered pumping the brakes, and we are happy to welcome Revolution Brewing to this week’s installation of Collaborating for a Cause.

(Read: Collaborating for a Cause Series)

Adjusting the spotlight to a beer that Alex himself helped co-create with the Revolution team, this well-known Chicago brewery organized an incredible gesture spanning the month of November involving their Life Jacket Barleywine.

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