Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. | Flipside Red IPA

ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 60

You can call Labor Day the end of summer all you like, but it certainly doesn’t feel like fall. The trees will still be green for a few weeks, sweaters and jackets aren’t necessary, and sunburns are still a reality for anyone standing 4 hours in an open air stadium. However, it’s very clearly time to retire the sunny beers of summer. This week I attempted to make the switch to heavier seasonal beers and within minutes of sipping my first pumpkin ale of the year, my phone buzzed. At that precise moment the Porchdrinking.com staff decided we needed to discuss drinking pumpkin beers out of season. I looked around the bar, positive someone also in search of a big beer list and 20 cent wings was ratting me out for moving to fast into Fall. Read More

Crown Valley Brewing | Imperial Pumpkin Smash Stout

ABV: 10.6%
IBU: 48

There’s an ongoing debate on pumpkin beers here at PorchDrinking that you can read all about here. Should they be released in the fall or is the practice of getting them on shelves in August acceptable? The big box retailers put their holiday merch out in October and Halloween candy out in what seems like August. Should craft beer be following their lead? If you’re on the fence, get your paws on a bottle of Crown Valley Brewing Imperial Pumpkin Smash Stout. And find yourself firmly in the Summer pumpkin camp.  Read More

Wasatch Brewery | Evolution Amber Ale

ABV: 4%

The best part about sitting in the bleachers of a minor league ballpark in the rain, watching the grounds crew mess with the giant tarp is the fact that the delay makes more time for beer drinking. Luckily, as messed up as a lot of Utah’s beer distribution laws are, the Salt Lake Bees serve good craft beer in addition to the 3.2% Bud Lite piss-water that is more appropriate for sprinkling the outfield grass than it is for human consumption. I’m really glad that the Bees serve Evolution Amber Ale from Wasatch Brewery, giving me the opportunity to try it for the first time. Read More

Gigantic Brewing Company | Firebird Smoked Hefeweizen

ABV: 6.1%, 24 IBU

As summer rolls to a close, I’m filled with a sense of urgency. Fall/winter/spring is a long hard slog for us Seattleites. We’ve got to make the proverbial hay while the sun shines. I know come October, my beautiful Weber grill will likely be relegated to the garage and temperatures will begin to preclude the drinking of summertime cervezas. Read More

Fat Head Brewery | Head Hunter IPA

ABV 7.5%
87 IBU
Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial
Pale, CaraMalt, C-15, Cara-Pils

We dismissed Fat Head Brewery’s beer immediately the first time we saw that chubby, caricatural face grinning behind sunglasses and a mustache on a bottle of beer. Then, the fat man began appearing, pale, naked, and in a barrel, perched atop tap handles as Fat Head’s beer began infiltrating our local bars. His enormous head had several inches on all of the other handles. It was Ohio in the early 2010s, the fat man was everywhere, and we were skeptical. Read More

Gigantic Brewing Company – Firebird Smoked Hefeweizen

ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 24

As summer rolls to a close, I’m filled with a sense of urgency. Fall/winter/spring is a long hard slog for us Seattleites. We’ve got to make the proverbial hay while the sun shines. I know that, come October, my beautiful Weber grill will likely be relegated to the garage and temperatures will begin to preclude drinking of summertime cervezas.

Read More

Martin House Brewing | Pretzel Stout

ABV: 6.5% | IBU: 47 | SRM: 50+

“That’s right, The Original Pretzel Stout. This 6.5% abv stout is as black as oil and is brewed with over six pounds of crushed sourdough pretzels per barrel. Guess what? There’s no style guideline for this one. The salty fingerprint of the pretzels works with the sweet and roasty flavors of the chocolate malted & roasted barley to give this beer a flavor that is much greater than the sum of its parts.”

Read More

Scarlet Lane Brewing Company | Dorian Stout

Scarlet Lane Brewing Company is one of the newest breweries to enter the Indy metro landscape, and they have come on the scene guns blazing. Their original lineup really impressed me … Read More

Westbrook Brewing Co. | India Pale Ale

ABV: 6.8% IBUs: 65

Making the trip to Kiawah Island, South Carolina is not something I’m new to. Whether it’s packed in a car with my family or squeezed on a plane from Denver, I’ve been there and done that. But, as a craft beer-drinking woman in my mid-20’s, I realize that there was something missing from my trips—and that something was Westbrook Brewing Co.’s India Pale Ale. Read More

The Brew Kettle | White Rajah IPA

ABV: 6.8%

IBU: 70

The craft beer industry, at least from what I have seen and experienced, has embraced the average beer imbiber’s attempt at brewing a beer that one might enjoy from home. Though this write-up will not be exclusively about a brewery, I must provide some background before delving too deep into the specific beer I am showcasing. So, without further delay, let me provide you with one more summertime bevvy for your enjoyment: White Rajah IPA. This beer is one of the Brew Kettle’s best, and it is the perfect option for those who revel in hops, citrus in smell and flavor and a relaxing afternoon lounging at the pool: my place of choice for this sunny beverage.  Read More

Spiteful Brewing | Alley Time! Pale Ale

Spiteful Brewing | Alley Time! Pale Ale

6% ABV

Spiteful is among my favorites of the breweries I’ve discovered since moving to Chicago a little over four months ago. The Alley Time is a smash beer (single malt/single hop) made with Pilsen malt and Simcoe hops. These two ingredients come together to create a crisp, refreshing pale ale with just the right amount of bite for these warm summer days, fleeting though they may be. Read More

KelSo Beer Company | Pilsner

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 23

Barely there at eight years old, KelSo Beer Company lives in the heart of Brooklyn, New York under the supervision of brewer Kelly Taylor and wife Sonia Giacobbe. For a New Yorker, this brewery’s inception surfaced from an interesting background. Taylor, in fact, oversees production for the entire Heartland Brewery group — which, if you are a local here, know is the leading brewpub of the craft beer movement in the nineties. When the distribution of native beers was nearly non-existent, with beer taps so redundant we avoided the bar scene altogether, the fiery red lights of Heartland Brewery shone like a beacon for lost ships in the night. He is a master of his trade, and by all means, a trusted name whispered among the beer-enthusiasts walking our streets. Read More

Comrade Brewing Company | Superpower IPA

ABV: 7.9%

It’s pretty well-known that Colorado is currently the home to many a brewery. In fact, some people have gone as far as calling Denver’s craft beer market “over-saturated.” Sure, there are tons of breweries, and, sure, some of them don’t quite make the cut, but I always like to give new breweries the benefit of the doubt. When it comes to brand new breweries, I tend to give them at least three periodic visits throughout the year to see how their taste is (or isn’t) improving. Fortunately for these brewers, my first visit to Comrade Brewing Company was a (communist) party (in my mouth). Read More

Odell Brewing Company | Jaunt

7.6% ABV

I’m always excited to taste new entries in Odell Brewing Company‘s cellar series, a line of unique beers conceived on their pilot system. Over the years, this program has yielded delicious results such as Friek, Fernet-aged Porter, and Treeshaker. Jaunt is a recent addition to the family, a pale ale aged on oak staves and blended with Riesling grape juice sourced from Colorado’s western slopes. When I saw a bottle on the shelf in a local shop, I knew I had to have it.

Read More

Elysian Brewing Company | Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale

ABV: 5.4%

IBU: 45

Since I’m originally from the Midwest, I pride myself on being able to withstand harsh weather – frigid winters and humid summers are the foundations of even my earliest memories, and I recall those glory days bravely and often. However, after three summers in Seattle, I’m beginning to turn into a bit of a weather wimp, and once it hit 80 degrees for the 10^th day in a row I started to get that antsy, uncomfortable feeling that had previously only plagued me after a month of 95 degree, 90% humidity days in the Midwest. It was time for a beer. Read More

Adroit Theory Brewing | Scorpion Black IPA

ABV: 8.1%
IBU: 89

I first heard about Adroit Theory Brewing from my sister, Caroline, who lives in the same area of Virginia as this nano-brewery. Right away, the name caught my eye as seeming somewhat unusual but after a dictionary visit, it became clear as you can see here:

Adroit – adjective
Clever or skillful in using the hands or mind.

Theory – noun
a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.

Read More

Red Oak Brewery | Bavarian Amber Lager

ABV: 5.0% | IBU: 20

I attended a soirée recently. Have any of you ever attended a soirée? If not, it’s just like a party, only with a French word. My … Read More

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company | Freshchester Pale Ale

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 35

As a brew that comes from the South East tip of New York State, Freshchester Pale Ale is a reinvention of one of Scott Vacarro’s earliest encounters with beer making, … Read More

Unibroue Brewery | Trois Pistoles

ABV: 9%

IBU: 15.5

Sometimes in order to discover that special beer, it takes a little extra searching to find that one brew that speaks to you. Other times, you’ll discover a … Read More

Uinta Brewing Company | Detour Double IPA

Uinta Brewing Company – Detour Double IPA

ABV: 9.5%

As I celebrate my 30th birthday in a rented trailer on the banks of Utah’s Weber River, drinking a Detour Double IPA from Salt Lake City’s Uinta Brewing Company, I find it hard to believe that nine years have passed since my 21st. I’m glad tonight that I’m not drinking countless car bombs and tequila/tabasco shots at the Bayview and then barfing them out the window of my own Jeep as my friends drive me home, though beers at the Bay on Michigan’s Gull Lake do sound pretty nice.

I stopped at the nonsensically-regulated state of Utah-owned liquor store on my lunch break for some celebratory beer and chose a four pack of the 9.5% Detour Double IPA. Why? Because I like hops? Maybe. Because the label features a sweet, stylized Airstream trailer, and I live in a less-sweet, but still kind of cool trailer? Probably. Read More