What We’re Drinking | May 18, 2018

I can’t help but notice that none of you sent me any beer for my birthday! Actually, I can. You didn’t know it was my birthday. It’s not like I have a Wikipedia page or anything. You aren’t to blame for the fact that I drank Corona Light. I made some poor life decisions. The rest of the PorchDrinking staff, however, made some very good decisions. Scroll down to discover What We’re Drinking!
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Rogue Ales | Cold Brew IPA

Coffee and beer is hardly a revolutionary coupling. As is the case with most hackneyed combinations, however, there’s a reason these two are so often paired together — albeit usually in the context of a stout or porter, whose malty flavors and thick, creamy mouthfeel play well with the roasted bitterness of coffee beans.

Rogue Ales’ Cold Brew IPA aims to do something different, even in the less-common realm of coffee-infused IPAs and pale ales. The can boasts of a “hop punch,” an intriguing claim given the array of coffee beers I’ve had over the years, most of which treat hoppiness as an afterthought. Thanks to a generous hop mix that includes Liberty, Rebel, Freedom and Simcoe, the Newport, Oregon-based brewery manages to deliver.
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Assessing the Comic Book Success of Revolution Brewing’s League of Heroes Variety Pack

Revolution Brewing knows how to make damn good beer, and they know how to market it. With an overwhelming amount of quality craft options in the Chicago market, Revolution has been able to defend their sales turf by standing out through their unique marketing efforts – look no further than their League of Heroes variety pack.

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Bear Republic Brewing Co. | Racer 500 Indy Pale Ale

With my wife being from Indianapolis, I know that when the calendar turns to May; it’s Indianapolis 500 month. To celebrate the event, Bear Republic Brewing Co., known for its Racer 5 IPA and other racing-inspired beers, has released Racer 500 Indy Pale Ale. The beer is only be available at the brewpub and the state of Indiana.

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The PorchCast | Ep 51 Strange Craft Beer’s 8th Anniversary

In episode 51 of the PorchCast we were treated with a full crew of co-hosts, including Tristan, Hunter, Sam and Sami! The gang spoke with Tim Myers, founder of Strange Craft Beer to talk about the brewery’s upcoming anniversary weekend, but also touched on a recap of Nashville and the Craft Brewers Conference as a whole. The team also got real with a discussion on the meaning of independence in craft beer, the difference between Anheuser-Busch and Coors, Avery, Ballast Point and Founders, and why craft beer should be more inclusive and educational versus combative.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | May 16, 2018

The Denver Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, etc.
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Ultimate 6er | Summertime Movies

I didn’t think I was going to make it. I barely shoveled my way out of this winter. Every time I thought it was finally over, Mother Nature proved me wrong. We suffered from freezing weather and snowstorms almost daily. Well, it is finally here and hopefully I didn’t jinx it. It’s summertime and the living’s easy.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Atlanta Beer Beat | May 16-22, 2018

The Atlanta Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings and more!

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Burial + Other Half | One For Me Helles Lager

Somehow I’ve managed to go years without reviewing a single thing from Burial Beer Company, one of the better-known, Asheville-based brewers in North Carolina. Today we make an end to that with One For Me, Burial’s collaboration Helles Lager brewed with Other Half Brewing out of New York. Read More

Lagunitas is Making Moves Both in Azusa and Abroad

Avg. Reading Time: 3 min

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Forbidden Root’s ‘Assembly Required’ Line Brings Sour Haze to the Midwest

Scroll through your Instagram these days and you’re sure to find a wide selection of hazy beers in tulip glasses, strategically positioned to capture the faintest glimmer of sunlight on the glass. For many, the fanfare around the NE-style IPA is as much about the visuals as it is about the beer’s inherently juicy sweetness. Humans are visual eaters after all, so creating a beer that delights both your eyeballs and tastebuds makes sense. When I scrolled through my feed a few months back, my finger stopped on a post from Chicago-based Forbidden Root. The West-side brewery has made a name for itself with their botanical brews and hazy concoctions, but this newest endeavor, dubbed Assembly Required, was daring even for them. It was a sour NE-style IPA, more opaque than hazy, with a bright rosy red hue that departed from the typical orange juice color of a traditional haze bomb. Their new Assembly Required line is a bold evolution to the must-make trend of the present. After tasting the next batch, I’m confident in saying that the sour haze trend is alive and well in Chicago Read More

Great Lakes Brewing Company | Holy Moses Raspberry White Ale

Last January, I waxed nostalgic a bit. Great Lakes Brewing Company decided to re-introduce Holy Moses White Ale as a constant, everyday staple in the beer fridge at the local, and not-so-local, supermarket. I quivered with anticipation when I heard the news, and then I balked at their seasonal May release. It was a beer that would add raspberries to its refreshing citrus undertones, and at the time I did not think I would be ready for that transition. After GLBC’s foray into Holy Mimosas after the Holy Moses release earlier this year and after trying to make them myself—I used mango juice—the idea that there would be another form of Holy Moses to grace our shelves and our bellies was more exciting than the initial reveal. Now, Great Lakes Brewing Company and Holy Moses Raspberry White Ale has arrived, just in time for the warmer weather—FINALLY.

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Ballast Point Set to Open New Chicago Brewery

The West Coast meets the Midwest on Tuesday when Ballast Point Brewing Company opens its Chicago brewery in the West Loop neighborhood. The long-awaited opening adds another well-known beer name to the city’s beer scene.

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La Folie Returns to Cork & Cage for 20th Anniversary of New Belgium’s Wood-Aged Sour Program

How does one properly pay homage to the predecessor that launched an entire movement? By returning to the basics. La Folie, New Belgium Brewing’s Sour Brown blend, was the country’s first commercially produced sour developed by Peter Bouckaert in 1999, and still features the oldest continuous souring culture in America. It has since gone on to earn multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival and more importantly, inspired thousands of American brewers and beer drinkers to embrace barrel-aged mixed culture sour beers.

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Event Preview | 2018 Illinois Craft Beer Week

While it seems that Illinois is celebrating craft beer every week of the year, there’s one week in May that is set aside to specifically recognize the role that the Prairie State is playing in the greater world of craft brewing.

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Bell’s Brewery | Hopsoulution Ale

Springtime is here and, for me, that can only mean one thing: sitting on my sunporch and drinking some fantastic IPAs. Thankfully, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan (AKA Beer City, USA), which means I’m generally near the birthplace of some of the best made IPAs in the world. Michigan breweries know their IPAs, and Bell’s Brewery has blessed us with one helluva new brew in their recently released double IPA, Hopsoulution Ale.
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What We’re Drinking | May 11, 2018

There are many events in May during which we can pour a glass of beer and enjoy our friends and families. For these instances, we have a variety of solid beer choices to share with everyone to celebrate. It does create quite the dilemma finding space in the fridge for the amount of food and beer that joins us throughout the month, but we can all agree this is the best problem to have. Cinco de Mayo or the Kentucky Derby could have cleared out room for some noteworthy beers to chill. To fill the void, PorchDrinkers have plenty of good candidates to consider this week on What We’re Drinking. Read More

Banded Oak Brewing | Atomga Barrel-Aged Brazilian Stout

Banded Oak Brewing Barrel-Aged Atomga comes with an intriguing backstory: it was brewed to celebrate the release of the band Atomga’s album, “AGA” and the recipe resulted from a collaboration with Bodebrown, a Brazilian brewery.

But, a great story means nothing if the beer is subpar. So, rather than provide an article filled with interviews and storytelling, I decided as a writer to concentrate solely on the beer.

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Event Recap | Executing the “Craft-Plus” Festival Model: Ballpark Brew Fest

The ubiquitous nature of craft beer fests suggests that the novelty of simply offering nothing but an array of craft beer has diminished; a lively competition among fests exists. As a result, festivals routinely engage in the “craft-plus” strategy, such as a “craft + a theme” or “craft + an appealing venue.” One such craft-plus fest occurred on May 5 in the Chicago area at the Schaumburg Boomers’ minor league baseball stadium — the 6th Annual Ballpark Brew Fest (co-hosted by Bigby’s Pour House).bot

The alluring venue coupled with breweries who brought A-game brews, mostly served by its all-star staffers, made for a successful fest and one for which has the potential to maintain its year-to-year viability.

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Firestone Walker | Mocha Merlin: Who Says Winter Has to End?

Firestone Walker Brewing Company, California’s Central Coast brewing behemoth, has become a frequent visitor to the Colorado craft beer scene. With hazy memories of tasters at past beer festivals, I eyed a can of Mocha Merlin with hesitant hope.

Sure, the hearty coffee-infused stout is a beer intended for the cold season — a great beer to warm you up as you sip from your chalice in the (Game of Thrones’) Winterfell Great Hall — but why must winter ever end? Recent posts on various “beer check-in” websites show that the beer continues to be enjoyed, even as the weather turns more summer-like each day.

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