About- Tristan Chan
Tristan Chan
Tristan is a craft beer fanatic who originally hails from Kentucky, which used to be a veritable wasteland for craft beer. Since moving to Colorado, he discovered a passion for hops, malts, brett strains, tinctures, nitros, and all things craft brew. He created this blog as a means for his friends across the country to a virtual porch drink and he hopes that you’ll join the revolution.Thoughts and Prayers Go Out to the Northeast
October 30, 2012 | Tristan Chan
PorchDrinking.com would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to our family out on the east coast. While many jokes have been made about Hurricane Sandy it is extremely dangerous … Read More
The Evolution of Beer Part II
October 26, 2012 | Tristan Chan
The general consensus around the Porch is that for most of us, our first foray into drinking consisted of shitty watered down piss poor beers. In fact, I spent the first two decades of my life swearing up and down that I would never drink beer. This likely was a direct result of stealing sips from my father’s Milwaukee’s Best, or to the layman, BEAST, when I was just a little guy. Needless to say, most uninitiated drinkers have at one point or another served their time sloshing swill before arriving at the great awakening that is craft beer.
Evolution of Beer Part I
October 25, 2012 | Tristan Chan
The general consensus around the Porch is that for most of us, our first foray into drinking consisted of shitty watered down piss poor beers. In fact, I spent the first two decades of my life swearing up and down that I would never drink beer. This likely was a result of stealing sips from my father’s Milwaukee’s Best, or to the layman, BEAST, when I was just a little guy. Needless to say, most uninitiated drinkers have at one point or another served their time sloshing swill before arriving at the great awakening that is craft beer.
Roundtable Discussion: Halloween Costumes Edition
October 24, 2012 | Tristan Chan
Halloween is just under a week away so we asked our writers what their favorite halloween memories were. What resulted was an in depth trip down memory lane consisting of costumes and candy grabbing blunders. What were your favorite Halloween costumes/memories growing up? Comment below!
Cigar City Brewing Company- Marshal Zhukov
October 24, 2012 | Tristan Chan
ABV: 9%
Cigar City Brewing serves up several brews that have garnered a cult follow, partially because they’re only available in Florida, partially because they are one of the only solid breweries at the moment to come out of Florida and mostly because they make fantastic, cult following worthy beers. One of those pedestal level rarities is Marshal Zhukov.
PorchDrinking Playlist: Tristan’s Top Picks
October 23, 2012 | Tristan Chan
In honor of my forthcoming birthday this Thursday, I decided to hijack this week’s PorchDrinking Playlist to highlight some of my favorite jams. This mix of my top playlist picks includes a melange of favorites both old and new. It starts with my all time favorite, Paul Simon’s Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, then transitions from slower mellower tunes to those that are a bit more upbeat. Let me know if you like what you hear! Read More
Dream Team Breweries
October 23, 2012 | Tristan Chan 2
I think it’s safe to say that the United States is in the midst of a gold age in craft beer. As of July 1, 2012 the Brewer’s Association counted 2075 craft breweries in operation, and I’m guessing since then at least a hundred more have opened. During the diminutive tenure of my craft beer journey, I have managed to make a small dent in that two thousand some brewery sample.
Cigar City Brewing Company- Jai Alai
October 23, 2012 | Tristan Chan 1
One of the coolest thing about visiting breweries when you kinda have an inside connection (and I use that term very loosely, as starting a beer blog hardly qualifies as having any clout in the beer industry), one of the coolest perks is snagging a beer fresh off the line. Trust me, it makes a huge difference.
D.G. Yuengling and Son- Yuengling American Lager
October 22, 2012 | Tristan Chan
Yuengling isn’t particularly amazing, but it is. It’s not particularly flavorful, but it is. It’s not particularly easy to drink, but really it is. You see, Yuengling is the beer of the midwest. Anytime anyone from the region spies a can they’re sent to a place of nostalgia and awe. It’s kinda like seeing your childhood stuffed animal or blankey for the first time in many years, but in alcoholic liquid form.
GABF Finds and Must Tries!
October 20, 2012 | Tristan Chan
One of the best things about attending GABF is the ability to try a ton of rare, completely off the wall or just hard to get beers. As such we’ve got some solid takeaways. If you happen to cross paths with these beers, you should probably jump at the chance to give them a taste. Read More
One Minute Beer Review: Ska Brewing Company’s Euphoria Pale Ale
October 18, 2012 | Tristan Chan
It’s not often that a brewery’s winter seasonal is a pale ale. But, Ska gives zero cares about that. Their Euphoria Pale Ale not only works as a winter seasonal … Read More
Great American Beer Festival General Recap
October 17, 2012 | Tristan Chan 1
The Great American Beer Festival is the closest thing to a real-life, adult version of that “kid in a candy shop” moment. Experiencing the full gambit of everything beer related that surrounds the festival culminated in one of the more amazing weeks I’ve ever experienced. Read More
PorchDrinking.com -New Belgium Brewing Company GABF Booth Set Up
October 15, 2012 | Tristan Chan 1
Ever wonder what goes into setting up a major booth, or as the industry calls them, an endcap booth at the Great American Beer Festival? New Belgium Brewery out of Fort Collins, Colorado was nice enough to allow us to shadow their Thursday morning set up. We condensed that approximately two hour process into one and a half minutes. A big thanks to New Belgium Brewing!
GABF First Night’s Recap
October 12, 2012 | Tristan Chan 2
Admittedly I should be at a beer brunch right now. Thats not happening. Last night spiraled out of control real fast as most GABFs usually do. Now I sit here … Read More
GABF Sour, Hoppy, and Rare Beer Routes
October 11, 2012 | Tristan Chan
We are literally hours away from the opening bagpipes sounding at GABF so we decided to condense a brief round up of which Sour, Hoppy and Rare beers to look for at the event. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter at @PorchDrinkingCO or check back at 6 Mountain, 8 Eastern for a live blog from the event!
Sours- You know that kid that always had a steady cache of Warheads back in the 90s? This is exactly the kind of beers they’d be taking. You ready to pucker up? Read More
Rocky Mountain Great American Beer Festival Regional Breakdown
October 11, 2012 | Tristan Chan
Rocky Mountain (CO, ID, MT, NV, UT, WV)
And alas we have finally arrived at the Rocky Mountain Regional Breakdown! We’ll admit we’re a little biased as most of our staff is based in Denver or Boulder but the Rocky Mountain region boasts a tremendous assortment of fantastic brews. There are the big dogs like Avery, Great Divide, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Odell and there are also amazing up and comers like Copper Kettle, Elevation, Grimm Brothers, Renegade, and River North.
Copper Kettle Brewing Company- Denver, CO
October 11, 2012 | Tristan Chan
One day, in the not so distant future, when the craft beer boom will have reached the height of it’s golden age, historians will point to breweries like Copper Kettle Brewing Company as the benchmark for the neighborhood brewery movement. As a point of emphasis, we’re no longer talking neighborhood bars, those will have already become ancient relics in this idilic world. Because comparatively, what good is a palm pilot when you have an iPhone and what good are bars that supply Bud Light and Smithwicks when you can cozy up to a glass of Helles Lager, or Mexican Chocolate Stout? Read More
GABF Eve Tristan’s Note
October 10, 2012 | Tristan Chan
Hey there fellow porch dwellers new and old! So nice of you to join us once again. My friends and I started this site three months ago with the general interest in writing about beer, music, sports and pop culture. Long term, perhaps two or three years down the road we had the goal of building something influential enough to receive press passes to the Great American Beer Festival. Well that goal was kinda achieved two or three years early.
New Belgium Brewing Company- Fort Collins, CO
October 10, 2012 | Tristan Chan
New Belgium Brewery was where it all began. It was in those same recycled bike framed bar stools in New Belgium’s tap room that I first embarked on my own journey into craft beer.
Virtually every Friday afternoon my buddy Cody and I would duck out a bit early and delve into the wide world of brew. It was here that I discovered my first sour. What the hell?! This beer, La Folie tastes like liquefied shock tarts! How is this possible?!
Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and New England GABF Regional Breakdown
October 10, 2012 | Tristan Chan
Today we continue our regional coverage by breaking down the Mid-Atlantic and New England Regions. All of these are smaller regions which is why we decided to group them all together, however what they do have to offer packs a punch. With the likes of Ommegang, DogFish Head, Surly, Boston Beer and Allagash, these are can’t miss regions!
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