Craft Beer News
PorchDrinking brings you the breaking in craft beer news.
New Belgium La Folie Grand Reserve: PX Just Changed the Sour Game
February 6, 2019 | Karen Mills
For the past two decades, La Folie has transformed the country’s understanding of American Sour beers and inspired innumerable breweries to embark on their own quest for acidity. But like all truly great innovators, the best are not satisfied resting on their laurels. Two years ago, New Belgium introduced the next extension of La Folie with the use of Geisha coffee. And now, we have it’s latest entry, La Folie Grand Reserve: PX, available beginning February 9th.
Denver’s FERMÆNTRA Brewery Announces Upcoming Closure
February 5, 2019 | Tristan Chan
2019 has already been an ugly year for craft breweries in Colorado. While we’re just over a month into the new year, four Colorado breweries have already announced their closure … Read More
AB InBEV’s Acquisition of RateBeer Aimed at Data Driven Dominance
February 5, 2019 | Scott Davidson
AB InBEV wants your data.
Hazy Inspiration from Different Sources: How Bell’s and Surly Created Their New Hazy IPAs
February 5, 2019 | Taylor Laabs
The Hazy IPA beer-style is primed for a big 2019. Amidst GABF category recognition and consumer demand, every brewer aimed at appealing to today’s beer consumer has made the creation of a Hazy IPA or some variety of it a mandate on their brew list. The trend has become an unavoidable one for old and new brewers alike, from almost every region. What started as a brewing style that was strictly New England-style in nature has bounced from coast and coast and is now getting a unique Midwesterner spin from two of the Midwest’s best IPA creators: Bell’s Brewery and Surly Brewing Co. Both have built their business on a flagship IPA that centers around bitter hops and a strong malt bill (Two Hearted and Furious, respectively). Now, both are using their IPA experience and some unique forms of inspiration in the creation of their new, nationally-distributed hazy IPAs: Bell’s Official and Surly One Man Mosh Pit. Here are the details. Read More
San Francisco Beer Week | Can’t-Miss Events February 5-10
February 5, 2019 | Constance Del Rio
How are y’all doing? I am hoping San Francisco Beer Week (SFBW) hasn’t been too rough: We still have six days to go! SFBW is an amazing craft brewer’s guild event marathon with multiple events all over the greater San Francisco Bay area. The five guilds (San Francisco, East Bay, Silicon Valley, Coast and North Bay) gather together for tap takeovers, collaboration releases, food pairing events and many other types of fun times.
Working in the industry, there are two moods when you see SFBW approaching: Either you are hella pumped or you start chugging coconut water! Below are some can’t-miss events for the rest of the week. Get pumped and honestly—I suggest stocking up on coconut water.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Acquires Sufferfest Beer Co.
February 4, 2019 | Karen Mills
We’re only one month into the new year and Sierra Nevada is already making big moves. Today, the Chico, CA-based brewery announced the acquisition of Sufferest Beer Company marking the company’s first-ever acquisition. In their announcement, the two breweries stated that shared values, commitment to innovation, and common goals as the root of the new partnership. Needless to say, this is an exciting development for both companies.
Chicago Quick Sips: Valentine’s Day Edition
February 4, 2019 | Mike Zoller
As Valentine’s Day approaches whether you have a special someone in your life or not, just know that Chicago’s breweries are there for you and that beer never judges.
We compiled a list of all kinds of events/promotions breweries around the Chicagoland area are doing for the week of Valentine’s Day.
CANarchy & Brooklyn Brewing Begin NorCal Distro During SF Beer Week
February 3, 2019 | Constance Del Rio
As if San Francisco Beer Week (SFBW) wasn’t crazy enough with all of the Greater SF Bay Area breweries converging on Pier 35, three big-name breweries, Three Weavers out of LA, … Read More
San Francisco Beer Week | Can’t-Miss Events February 3-4
February 3, 2019 | Justin Carter
Hello darkness, my old friend…San Franciso Beer week is here again. This celebrated week that runs February 1 – 10 is a collection of curated events, spanning multiple days, that celebrate craft beer and the craft beer community. We’ve rounded a handful events you don’t want to miss today and tomorrow. Read More
New Holland Expands the Dragon’s Milk Family with New Lower ABV Offering
February 1, 2019 | Taylor Laabs
In the dead of winter, seasoned beer drinkers often reach for the high-ABV behemoths that warm their insides. Hearty barrel-aged stouts like New Holland Brewing’s Dragon’s Milk and its many Reserve variants have often been the beer of choice for such an occasion. And yet, one can only have so many viscous, flavor-packed stouts before keeling over and ceding to lighter, more approachable options. New Holland knew this and decided to make an adventurous change to their hallmark brand, introducing Dragon’s Milk White, a bourbon barrel-aged white stout that stands firm at 6% ABV. We asked the brewery about the new beer and what consumers should expect from a barrel-aged offering that comes in on the lighter side – both in color and in alcohol content.
Middle Brow Beer Co. Opens Its Taproom After Five Years of Waiting
January 31, 2019 | Mike Zoller
Motor Row. Ten 90. Lo Rez. Church Street Brewing. Great Central. Big Chicago. After contract brewing in six different locations and putting over 20,000 miles on their cars over the past five years, Middle Brow Beer Co. finally has a home of their own.
Brewery Locks Arms with Denver Teachers During Strike
January 30, 2019 | Scott Davidson
Denver’s teachers voted last week to strike after negotiations between Denver Public Schools (DPS) and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) fell though. At the center of the strike is a disagreement over teacher’s pay, including a pay-for-performance system called ProComp. During negotiations, DPS offered teachers a 10% pay raise and offered some concessions on ProComp. DCTA rejected the offer, seeking a 12.5% increase in pay and the streamlining or elimination of several ProComp incentives. Read More
2019 Craft Beer Predictions | The Changing Face of Beer
January 28, 2019 | Eric Jackson 1
If you’re looking back at 2018 as if you were Biggie in 1994 and saying to yourself, “it was all a dream” (or nightmare), wake up! NEIPAs, Milkshake IPAs, Milk Stouts, and Massively Fruited Sours/ IPAs aren’t going anywhere. In 2018 we witnessed not only The Brewer’s Association recognizing the Juicy or Hazy IPA as an official style, but we saw exploding fruit bombs, more breweries expanding their taprooms (Reformation Brewery, Lickinghole Brewery) and more diverse beer festivals, like the Fresh Fest in Pittsburgh, Beers With(out) Beards in NYC, and the Dames and Dregs Beer Festival in Atlanta just to name a few.
However as you probably deciphered from the title, this article isn’t about what happened last year, but it’s predicting the craft beer trends for 2019.
The Comprehensive 2019 Beer Release Calendar Roundup
January 28, 2019 | Mathew Powers
For the past five years, we have composed a national roundup of brand and beer release calendars from our nation’s breweries. To gain a sense of the astounding diversity of beer produced by the more than 7,000 breweries operating today, and to help get you excited about what is to come in 2019, we present to you the 2019 Beer Release Calendar roundup.
We will continually update this page as soon as we receive information (many breweries are still in the final stages of finalizing their calendars). If your brewery isn’t listed and you’d like to share your release calendar, please reach out to us via [email protected] and we’d love to add you to the list!
Special thanks to our friends at OnTap Credit Union, who have been crafting banking solutions for breweries, brewery employees and beer lovers for the past 64 years in Golden and Arvada. Their support in underwriting PorchDrinking allows us to continue to research and present in-depth pieces like the the 2019 Beer Release Calendar Roundup.
February’s Looking Stout, Here’s the 2019 Mountain Sun Stout Month Lineup
January 24, 2019 | Tristan Chan
Ok, so 2019 didn’t exactly start off on the best note, with the government shut down, dumb people BirdBoxing the internet, more Kanye tweets, the whole Covington Catholic thing and another Patriots Super Bowl appearance, I think most of America is ready to move on to February.
Lagunitas Adapts its Packaging to Evolve its IPA Portfolio
January 24, 2019 | Taylor Laabs
Lagunitas Brewing Co. is a massive brewery with a global reach. Yet, they still remain nimble enough to adapt to the changing drinking preferences of today’s craft beer consumers. From draft, to bottles, to cans, the preferred drinking vessel for many in America has changed over the past decade. Largely because beer became more intertwined with the unplanned outings and weekend activities of enthusiasts. With an eye on appealing to consumers on-the-go and in the midst of day-drinking activities, Lagunitas has decided to make two drastic updates to their canning portfolio. Their bellwether Lagunitas IPA arrives in 19.2oz stovepipes and sessionable DayTime IPA comes to 12oz cans. We asked Lagunitas’ Communications Director, Karen Hamilton, about the news.
Texas Still Doesn’t Allow Beer To-Go, But Breweries Are Fighting Back
January 24, 2019 | Pam Catoe
Texas is officially the only remaining state that doesn’t allow beer-to-go sales from craft breweries. In 2018, the Texas Craft Brewers Guild formed a political action committee aimed at putting … Read More
Lafayette’s Uturn BBQ is Colorado’s Second Brewery to Close in 2019
January 23, 2019 | Scott Davidson
In another casualty of Colorado’s immensely competitive craft beer landscape, Uturn BBQ and Brewery in Lafayette, Colorado announced Monday via Facebook, that they would be closing their doors to be … Read More
Portland’s Widmer Brothers Brewing Announces Pub Closure
January 23, 2019 | Tristan Chan
One of America’s founding fathers of craft beer, Portland, OR’s Widmer Brothers Brewing, announced yesterday that they have closed their North Portland pub as of Sunday, January 20. First opened … Read More
F*** Your Hair Explores the Story Behind 5 Rabbit’s Chinga tu Pelo Beer
January 22, 2019 | Mike Zoller
For a short period during the 2016 election, 5 Rabbit Cerveceria was producing one of the most talked-about beers in the country. From being the house beer at Rebar in the Trump Tower to cutting ties and openly mocking then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, the One City Films documentary “F*** Your Hair” tells the story of Chinga tu Pelo.
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