Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image
Scroll to top

Top

Beer Showcases

PD’s own dissect beer. Leave the pretentiousness on the curb.

Modern Times Beer| Blazing World

April 9, 2014 |

ABV: 6.8%

Modern Times’ can first caught my eye because it reminded me of a classic baseball uniform, inviting in that vintage American summer day feeling (I guess it’s like that every day in Southern California). This can is beautiful, simple, classic, and awesome. In the beer world, looks can deceive, but Modern Times Beer has it all: perfect inside and out. Read More

3 Floyds | Permanent Funeral

April 9, 2014 |

The wolf inside this pale ale is trying to walk upright. This bright and aromatic beer was brewed with our friends in the band Pig Destroyer. Using some minimal marketing speak that could be surmised to posit that even with the first sip, 3 Floyds Permanent Funeral is a werewolf of a beer makes you want to howl at the moon, party your face off and surf on top of your buddies van! I will agree with that 3 Floyds marketing team!

Read More

Short’s Brewing | Huma Lupalicious

April 8, 2014 |

7.7% ABV, 96 IBU

The world can be full of happy coincidences. I just made a trip to Michigan to plan my upcoming wedding to a beautiful gal. While enjoying … Read More

Upland Brewing Company | Raspberry Lambic

April 7, 2014 |

IBU: 10

I first fell in love with Upland Brewing Company two years ago at the Avery Sour Ale Festival in Boulder, CO.

While, Upland is based in Bloomington, IN … Read More

Bluejacket Brewery | The Betty + Sweet Science

April 3, 2014 |

Header image from: dc.eater.com

A rainy, miserable Sunday brought us to the Bluejacket in southwest Washington. It was during that lazy time in between brunch and dinner, when … Read More

Rodenbach Brewery | Grand Cru

April 2, 2014 |

This is the second time I have had this beer, and each time I fall more deeply, deeply in love with Rodenbach Grand Cru, a Flanders Sour style beer. I first sampled the Grand Cru at The Crest Gastropub in Columbus, OH. The main reason for trying the beer was that it was the most expensive on the menu ($10 for a 10 oz. pour), so I wanted to see what the buzz was about.  Read More

Epic Ales | The Briny Deep (Ale Brewed with Oysters)

April 1, 2014 |

6% ABV

25 IBU

Ale brewed with Hama Hama oysters

I won’t lie. I’ve been intimidated by this beer since I bought it. I love oysters and I love beer… but did that mean I’d love a beer brewed with oysters? As intrigued as I’ve been with the concept of putting animals in the mash since I read about Cock Ale in “The Joy of Homebrewing,” I was a bit surprised at my trepidation. I worked up my courage throughout the day and eventually cracked my 22.  Read More

Stillwater Artisanal Ales |Existent Ale

March 31, 2014 |

ABV: 7.4%

Let me tell you about an unusual beer that I love, Stillwater Artisanal Ale’s Existent Ale.

The bottle describes Existent Ale as an American Farmhouse. However, the “American Farmhouse” moniker wholly belies the character in the bottle. In general, this situation isn’t rare in such an oversized category of ale. But in particular, this brew is an easy-drinking porter/saison mash-up that has no idea what it wants.

Read More

Brew Dog – Hardcore IPA

March 28, 2014 |

When I think of India Pale Ales, I don’t think of The Subcontinent, I’d venture to guess that most of you don’t either. Maybe California or Comstock, MI, but probably not India. The IPA is a British invention that is as tired as that other big British invention: Watt’s steam engine. America does IPAs the right way – the American IPA is the Saturn V rocket to the paltry British IPA. Or at least so I thought. Read More

Boulevard Brewing Co. – 80 Acre

March 27, 2014 |

To be honest, the prospect of drinking American wheat beer seldom fills me with excitement and anticipation. I’m not happy to admit this personal bias, but I usually think of those insipid, often fruit-laden wheats some brewers feel compelled to keep around in case some poor soul who “doesn’t like the taste of beer” is dragged in to the taproom by their friends. For every Oberon or Gumballhead, I’ve suffered a hundred headache-inducing raspberry wheat coolers. Fortunately, Boulevard crafted just the beer to convert a hardened cynic like me. Read More

Bison Brewing | Organic Chocolate Stout

March 26, 2014 |

Bison Brewing’s Organic Chocolate is one of my favorite stouts, and has been for the last few years or so. It is rich in flavor without being heavy in the body, and low enough in alcohol to be sessionable. This is definitely NOT a sweet stout. (If sweet is your thing, check out Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate stout.) Brewed with Peruvian cocoa and roasted barley, this beer boasts big coffee and dark chocolate flavors.

Read More

Bell’s Brewing | Oberon Ale

March 25, 2014 |

In Michigan, Bell’s Oberon Ale means summertime. All over the state, there are parties and midnight keg-tappings on Oberon’s early spring release date, which this year fell on March 24. In Bell’s Brewery’s hometown of Kalamazoo, Oberon Day is nothing short of a holiday.

Read More

SweetWater Brewing – Happy Ending

March 24, 2014 |

As confusing as the weather is right now for us Ohioans, I felt this beer would be perfect to drink and talk about. SweetWater’s Happy Ending is an Imperial Stout that possesses a much different taste than most others of it’s kind. It is dark in body, has a creamy mocha head and a hoppy citrus nose with light coffee notes? What? That’s right, not only do you get the full body of a stout, but also the hoppy bitterness of an IPA. Now this is not crazy punch you in taste buds hops, but enough to make you do a double take on the beer you just drank.

Read More

Lost Abbey | Deliverance

March 20, 2014 |

ABV: 12.5%

This week I woke up and it felt like somebody just emptied a fistful of quarters into a Magic Fingers bed. Only I’m at home in California, not in a South Dakota Super8 circa 1978, and that means… earthquake! I’d never felt a quake before, and really it was over as soon as it started. Nothing cracked or fell, and even my pictures stayed straight on the wall. So it was mostly an excuse for folks to go all Chicken Little all over Twitter, but it was a little unsettling to think about the ground opening up and swallowing us all. What better beer to mark a “near death experience” than Deliverance from Lost Abbey.

Read More

Three Floyds Brewery | Alpha King Pale Ale

March 19, 2014 |

ABV 6.6%

IBU 68

One day, every Spring a vast percentage of my social networking feeds suddenly revolve around one topic: Dark Lord Day. Some will actually score tickets. Many will not. Either way, this “golden” ticket release day serves as a reminder to a couple very important things for me. 1. Spring is here. (DLD is always held the last Saturday of April.) 2. Beer Festival season is officially beginning. Just three short weeks after DLD, Chicago Craft Beer Week will begin… and it starts. 3. There will inevitably be a trip planned in the near future where Chicago pals will bicycle along the Lakefront path to the Three Floyds Brewery and enjoy the day. And lastly, 4. I remember why I love Three Floyds and that is, while they serve as a great beer year round, the majority of their portfolio is made up of great summer delights. Read More

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace

March 18, 2014 |

7.60% ABV

Ante up PorchDrinker, because today we have the Brooklyn Sorachi Ace on our table and it is…aces. Sorry, I had to. This delightful saison was intended for summers, but after its original warm-weathered debut, Brooklyn Brewery fans liked it so much, it worked its way off the seasonal list and onto the Brewmaster’s Reserve, offered year round. While I can see the summer appeal it is certainly a brew good for any season. However, The thing I like the most about this beer is that it has a little bit of everything, all rolled into one. (Yes, I did just accidentally slip into some Meredith Brooks lyrics there. I cringed for a second, but then I got over it. You will too.) This beer is somehow simultaneously crisp yet comforting, light but big, and strong but subtle. Basically, you’ve hit blackjack my friend. Read More

Evil Twin Brewing Freudian Slip

March 17, 2014 |

Evil Twin Brewing – Freudian Slip
ABV: 10.3%
IBU: ??? People still tabulate this bullshit?! Stop Analysing things, Sigmund!

A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of an unconscious (“dynamically repressed”) subdued wish, conflict, or train of thought guided by the super-ego and the rules of correct behavior. They reveal a “source outside the speech”. The concept is thus part of classical psychoanalysis.

Blah, blah, blah . . . Outside of psychoanalysis, Freudian Slip, should only refer to a beer made with no mistake, no error, no subdued wishes, no conflicts, no trains of thought derailed . . . And if my super-ego wants to delve into a delicious American Barleywine like Freudian Slip, so be it!

Read More

Southampton Publick House – Imperial Porter

March 13, 2014 |

With Spring Forward a very big part of our lives this past weekend, you would almost think it was time for this writer to find a new style of beer … Read More

Spoetzl Brewery – Shiner Bock

March 12, 2014 | 1

ABV: 4.4%

Bitterness: 13 IBU

Shiner Bock. I couldn’t tell you the first time I tried it, but my most recent love affair with the Texas brew began shortly after Christmas. My friends Christine, Samantha and I went to see Dallas Buyers Club, and at the end of the film Jennifer Garner and Matthew McConaughey are splitting none other than (you guessed it!) a bottle of Shiner Bock. Up until this point, I had kind of forgotten about it, which isn’t fair to such a stellar beer, but it just got lost in the fray. Read More

Infinite Monkey Theorem | Barrel Aged Citra Dry Hopped Pear Cider

March 11, 2014 |

There are moments in your life that become firmly imprinted for the rest of your existence. The first time you ride a bike, the first time you see your team … Read More