Cherry Creek Winery | Dancing Elephants

ABV: 6%

I’m not normally a cider guy. I’m spoiled by good non-alcoholic cider in Michigan, and the different taste just confuses me. However, it’s the only type of craft beer that my boyfriend seems to actively enjoy (that’s in not small part to Vandermill of Grand Rapids coming to the Fall Detroit beer festival last year). Therefore, I ventured this summer in order to find something we can both enjoy. And the search came just in time. As The Rio Olympics pointed out in their bummer presentation, it’s historically hot and you gotta find a non-AC blasting way to keep cool on the strings of unbearably hot day. Delightfully, Cherry Creek Winery has decided to branch out from the grape game and created Dancing Elephants Hard Cherry Apple Cider.

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Paradox Beer Company | No. 40 Pineapple Upside-Down Sour

ABV: 7.6%

It’s no secret that 2016 has been quite the year for sour and wild beers; some even argue it is THE style category of the year. You can’t turn your head in a decent bottle shop without spotting a new flavored Gose, Berliner or raspberry sour blend. It is the key for many breweries to stick out in this new wave of names and labels. Read More

Crystal Lake Brewing | Beach Blonde

ABV 5.3 % | IBU: 18

Summer isn’t over yet. There’s still time. There’s still time for cook-outs, boating the lake or river, bonfires, s’mores and a backyard game of bags. With my first child coming hard down the pike and store shelves already bloated with Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers, I keep telling myself there’s still time to tick-off the activities on my summer must-do list. So perhaps that’s in part why I’m completely enamored with an easy drinking, well-rounded, and totally crushable beer from Crystal Lake Brewing. Read More

S.A. Damm | Estrella Damm

So far, this summer has been a scorcher and in times of extreme heat, sometimes water just doesn’t cut it. A nice, cold beer can help ease the heat, quench … Read More

Temperance Beer Co. | Greenwood Beach Blonde Ale

Are you still searching for that perfect summer beer that can quench your insatiable thirst created by a scorching mid-day sun? Then you may want to wander over to Temperance Beer Co. in Evanston, IL, for their Greenwood Beach Blonde Ale with Pineapple. It is only around for a few months out of the year and makes its appearance on the Chicago beer scene in early May. Being named after Greenwood Street beach in Evanston, it makes sense that this blonde ale is one that you can sip on all day and truly enjoy what Temperance Beer Co. has brewed for you. Now back to the day where I first discovered this amazing beer! Read More

Eventide Brewing | Eventide Kölsch

ABV: 5.3% | IBU: 24

I am grumpy and thus, I pen today’s beer showcase in the spirit of protest.

This is me standing up out of my chair, going to the window and yelling, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Or, something like that.

See, it’s another lovely Atlanta August day: 93 degrees and humid. That’s no surprise—that’s August in Georgia and that’s not why I’m yelling from my window. Read More

Gun Hill Brewing | Rise Up Rye

In “Hamilton,” the musical that is STILL dominating Broadway (and taking home 11 Tony Awards), our entry point into the American Revolution is a toast between friends with a shared vision. Alexander Hamilton, played by Javier Munoz, is a tenacious revolutionary with humble origins and big aspirations.

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Stillwater Artisanal’s Moneytree$ Finds Home at Crazy Mountain

As “funky” sours have become more of a mainstay in the Colorado beer ecosystem, they’ve started to collide with a brewery’s ability and desire to cross breed classics with more contemporary beer styles. Read More

Stone Brewing Co. | Stone IPA Virginia Brewery Prototype

During a trip to Richmond, VA, earlier this spring, I was lucky to receive a behind-the-scenes tour of Stone Brewing Co.’s new East Coast operation. Located in the Fulton neighborhood east of downtown Richmond, the 220,000-square-foot facility was very much in the building stages during my visit, with both hard hat and vest required for walking through the construction site. None the less, it was exciting to see an operation of this size being built from the ground up. Read More

Creature Comforts Brewing Co. | Automatic

5.2% ABV

Creature Comforts Brewing Co.’s Automatic Pale Ale comes straight out of Athens, Georgia which was just voted the number one city in the SEC for craft beer. And for very good reasons. Creature Comforts Brewing Co. is killing it with their current lineup, sending beer geeks all around Georgia in search of their popular brews. Automatic Pale Ale is their newest canned beer, released this summer, and it is causing excitement across the Southeast.

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Two Brothers Brewing | In the Flesh Pineapple

Is there any beer style hotter than sour beers right now? While sour beers have been common in some areas in Europe for a long time, they’re beginning to grow in popularity here in the United States. Chicago-based Two Brothers Brewing has just started an entire series of beers that will only be American sours. To kick-off the series they have released In the Flesh Pineapple.

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Evil Twin Brewing | Aún Más A Jesús

Header image courtesy of Hops About Beer

Style: Imperial Stout | ABV: 12%

This past weekend marked a milestone for me in my beer drinking journey. I have been diligently tracking every beer that I have drank for the past three years, and thanks to my liver and the app Untappd, I have finally reached 1000 unique beers! Read More

Braxton Brewing Co. | Summertrip Passion Fruit Berliner Weisse

Photo by Braxton Brewing Co. 

ABV: 4% | IBU: 4

“Summer isn’t a season, it’s a state of mind”

To those who are still trying to hold onto summer, I’m … Read More

Forbidden Root | Cherrytree Amaro Ale

ABV: 9.0%

Botanicals are seemingly having their place in the sun right now. Plants are more popular than ever in America, with people ordering kale in unlikely places, foraging for wild plants to eat, lining up to witness Corpse Flowers blooming country-wide and enjoying some previously illegal ones recreationally in four states. It was only a matter of time before they started showing up in our beer. Read More

Odd13 Brewing | Hawaiian Bartender

ABV: 6.7%

With the scorching temperatures and steamy days we’ve been having all summer, it’s time to cool off with a tropical treat—Hawaiian Bartender from Odd13 Brewing. This sour blonde with mango and pineapple added is nothing short of a luau in a can. Read More

Brew Hub | Keybilly Island Ale

When in Rome, you do as the Roman’s do. This of course means fresh pasta, huge late meals, copious amounts of wine, and if you’re smart, a run through some of Rome’s surging craft beer bars and microbreweries. Read More

Boulevard Brewing Company | Ginger Lemon Radler

ABV: 4.1% | IBU: 12

If you’ve ever been to, are from, or know someone from Cleveland, you definitely know a few things: the Browns are terrible but we pull for them no matter what, there’s about a 75% chance something is under construction and that the weather is about as unpredictable as the Power Ball. Within the span of a week, you can experience all four seasons – and that’s just in the month of April. From Arctic-level blizzards to Sahara like spans of heat, the weather on the North Coast tends to run the full gamut. Read More

Stone Brewing | Stone IPA

ABV: 6.9% | IBU: 77

I have become something of a fresh IPA  snob. With so many amazing hoppy ales to choose from these days, once you’ve tasted a super fresh IPA, it becomes difficult to stomach a dust-covered bottle that says India Pale Ale, but doesn’t include a bottled on date. Have you had a Stone Ruination bottled the same month you bought it? WOW. The difference is palpable.

Under normal circumstances, i.e.: Living in America, this is typically a non-issue – as many of the best beers have date codes. But moving to Switzerland, which is outrageous, and not living in a major city means access to true American-style IPAs have become limited. Cue the violin and tears.

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Creature Comforts | Tritonia w/ Cucumber & Lime

It’s been well-documented over the past couple of years that fruit is taking over the beer scene. There is tons of watermelon beer, a handful of pineapple beer, a gaggle of mango beer, a plethora of blueberry beer… you get the idea. But didn’t we learn that healthy eating is about your fruits AND your vegetables?! All too often, a vegetable taste or smell in beer is because of a brewing error. Not to get too technical or sciencey, but it has to do with dimethyl sulfides dissolving back into the cooling wort, or even a rogue bacteria getting into the brew, and it can create a corn, cabbage or sauerkraut taste and smell. But when vegetables are done purposefully, and done well, it opens up a whole new category of beer awesomeness. Read More

Rhinegeist Brewery | Trips American Wild Ale

ABV: 7.5% | IBU: 12

A few weekends ago, Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio had their anniversary party celebrating “Three Years of Thirst!” Located in the historical Over the Rhine Brewery … Read More