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AboutRuvani de Silva, Author at PorchDrinking.com

Ruvani de Silva

Ruvani de Silva

Ruvani de Silva (she/her) is a travel-loving beer writer with bylines including Good Beer Hunting, PorchDrinking, Beer Is For Everyone, Texas Highways and VinePair. She writes about beer in Central Texas and beyond, and is a vocal advocate for diversity, equality and inclusion in beer. Ruvani has been recognised as one of Good Beer Hunting's 2021 Signifiers and Highly Commended by the British Guild of Beer Writers in their 2021 Awards Best Beer Writer, National Media category. As a British South Asian woman living in Texas, Ruvani brings a unique voice to the world of craft beer. She is also the founder of #SouthAsianBeerClub. Find her on Twitter and Instagram as @amethyst_heels, and read her articles at CraftBeerAmethyst.com.

Posts By Ruvani de Silva

Roughhouse Brewing | New Day Navroz Mango Lassi Sour Ale

April 8, 2024 |

Across the world, over 300 million people, not far off the population of the U.S., celebrate the spring vernal equinox festival of Navroz, also known as Nowruz, Novruz, Nowrouz, Nooruz, Navruz, Nauroz or Nevruz, all of which mean “new day” and signify the first day of spring. The festival is embraced in multiple countries across South and Central Asia and the Middle East, with roots that trace back over 3,000 years to the Zoroastrian religion in ancient Persia, and is usually celebrated on or around March 21st.

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Saint Arnold Brewing Barrel-Aged Beer & Cellar Tour

February 6, 2024 |

Whatever your passion, whatever the thing that makes the world shine that little bit brighter, makes your heart beat that little bit faster, a glimpse behind the velvet curtain of how that magic is made is an immeasurable treat. Whether you’re my dad touring the Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground or my nephew hanging out with the drivers backstage at the Formula One, getting a sneaky peek behind the scenes is what it’s all about. For a dedicated Texan beer lover, getting a glimpse of the inner machinations of our oldest craft brewery—a two-time Great American Beer Festival Brewery of the Year-winning behemoth whose barrel-aged program is the stuff of round-the-block queues—is that trip through the back of the wardrobe into Narnia.

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Copper State Beer Festival, Mesa AZ | Jan 13th 2024

February 2, 2024 |

Sweaters are being stripped off, sleeves are being rolled up, and hats are perched on heads as the sparkling winter sun permeates Mesa, AZ’s Riverview Park. Copper State Beer Festival is in full swing, and the weather is offering up its desert best for the 5,000 visitors the event has attracted. This is the third year the festival has taken place, drawing beer lovers from across Arizona and further afield to one of Phoenix’s hippest suburbs for an afternoon of imbibement. As Arizona’s craft beer scene blooms like a cactus flower, consumers are catching on, creating space for this frankly huge event featuring 72 breweries, plus a range of cideries, wineries, meaderies, distilleries, seltzer makers, bars and bottle shops. While the focus is firmly on beer, this is an event with something for everyone and an opportunity for local businesses to showcase their offerings alongside high-profile national names. There’s even a skating rink and axe throwing, which beats the heck out of the usual spin-the-wheel attractions beer festivals offer (FYI there was also spin-the-wheel).

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Craft Culture X | Thai One On Lemongrass-Basil Blonde Ale

January 29, 2024 |

The beer scene in Texas is in a state of flux, with multiple closures, including many fan favorites, leaving drinkers reeling and owners uncertain as to what the future holds. Against this precarious background, the opening of Houston’s Craft Culture X is a beam of positivity for the industry for multiple reasons.

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Rupee Beer | ‘British-Indian IPA’ Combines History & Drinkability

December 19, 2023 |

When brothers Van and Sumit Sharma launched Rupee Beer in 2021, their goal was to make the perfect beer to pair with the Indian cuisine they had grown up with, along with other spicy, diverse world foods.

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Meanwhile Brewing | Winter Beer Menu

December 12, 2023 |

As stout season hits its stride, Meanwhile Brewing in Austin, Texas, has taken a broader approach to seasonal offerings and launched a full gamut of winter beers for differing palates and the vagaries of Texas winter weather.

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Rupee Beer | Mango Wheat Ale

August 29, 2023 |

When brothers Van and Sumit Sharma found themselves back in their adopted hometown of Portland, Maine, helping out at their parents’ Indian restaurant during the pandemic, as they had growing up, the two began to ponder the question of what makes a really good beer to pair with Indian and other spicy food.

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Real Wild & Woodsy Festival | Flagstaff, Arizona

July 11, 2023 | 2

For lovers of mixed culture, foeder-conditioned, funky and barrel-aged beers, the Real Wild & Woodsy Festival really is the Teddy Bears’ (or should that be Teddy Beers’?) Picnic of festivals. Held just outside the center of Flagstaff at the Arizona Historical Society’s Pioneer Museum for the first time this year, the festival feels like a secret garden party.

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Stem Ciders | Apricot Haze

June 23, 2023 |

For beer drinkers segueing into cider, cider lovers looking for something different, or anyone who loves high quality fruit-forward beverages made with fresh ingredients, Colorado’s Stem Ciders are fermenting up a storm with a range of dry and flavored ciders made with pressed juice from Pacific-Northwest apples and adjuncts ranging from chile-guava to lavender, salted cucumber to carrot-ginger-turmeric. Determined to win over new drinkers from outside the cider community, Stem have created their newest release, Apricot Haze, especially with beer lovers in mind, using an unusual technique to replicate the hop punch of a hazy IPA, paired with a bright, refreshing apricot base.

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Texas Keeper Cider | Harrison

May 19, 2023 |

Cider nerds and beer nerds have a lot in common, especially when it comes to appreciating, celebrating and recreating historic beverages. As the beer world grows in appreciation for heritage styles like Roggenbier, Lichtenhainer and Grodziskie, over in ciderland, heritage apple varietals are big news, and the Harrison, with its fortuitous origin-story and serendipitous rescue from extinction, is the rock star of heritage heirloom apples.

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Urban South HTX Celebrates 3rd Anniversary With 8 Circus-Themed Collaboration Beers

May 4, 2023 |

While Urban South HTX just turned three (in “beer years”) they feel significantly older. They have successfully established themselves in the Houston beer scene, at the forefront of Houston’s ever-escalating fruited sour boom. Created as the R&D branch of NOLA’s largest brewery by volume, Urban South HTX arrived on the scene with more than a pinch of cheek and a strongly anti-establishment identity as part of craft beer’s new guard. Pushing the boundaries of the possible, Urban South HTX is known for their avant-garde flavors, from Strawberry Nesquik and Starburst Gummie to Cheeseburger and Detroit Style Mexican Pizza–yes, these are all real beer flavors.

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Nevertheless, We Persist: Eden and Anxo Cideries Launch 5th Collaboration WHM Ciders Benefiting Women’s Rights Charities

March 30, 2023 |

“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

In February 2017, Mitch McConnell’s attempt to justify his silencing of Elizabeth Warren on the senate floor went viral, backfiring against the Republican party and transforming into a feminist rallying cry. His phrase sparked the hashtags #ShePersisted and #LetLizSpeak and became the theme for 2018’s Women’s History Month.

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Austin Beerworks, Meanwhile Brewing and Kaiju Cut & Sew Release Social Harmony: A Kaiju Brew, benefiting Austin’s AAPI Community

January 24, 2023 |

Austin Beerworks co-founder and director of brewing operations Will Golden and Kaiju Cut & Sew owner Chris Gomez are back celebrating the Lunar New Year and fundraising for their local Asian American and Pacific Islander communities with Social Harmony: A Kaiju Brew Roasted Barley Tea- Infused Gold Lager, brewed to herald the Year of the Rabbit.

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Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. | Colonel E.H. Taylor Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigfoot Barleywine

November 16, 2022 |

As we officially enter Big Beer season, craft beer giants Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has brought out the biggest of big beer guns to welcome winter in. The Colonel E.H. Taylor Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigfoot Barleywine is a masterful creation, prepared with delicacy and dedication, and bringing together two of the most respected alcohol brands in the U.S.

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Event Recap | Texas Craft Brewers Festival 2022

October 17, 2022 |

A sold-out Texas Craft Brewer’s Festival took place on Saturday October 8th at Fiesta Gardens alongside Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. The event brought together over 85 Texas breweries, 250 beers … Read More

Beer Is Art | Obakeng Malope’s Campaign to Lift South Africa’s Youth Out of Poverty Through Craft Beer

October 14, 2022 |

Obakeng Malope has a mission. The South African brewer and filmmaker has started a project blending beer culture and social change with enormous scope on both a national and international level, and her hard work and tenacity has already led to significant press and multi-national collaboration.

Malope is the creator of Beer Is Art, an initiative to offer access to the craft beer industry to South Africa’s unemployed young people. In the second quarter of 2022, 4.8 million 15-34 year old South Africans were unemployed, 46.5% of the population in that age group. Malope believes that the growing South African craft beer industry has the potential to help lift some of these young people out of poverty. “The youth are sitting at home unemployed here in South Africa. The campaign teaches about beer, that beer is not something that you drink and get drunk off. We teach beer and food pairing, brewing, beer podcasting and licensing. We show them that they can turn beer into a career,” she says.

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Yokefellow Beer | Sueño Peach Saison

September 8, 2022 |

An hour west of Austin sits the quaint historic town of Johnson City, TX. It’s the home of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th American President. It’s named for his grandfather, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. And the Blanco County seat is now best known as a cosy, picturesque stop on the Texas Wine Trail.

However, between the dual impacts of the pandemic and sky-rocketing house prices in the greater Austin area, Johnson City is taking on a new identity. It’s the hip Hill Country outpost, with three craft breweries and new concept watering hole Nice N Easy, home of locally produced Lightsome Wines and Yokefellow Beer.

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South Asian Heritage Month | Why It Matters To The Beer Industry

August 9, 2022 |

Being a South Asian in beer within the diaspora can be a lonely business. As per Brewer’s Association data from 2021, just 2% of US breweries are owned by Asians, with no available information on South Asians specifically. With so few South Asians involved in the beer industry, taking time to reflect on and celebrate South Asian Heritage Month* (July 18 -August 1**) offers an opportunity to amplify our presence, support one another, and reach out and share our culture through the medium of beer, our chosen career or interest.

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Beer Is For Everyone Launches Drinking in Another State Collaboration Project

July 12, 2022 |

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling giving women across the US the right to have an abortion. With thirteen states poised to enforce historic trigger laws banning all medically unnecessary abortions, and another thirteen considered likely to make abortion illegal, this decision is a devastatingly regressive setback for reproductive rights and places the lives of those who need reproductive care, particularly those from lower socio-economic and minority backgrounds at significant risk.

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Texas Keeper Cider | Grafter Rosato 2022

July 11, 2022 |

Texas Keeper Cider is one of South Austin’s best kept secrets. A stunning 19 acre Hill Country ranch with a lovely rustic wood-paneled taproom just minutes away from the SoCo tourist bustle, the tight, dedicated team have been creating sophisticated small-batch hand-crafted cider since 2013. Blending career expertise in wine-making, brewing, fermentation and, of course, cider making, Texas Keeper offer a refreshing alternative to the sweet fruit-flavored canned fizz that is most commonly associated with both macro and craft ciders.

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