Beer Showcases
PD’s own dissect beer. Leave the pretentiousness on the curb.
4 Hands Brewing | War Hammer
May 8, 2015 | Niel Stender
ABV: 9% IBU: 83
War Hammer, an Imperial IPA from 4 Hands Brewing, was released during their annual Lupulin Carnival this year. A legitimate carnival replete with ferris wheel … Read More
Empire Brewing Company | White Aphro
May 7, 2015 | Danny KingABV: 6.3%
After white knuckling it through a rough winter, we’ve finally gotten to the consistently warm weather of May. All across the city, people are sprinting to our parks … Read More
Mt. Carmel Brewing Co. | Coffee Brown Ale
May 6, 2015 | Spencer MapesABV: 6.0% | IBU: 38
If you have been as busy as I have been, going from meeting to meeting, email after email, and working past 5 most days, you need … Read More
Rhinegeist | A Side
May 4, 2015 | Lindsay KrumelABV: 6.4%
Rhinegeist A Side combines two of my great loves: alcohol and music. I’ve seen probably close to 100 bands in concert and tasted countless more beers. Conceived by Jim Blase of Shake It Records in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood and frequent Shake It patron/Rhinegeist distributor Pete Fernandez, this limited release IPA was brewed special for this year’s Record Store Day. Read More
Buffalo Bill’s Brewery | Orange Blossom Cream Ale
April 30, 2015 | Kate {Brown Ale Girl}
Hi all! I’m Kate, a new contributor around here. I write the blog Brown Ale Girl, which shares snippets of life, food, and beer in Cincinnati. I love drinking dark beer, supporting local businesses, and witnessing the revitalization of the Queen City.
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 13
Yogi Berra is credited as saying, “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” Granted that it’s THE American pastime, I think a lot of people would agree. I grew up in a household where the Cincinnati Reds game was on the outdoor radio and family room television every night. Therefore, it’s not officially spring to me until I attend a baseball game. I was a little late this year, but this week I went to my first Reds and high school game of the season. To be honest, I felt chills when I heard the first “thwack” of the ball hitting the catcher’s glove. Read More
Marz Community Brewing Co | Jungle Boogie
April 29, 2015 | Mike Wronski 2
Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. And after living here for any extended period of time, that phrase becomes so common and clichéd that it loses its meaning and incites a collective eye roll from any Chicagoan who hears it (as I’m sure any Chicagoan reading this has already audibly groaned at another utterance). But although it’s become a throwaway phrase, it’s still important to the city’s identity. Sometimes being a city of neighborhoods ends up creating divides and pockets of separation, as demonstrated by the city’s most recent mayoral election. Thankfully, there are dedicated groups of Chicago brewers more focused on bringing people together than providing further means of division. Read More
Westbrook Brewing Co. | Fisticuffs
April 28, 2015 | Johnathan Pylant
8.0% ABV
Westbrook Brewing Company may not be the biggest, but they are one of the best breweries in South Carolina. This past January, RateBeer.com released their list of “Top Beers, Brewers, New Brewers By Subregion,” which listed Westbrook as Best Brewery in South Carolina, again. So, would you expect anything less than Fisticuffs from the Charleston, SC based brewery? I would say, not! Read More
Great South Bay Brewery | Blood Orange Pale Ale
April 27, 2015 | Carly MentoAverage reading time: 1 minute
ABV: 5%
IBU: 40
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Carly. She went for a stroll along the water front in Brooklyn. Pretty soon, she came upon an unassuming bar. She peeked inside, and when the bartender beckoned, she walked right in. Atop a stool at the counter, there were many taps of craft beer and Carly was thirsty.
Packing some punch from the Great South Bay of Long Island, New York is the Blood Orange Pale Ale. I call it the Goldilocks of Pale Ales — not too tangy, not too tart, this one is just right. The combination of American hops, malted barley and bitter blood oranges stir up a frenzy of flavors in your mouth that radiate across your tongue. While emitting a florally fresh scent that is expected from Cascade hops, they also play a part in adding a citrus-like quality to the body. The ale’s color is light, matching the mood one acquires upon drinking. Read More
Brewery Ommegang | Abbey Ale Dubbel Ale
April 24, 2015 | Danny KingABV: 8.2%
My mother always says “Presentation is Everything”. Oftentimes, when enjoying an Ommegang beer, I assume she stole her personal little motto from these Cooperstown brewers. From factors as important as taste and quality to such seemingly inconsequential items as font choices, every inch of the Ommegang experience, from their early days to current day, is a masterclass in craft brewing.
Brouwerij Rodenbach | Vintage Oak Aged Ale 2012
April 22, 2015 | Johnathan PylantAverage Reading Time: 2 Minutes
Flemish Style ale
Brouwerij Rodenbach
Steenhuffel, Belguim
ABV: 7%
In short, Brouwerij Rodenbach‘s Vintage Oak Aged ale could, easily, be described as a champagne among beers! The long way round takes about 200 years, which is about how long Brouwerij (Brewery) Rodenbach has been brewing. How exciting is that? Read More
Uinta Brewing Company | Yard Sale Winter Lager
April 21, 2015 | Colin ClancyThe April snowstorm that blanketed the Salt Lake Valley last week is the biggest I’ve seen since moving here in September. Admittedly it hasn’t been a great winter. Luckily I was able to take advantage of my employer’s powder morning policy, getting up to Brighton Resort for first chair and making a few last-week-of-the-season powder turns. The hardest part is leaving to head to work while the late-comers are still arriving to make their own tracks in my snow.
Railhouse Brewery | Mastiff Oatmeal Stout
April 20, 2015 | Christopher HilliardABV: 6.5% | IBU: 33
Before we find ourselves too far removed from winter, I wanted to share a stout I discovered recently, Mastiff Oatmeal Stout from Railhouse Brewery. Railhouse is veteran-owned (hence the patriotic bottle cap) and -operated in Aberdeen, North Carolina. Aberdeen, like many towns home to NC brewers, is relatively small and out of the way. Located a couple hours south and west of Raleigh and an hour due west of Fort Bragg, you might never hear of it were it not for the beer. Read More
The Bronx Brewery | Bronx Pale Ale
April 16, 2015 | Danny KingThe last two weekends I’ve been spending some time in the Bronx, the last borough (that matters – sorry Staten Island) left to be aggressively gentrified within an inch of its life. Their zoo is legit and has real zoo animals, not like the sideshow attractions that pass for the Prospect Park and Central Park Zoos. Their Little Italy has authentic groceries and restaurants, as opposed to 60 dollar all you can eat/drink buffets whose one authentic Italian quality is their eerily accurate ability to re-enact Roman vomitoriums. There aren’t any American Apparels and things are named practically instead of after eye-catching phrases that have been market tested to death. Basically, the Bronx still bears the grit of the city and the community-minded neighborhood vibe that all us transplants who came to New York thought we were getting instead of sanitized, post collegiate money drains we’ve inadvertently created by moving here.
Coast Brewing Co. | 32°/50° Kölsch
April 13, 2015 | Johnathan PylantABV: 4.8%
I picked up another four-pack of Coast Brewing’s 32°/50° Kölsch this weekend. I love this Kölsch. It is currently offered in draft, 22oz. bombers and four-pack 16oz cans year round. Coast Brewing’s 32°/50° is an excellent spring/summer time beer to accompany any and all outings. In a world of dark ales and hoppy IPAs, the Kölsch is a welcomed and pleasant respite from the intensities of the season.
Off Color Brewing | Bare Bear
April 10, 2015 | Mike Wronski
Style: Finnish Sahti
IBU: 20
ABV: 7.0%
For the average American, a sauna inspires images of scantily clad, sweaty old men at the gym. Either that or Florida in August. Fortunately for us, the wonderful citizens of Finland have a much different perspective on the sauna, and found it a perfect environment for brewing beer. With over 200 days of winter-like conditions every year, they could stay warm while brewing beer, which meant they had beer to keep them warm while they went outside for materials to brew more beer! At least that’s my theory…
The Burnt Hickory Brewery | The Fighting Bishop
April 7, 2015 | Johnathan PylantABV 8.5% | IBU 23
The Burnt Hickory Brewery is a sleeping giant that is awakening in Kennesaw, Georgia. It has been in business for only 3 years, as of … Read More
The Brew Kettle | All for One Session IPA
April 6, 2015 | Kevin RisnerABV: 4.75% | IBU: 35
Over the decades, Cleveland sports has had many moments that have been hard to swallow. Despite Cleveland being one of the more pained sports cities, moments of intense optimism do pop up from time to time bringing a refreshing tint to the hues of cynicism. For example, there’s always the start of baseball season and the chants of “It’ll be this year!” Along with that, there’s annually a nice brew to go with that. Turning to basketball though, the return of LeBron James and the acquisition of many other stellar players has allowed my Cleveland Cavaliers to fare quite well in the second half of this year’s NBA season. Hope is blossoming again, albeit with the normal hint of caution. Still, The Brew Kettle, a local brewery in the Cleveland area, has begun distributing its All for One Session IPA to continue stoking the flames of the playoff push that is now imminent. Excitement has definitely returned to the CLE! Read More
Sierra Nevada | Hop Hunter IPA
April 3, 2015 | Josh Buchanan
Brewery: Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA)
Style: IPA
Season: Perennial
IBU: 60
ABV: 6.2
As the summer slowly comes into permanent existence here on the East Coast, it’s time for that special style from the West Coast. Who else but Sierra Nevada would employ a new style with signature quality and popular fanfare? Read More
Wicked Weed | Oblivion
April 2, 2015 | Christopher HilliardABV: 8.7% | IBU: negligible
We use a lot of colors when we talk about beer. This beer is amber. That beer is black. This one is straw. That one is brown. These are all quite common. Yet, for all of my beer-drinking life, I have only infrequently come across the color red. Maybe it’s my geography. Some of the world’s best-known and most highly acclaimed beers come out of Belgium, among them a variety of reds. Rodenbach’s Grand Cru, Duchesse de Bourgogne from Brewery Verhaeghe, and New Belgium’s La Folie are just a few examples.
In spite of (and thanks to) my geography, I’ve been fortunate enough to come across a delectable sour red ale from one of North Carolina’s finest breweries, the Asheville-based Wicked Weed Brewing Company. They call it Oblivion, and they give it a little story. Read More
Evil Twin Brewing | Ashtray Heart
April 1, 2015 | Danny King
ABV: 8.9%
I miss smoking in bars. My clothes and hair don’t reek every night, and the lack of clouds of noxious oxygen thieves in bars dulling taste and smell might have done more to promote the rise of craft beer than any other external factor – but the romance of the dive bar is largely sustained by the haze that lingers around dim light bulbs. There was a certain je ne sais quoi that many establishments lost once they cleaned up (while others revealed even worse smells that the smoke was hiding). In my eternal hunt to recapture this hazy atmosphere, I stumbled into one of my favorite dive bars in Brooklyn (low lights, great bartender, amazing jukebox, check-check-check), and discovered Evil Twin’s Ashtray Heart. With one sip, I found the gritty but smooth feeling I was missing, with none of smoking’s greatly-enhanced chance of lung cancer.
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