What We’re Drinking | August 14, 2020

Some days it feels like 2020 is getting a little better. Other days it somehow seems worse. We’re doing our best to take it one day at a time around here, and hope that you are making it through 2020 anyway that you can. There’s been no shortage of beer news lately, and some sports are coming back. Everything feels like a give-and-take right now. Around the country schools and businesses are still dealing with COVID-19. Even though there’s a lot going on, we still made time to drink some awesome beers. Here is What We’re Drinking.

Read More

Lone Pine Brewing Company | Blueberry Sparkler

The state of Utah is fortunate to get the unforeseen variety of beer distribution that they do. Despite this crazy year, Lone Pine Brewing Company from Portland, Maine singled out the hive. Founded in 2016, Lone Pine was originally a small brew house, but grew their business with the opening of a production facility in 2019. So, with their distribution focused on the East Coast, the delivery of goods to the inland state and nowhere in between was a surprise. Read More

Capitol Creek Brewery is Colorado’s Best Kept Mountain Town Secret

Part of what makes the state of Colorado so special is that a short drive outside of the city can lead you on an adventure through altitude defying mountain ranges, desert-like sand dunes, lush rolling green plains, and arid rocky traverses. Such is the case with Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley, where a drive through its snaking canyons that have been carved out over time by a swift and serpentine river that shares the name, has created one of the state’s most picturesque regions.

Read More

Sufferfest Beer Company | FKT Pale Ale

The Rocky Mountains have been in existence long before humans traveled the range’s treacherous trails for the newest camping spot or adventurous hike. They invite a sense of tranquility and appreciation, and provide a home to countless species such as bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and the yellow-bellied marmot. The Colorado cutthroat trout thrives in the cold rivers of the Rockies, while birds such as the White-tailed Ptarmigan, Mountain Chickadee, and Pygmy Nuthatch perch among the trees. Yes, this a a beer showcase, but it’s important to set the scene when discussing FTK Pale Ale from Chico, California-based Sufferfest Beer Company.
Read More

Women Behind the Lens in Craft Beer Photography

While there has been a significant amount of discussion about how women should or should not be portrayed in advertising and social media, it’s refreshing to focus on women behind the lens. By browsing social media these days, it’s easy for a craft beer enthusiast to discover numerous examples of their work, and that’s great news for an industry that greatly struggles with equality. Women are involved in every aspect of the craft-beer business, and photography serves as an excellent demonstration of how their efforts have provided a boost to the entire industry.

The following highlights just a few of the professionals helping to advance the craft beer scene with their photography. Read More

Other Half Brewing to Open Taproom & Production Facility in Washington, DC

Other Half Brewing today announced the upcoming October opening of its new taproom and production facility in Washington, DC. The New York-based brewery has been long-rumored among beer lovers in the Nation’s Capital, so today’s news is a welcome addition to DC’s burgeoning craft beer scene. Other Half has been shipping beer weekly to Maryland’s Downtown Crown in nearby Gaithersburg for several months, but it is rarely found inside the District. The new brewery will be the 12th brewery located in the city limits.

Read More

Planning the Perfect Craft Beer Day Trip to the Chicago Suburbs

The sheer number of breweries within Chicago limits would lead you to believe you would never need to leave the city to get your craft beer fix. While this is technically true, there are many Chicagoland suburbs that have great breweries that, unless they distribute to the city, Chicagoans will miss out on. Read More

Creature Comforts to Open Los Angeles Taproom & Production Facility

Creature Comforts, which has long garnered national attention from its humble roots located in an old tire shop in downtown Athens, Georgia is no stranger to making headlines.

Back in 2019, they made a superhero-sized splash as audiences around the world saw not one, but two of their fan-favorite year-round beers star on screen. This, of course, was in the highest-grossing movie of all time, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. Read More

New Realm Brewing Company | Hazy Like a Fox IPA

Hazy IPAs need little introduction in today’s craft beer scene. Many of them have a juicy body, with a golden foggy color and a citrus-forward aroma and flavor. New Realm Brewing Company’s Hazy Like a Fox IPA has these traits, but it also has some uniqueness that creates a journey of flavors all its own.

Read More

Left Hand and Liberati Locked in Lease Dispute Over Curtis Park Location

For the past five months, Curtis Park residents have likely seen changes taking place around the building that formerly housed Liberati Restaurant & Brewery. Most notable were the recent additions of an exterior coat of firehouse red paint and the … Read More

FoBAB Cancelled, ICBG to Continue with Virtual Competition

On Thursday, the Illinois Craft Brewer’s Guild announced that their annual Festival of Barrel and Wood Aged Beer (FoBAB) will be among the many festivals to get cancelled because of the global pandemic. This news coincides with the cancellation of the 2021 Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines festival held in Breckenridge, Colorado. The ICBG mentioned in their official announcement that the annual competition and awards ceremony would still be taking place virtually. Participating breweries will be asked to send their competition beers to FoBAB where they will be judged by 50 industry leaders and certified craft beer judges.

Read More

Hopfly Brewing | Triple Berry Fruited Sour

We’re deep into the North Carolina summer. That means it’s sticky, wet and insufferable. It means it always looks like it’s going to storm, but only actually storms for ten minutes at a time. It means heat so hot there’s no good reason to be outside unless you’re sitting in the shade drinking a cold beer. And what better beer than something refreshing and delicious? For your consideration, I present Hopfly Brewing’s Triple Berry Sour.

Read More

Goose Island Announces 2020 Bourbon County Lineup

We know that Goose Island’s 2020 Bourbon County Stout lineup will go on sale this Black Friday as has been the tradition over the past 10 years. What we don’t know is how the release will be different this year with the pandemic. While we wait on the brewery to release those details, we can tell you about the variants for this year’s lineup.

Read More

Takeaways from Brewers Association Midyear Survey

This has been an incredibly tumultuous year for the craft beer industry. Alongside the obvious impacts of the pandemic, craft brewers across the nation also have to deal with an increasingly complex drinking audience and consistently fierce competition from both local and macro competitors. To assess the current state of the industry, the Brewers Association’s Bart Watson conducted his annual midyear survey to get a read on craft beer’s performance to date, the ever-growing list of challenges and maybe a fleeting slice of optimism for an industry that has been brutally impacted by the pandemic. Here are three main takeaways from Watson’s report. 

Read More

Other Half Brewing Company | Space Broccoli

Other Half Space Broccoli seems like the perfect beer to commemorate this summer’s first splashdown of American astronauts from space in 45 years. Space is cool again, with astronauts heading to the space station from U.S. soil and NASA planning a new mission to the moon for 2024. You see people wearing NASA shirts, not ironically, and breweries are pumping out space-themed beers at quite a clip. Other Half is no exception.

Read More

BREAKING | Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Announces 2021 Cancellation

There will be no joy in Breckenridge this January as Laura and Bill Lodge, organizers of Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines, have announced the cancellation of the 2021 event. The festival was planned for January 7-9, 2021 in Breckenridge, CO. The cancellation follows similar moves by virtually every onsite beer festival in 2020 and represents one of the first 2021 events to be canceled. It would have marked the 21st annual event.

Organizers attributed the cancellation to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions on gatherings.

“Our Big Beers board has met and discussed the pandemic situation. We are very clear that our first priority as a Big Beers community needs to be supporting our sponsors and brewers throughout this bizarre and difficult time as they work hard to adapt business as necessary – and not by asking you to travel and/or otherwise support us in January of 2021,” said organizer Laura Lodge.

Lodge went on to explain that they’ve decided not to move forward with a virtual version of the event, but that they are still exploring the possibility of some scaled-down homage via newsletter or social media that would take place on the originally proposed January 2021 date.

Read More

What We’re Drinking | August 7, 2020

Here were are entering the fourth quarter of the year and things haven’t settled down yet or returned to normal. Who would’ve thought that would be the case five months ago? Anyway, off-premise alcohol sales continue to soar and that seems to be the one consistency over the last several months. This week our nation came together to celebrate one of the most time honored traditions, National IPA Day (August 6). This is What We’re Drinking to celebrate the holiday and some other non-IPA varieties. Read More

Goodwood Brewing Co. | Shoot Your Eye Out Milk Stout

Goodwood Brewing Co., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky — with an additional taproom and brewpub in Frankfort — has a solid reputation for releasing flavorful brews that are unique enough to stand out, yet approachable enough to not turn off less-adventurous beer drinkers. Their Shoot Your Eye Out Milk Stout is no exception.

Read More

Brewery Showcase | Bad Dad Brewing Co.

Bad Dad Brewing Co. isn’t the sort of brewery you’re likely to stumble across accidentally. Barry Howard has no qualms saying that the brewery he and his sons founded in Fairmount, Indiana, isn’t in a location people generally think of as a destination. Instead, he’s proud of the fact that he made the brewery and its associated restaurant and brewpub into the destination.

Read More

Hop Butcher For The World | Blazed Orange Milkshake IPA

Even in uncertain times, craft breweries and American ingenuity continue to create unique new ways to drink and enjoy craft beer. In Chicago, finding an establishment to sit outside and enjoy a cold one can still be hard to come by. Outdoor dining is limited, and people are lining up at the door to get a small dose of what feels like normalcy. However, with ample green space in and around the city, there is no shortage of places that provide some shade and plenty of space to spread out if relaxation and quiet are what you crave.

Just in time for the dog days of summer, Hop Butcher For The World released their highly sought after Blazed Orange Milkshake IPA, giving Chicagoland craft beer drinkers an IPA reminiscent of childhood summers and simpler times. Inspired by the classic frozen treat, Hop Butcher used their American ingenuity to bring you a Creamsicle in a glass.

Read More