The Story Behind 2015 Goose Island BCBS Rare

Goose Island’s first Bourbon County Brand Stout Rare beer was released in 2010 and was aged in 23-year old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels. It was a beer that would never be replicated again. Making such a refined beer was hard enough, but trying to find barrels from such a sought after vintage of bourbon would be nearly impossible. Even the brewers at Goose Island didn’t think they would ever undertake a project of that magnitude again – that all changed when Heaven Hill Distillery called two years ago.

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Brewpub Showcase | The Lucky Monk (Barrington, IL)

The Lucky Monk

Address: 105 Hollywood Blvd, Barrington, IL 60010

Hours: Sun-Thurs: 11am-11pm Fri-Sat: 11am-1am

Food: Full kitchen

Tours: Not available

System: 10 … Read More

Beer Showcase | Rogue Ales Sriracha Hot Stout

Happy International Stout Day everyone! To celebrate this showcase of dark beers we gathered our staff to try one of the more unique stouts to appear on the market … Read More

Pipeworks Brewing Co. | Ninja vs. Unicorn

Average Reading Time: Less than 1 minute

Style: American Double/ Imperial IPA | ABV: 8.0% | IBU: 150

As a huge fan of IPA’s, I am always wanting to drink the … Read More

Mornington Peninsula Brewery | Porter

The spectrum of sudsy options in Australia quite often ranges from a crisp apple cider to a mainstream macro lager. The big names in beer monopolize the tap list … Read More

Fremont Brewing | Brother IPA

“Hey there! This is Fremont Brewing, what can I do for you?!” exclaims a young voice on the other line.

Jolted to awareness, I reply sluggishly after a long … Read More

Carton Brewing Co. | 077XX East Coast DIPA

Love it or hate it, New Jersey has a rich history of producing quality, standout performances. Carton Brewing’s 077XX is no exception. A rich, flavorful Imperial IPA, Augie Carton’s … Read More

4 Hands Brewing | Ill Repute Pumpkin Porter

ABV: 8.5%

The pumpkin beer debate this year was heated: “August is too early!”, “It’s not real pumpkin!”, “So much nutmeg!” Here at PorchDrinking, we had a group discussion … Read More

Schooner EXACT Brewing Co. | 3-Grid IPA

ABV 6.7% | IBU 62

One of the great things about living in a beer-forward city like Seattle is the beer fluency of the entire city. Virtually every person in the area can carry on a conversation about beer styles and the relative virtues of one brewery over another without prompting, guaranteeing that a diverse set of opinions is just a conversation away. It’s in this way that I discovered the Schooner EXACT 3-Grid IPA.

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Roaring Fork Beer Company | Hoppa Road Imperial IPA

Style: IPA – Imperial/Double | ABV: 8.5% | IBUs: N/A

An 8% hop bomb; Hoppa Road is brewed with over two and a half pounds of Citra Hops per barrel. This makes for a big juicy, lupulicious brew.

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Wild Woods Brewery | Ponderosa Porter

Average Reading Time: 3 Minutes

Style: American Porter | ABV: 6.7% | IBUs: 45

Picture yourself walking up Mount Sanitas Trailhead in Boulder on a sunny, warm fall day. Your mind is clear and the air is fresh. All of a sudden, you ask yourself, “Am I losing my mind, or do I smell vanilla cupcakes?!”. This is the origin story of Wild Woods Brewery’s Ponderosa Porter as recounted to me by its female co-founder, Erin Evans.

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Aquanaut Brewing Co | The Search ESB

5.4% ABV | 40 IBU

Searching has become a daily obsession in our modern culture. Our day is consumed with idle searching; Googling a topic, asking Siri a question, scrolling through your Twitter/Facebook feed, flipping through TV channels, entering a YouTube vortex. Billions of dollars have been made off of search algorithms. You most likely ended up on this article via a search.

But then there’s the bigger Search. The lifelong pursuits, the non-stop studying, the week after week commitment to that ever elusive goal. The kind that inspires Captain Ahab’s voyage, haunts Ponce de Leon’s dreams and coaxes Cubs fans into watching them in the postseason. A deeply embedded feeling that stirs and motivates you to action (or U2 action). This is the space where most craft brewers exist, always improving and tweaking, working towards that perfect beer. Read More

3 Floyds Brewing Co. | Zombie Dust (Zombie Edition)

Style: Pale Ale | ABV: 6.2% | IBUs: 50

Halloween is right around the corner and it is one of my all time favorite yearly celebrations. I love scary/horror movies and the month of October is just filled with them, but my all-time favorite horror movie genre is ZOMBIES! Living in Western Pennsylvania you can’t help but be a zombie fan, because the genius behind the genre, George A. Romero, attended college here and also filmed his his first zombie flick, Night of the Living Dead right here in Western Pennsylvania. Ever since then, zombies have been a huge hit in pop culture: movies, television series, clothing, sport events and beer. So what better way to bring in the zombie hoard than with 3 Floyds Brewing Zombie Dust?

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Squatters Craft Beers | Barrel Fever

11.2% ABV

There have been some big changes for Squatters and the Utah Brew Cooperative. New primary leadership may be taking one of Utah’s most beloved breweries in a slightly altered course. We hope Barrel Fever is something that will be built upon in the future. Read More

Listermann Brewing Co. | Shamrock Shake

ABV: 5.5% | IBU 20

“Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!” is how Listermann Brewing Co.’s Irish Cream Stout, Shamrock Shake, greets its lucky consumers. A magical brew that’s … Read More

Vernal Brewing Co. | Allosaurus Amber Ale

4% ABV

Utah’s September muzzleloader buck deer hunt yielded, for me, the viewing of several beautiful sunrises, tons of squirrels, birds of prey attacking those squirrels, other orange-clad hunters, lots of does and one tiny spike buck that I thought about shooting for only a moment before letting him walk away unscathed. What it didn’t yield was any buck sizable enough to fill the freezer.

Now I sit here, in October, drinking an Allosaurus Amber Ale from Utah’s Vernal Brewing Co. I drink this tasty, medium-bodied amber ale next to a campfire in the Book Cliffs of Utah, where I’ve spent the last two weekends trying to make up for a failed deer hunt by trying in vain to fill my spike elk tag for the winter’s meat. We’ve seen some elk, but so far the only spike among them was in our neighbor’s campsite, already dead and being prepared to fill their freezer. Read More

Terrapin Beer Co. | Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout

ABV 6% | IBU 30

In anticipation of Terrapin Beer Co.’s upcoming Hop Harvest Festival, today’s beer showcase will feature the seasonally appropriate Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout. Admittedly, that is partly because I already consumed my bottle of their newest release, The Walking Dead Blood Orange IPA, but Moo-Hoo is well deserving of a write up. To some, Moo-Hoo will be a welcomed relief from the surge of IPAs over the summer and the ongoing flood of pumpkin-themed brews. It is a chocolatey marvel that comes out but once a year. Read More

Southern Tier Brewing Co.| Choklat

Lakewood, New York, is by no means a bustling metropolis.

In all honesty, I have never been to this village – yes, village, you heard me correctly –  which sits at the very southwestern tip of the state. Because I haven’t experienced the place first-hand, I took it upon myself to do a bit of research on Lakewood, and the following is what I know to be true.

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Dogfish Head Brewery | Punkin Ale

ABV: 7.0% | IBU: 28

Pumpkin beers: love them or hate them, they seem to be one of the most contested beer styles out there. Even at this year’s GABF no pumpkin beer scored high enough in the judging to take home a gold medal, only silver and bronze were awarded this year*. While I do admit, I am quite the sucker for a pumpkin beer and each year when they start rolling out on store shelves I pick up an assortment to try, one pumpkin beer staple in my fridge each October is Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales’ Punkin Ale.

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Atwater Brewery | Purple Gang Pilsner

ABV: 5% | IBU: 31

In the 1920s, industry was booming in Detroit. The car companies were producing jobs for the area faster than they could be filled, and the 18th Amendment turned Detroit, with its thin water barrier between the glory land of Canada and dry United States, into one of the most important towns for liquor running and bootlegging. In Detroit, the Purple Gang (run by the Bernstein brothers) was the most ruthless and terrifying group of people you could run into. Known for their general lack of discretion and ability to do anything from kidnappings to murder for hire and bombings, The Purple Gang was vicious enough that Al Capone stayed in Chicago and bought off them rather than attempting to battle them for territory. Eventually their complete disregard for covering their tracks got them caught and led to the group dismantling, but not before becoming notorious enough to make appearances in Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock and multiple James Bond books.
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