Fullsteam Brewery | First Frost Foraged Persimmon Ale

ABV: 10% | IBU: 26

Deep in the heart of Durham lies a brewery with a sensibility for locality and seasonality. Fullsteam Brewery has released an ale brewed with locally foraged persimmon fruit and have christened it First Frost. Read More

Green Flash Brewing Co. | Jibe Session IPA and Soul Style IPA

American craft beer fans are regularly maligned by lupulin-adverse detractors for being addicted to hops. They say we value intense bitterness above all while ignoring the subtle and nuanced flavors malt and yeast bring to the table. Well, I suppose I’m about to give the hop-haters another log to throw on that roaring fire they’ve built under a crude effigy of Sam Calagione loading a hop cannon, because I love hoppy beer. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate a syrupy barleywine or mouth-puckering gueuze as much as the next guy, but most of the time, a clean, dry IPA is what I crave. That wasn’t always the case, mind you. The IPAs I encountered a decade ago on the East Coast didn’t really do it for me. Perhaps I chose poorly, but they were usually cloyingly sweet with a flat, one-dimensionally bitterness. My love affair with hops didn’t begin in earnest until I moved to Colorado.

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O’Fallon Brewery | King Louie Toffee Stout

ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 26

King Louie Toffee Stout from O’Fallon Brewery has legit ties to the actual King Louis XIV. The chocolatier that O’Fallon collaborated with on this royal brew, Bissinger’s, goes WAY back. All the way to 1668 when His Kingness decreed the Bissinger family “Confiseur Imperia”. I don’t know what that means but it sounds really impressive. Read More

Horseheads Brewing | Hot-Jala-Heim

IBU: 19.2
ABV: 7.2

Guys, last week’s cold snap really freaked me out. I love cold weather, but I need to be eased into it. I can’t just go 0-60 (or rather, 60 degrees to 20 degrees) without any stages in between. When I went to the beer shop, body freezing and teeth chattering, I had every intention of buying some winter seasonal and writing about cinnamon, nutmeg, and other holiday spices. Then I saw this sign and knew that the Universe, in the form of Top Hops taps, had a much spicier plans for me.

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Wasatch Brewery | Polygamy Porter

Owning a mountaintop cabin would be sweet, but having friends who own a mountaintop cabin is a whole lot cheaper. My friends who share their cabin also share their beer, and I’m happy that brew happens to be Wasatch Brewery’s Polygamy Porter. Nah, I’ll pass on multiple wives, but I could definitely enjoy a few of these beers. Brewed in Salt Lake City, Polygamy Porter is exceptionally smooth, with a nice malty bite, and a roasty, toasty finish. Read More

New Belgium Brewing | Frambozen

If you can’t already tell from yesterday’s post, I take Thanksgiving very seriously. My own personal ritual involves waking up early to prep food and while also screening the entire … Read More

Deschutes Brewery | Zarabanda

ABV: 6.3%

IBU: 18

This week, Deschutes Brewery and LA’s Chef José Andrés release Zarabanda, a spiced saison, that was four years in the making. Friends for … Read More

Midnight Sun Brewing Co. | Sockeye Red IPA

ABV: 5.7%

IBU: 70

Being born a water sign, I have an affinity for things that remind me of my oceanic roots. So, it is only fitting that I was drawn to Midnight Sun Brewing Company‘s Sockeye Red IPA: The Last Frontier’s characterful brewery serving New York as it’s only East Coast distributor. As I was sipping a snifter full of this calming and fresh ale this past weekend, I felt it only right to share my flow of joy with the craft beer community

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Bell’s Brewing Co. | Venus – The Bringer of Peace

Venus – The Bringer of Peace

Blonde Ale brewed with Honey, Apricot, Cardamom and Vanilla

ABV: 7.5%

The dust settles, and light begins to shine on the desolate surface of … Read More

Mikkeller | Spontanbeetroot

What’s the name of that beer? Damn you Mikkeller and your obscure names and labels! What are you? Seems to be a common thought every time one picks up a Mikkeller bottle. So many bottles with crazy names like Orange Yuzu Glad, Big Worster, Winbic, Wheat is the New Hops, and so on. All “inside joke” names aside, we’re always intrigued to try these innovative beers. Read More

Wells and Young’s Brewery | McEwan’s Scotch Ale

Photo credit: McEwan’s.

ABV: 8.0%

IBU: Unknown

If I had to give you the pivotal year that launched my love of beer, it would have to be 2007. Despite my initial enjoyment of cask ales and the Guinnesses I had had in England a few years before that, I had not yet expanded my beer repertoire back in the United States. This beer expansion seven years ago had a lot to do with what I had found at a local bar here in Ohio, which had (and still has) a World Beer Tour with rotating beers from the United States and also across the world. That is where I found McEwan’s Scotch Ale, and that is when I knew that I had found one of my favorite beers and beer styles out there. With its import hiatus to the United States from approximately 2009 to 2013, I did not have the privilege of enjoying occasional pints of what I considered to be the nectar of the gods. However, after stumbling across a discussion board post online last year, I found out that Wells and Young’s had bought the McEwan’s label and decided to begin distributing this particular scotch ale across our great nation once more.  Read More

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company | Narwhal Imperial Stout

ABV: 10.20%
IBU: 60

When I think of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, I usually think of the hop-heavy portion of their offering, from their classic IPA and Torpedo to the less traditional Flipslide Red IPA. I was both surprised and excited to see Sierra Nevada snag a bronze medal at this year’s Great American Beer Festival in the Imperial Stout category. A couple days after the festival, I saw this blingtastic brew at Argonaut and I was not able to turn it down.

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Brasserie Trois Dames | Sour Framboise

7% ABV

First, let me preface this post with informing my readers that the proper pronunciation of the word “framboise” (raspberry) is fram-bwaz. The French language teaches us … Read More

Almanac Brewing Company | Golden Gate Gose

Our first taste of Almanac beer occurred this year at Great American Beer Fest when we were conveniently pouring samples across from their booth. We were immediately intrigued when we realized that they featured several dynamically flavored sours and featured one of our favorite slogans: “Farm to Barrel.” Read More

Russian River Brewing | Blind Pig IPA

ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 70

Bear with me, folks. I’m going to take the scenic route to my beer showcase today. And the route goes through bourbon country.

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Reuben’s Brews | Imperial Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 8.4%

IBU: 39

I first met the team at Reuben’s Brews in early 2013 at their brewery in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. At that time, they had already finished brewing their 50th batch of beer and they had been open for about six months. This is an impressive and important feature of Reuben’s Brews, as well as a very good reason to find their beer next time you’re in the Seattle area. Brewmaster Adam Robbings prioritizes giving his customers as many options as possible on the brewery’s twelve taps and brews in smaller batches in order to keep the recipes true to form. The emphasis on taste and the drinker’s experience has resulted in a plethora of awards and recognition for the family-owned brewery, including 15 medals at the World Beer Championships since opening in August 2012. Read More

Urban Family Brewing | Baby Cakes Pale Ale

6.4% ABV

Craft beer enthusiasts have many ways of finding and choosing new beers to try. Sometimes we get a buzz about a new release from a favorite brewery and … Read More

Schlafly | Coffee Stout

ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 30

I look forward to a steaming mug of black coffee in the morning almost as much I do a cold beer on a Friday night. And let’s be honest, stout combined with coffee is the peanut butter and chocolate of the beer world. So, Schlafly Coffee Stout, which combines two of my favorite beverages into 12 ounces of liquid delight was a no brainer. I also appreciate that Schlafly collaborates with a local coffee roaster, Kaldi’s, to produce this brew. Read More

Evil Twin Brewing | Hipster Ale

ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 45 (it took me forever to find this and and the site had no proof so… Grain of salt with this one)

While I first knew Evil Twin Brewery was amazing after my first Ashtray Heart, The New York Times’ article on the major rift between its founder Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergso and his twin brother Mikkel Borg Bjerso of Mikkeller Brewery is what solidified my love of this gypsy brewery. Throughout the article, Evil Twin comes off as a loveable troll – exposing the ridiculousness that occurs when cool festers to snobbery and the quest for prestige makes you forget that in the end, this is an industry making tasty drinks for customers to enjoy and get buzzed from. It’s what inspired me to start ordering beers and buying six-packs blindly in order to expand my horizons. In my opinion at the very least, Evil Twin is the hero craft brewing deserves AND the one it needs right now. It’s got the brains and the heart. Which brings me to Hipster Ale.

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Avery Brewing Company | Rumpkin

In honor of Halloween, we revisit one of our favorite Pumpkin beers on the market, a doozy cuz it’s boozy, Avery’s Rumpkin.

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