Chicago Quick Sips | Jan. 22 Chicago Beer News & Events

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected].

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Breweries Offering Free Food & Beer to Furloughed Government Workers

Putting aside one’s political party affiliation or beliefs, the government shutdown, which is now the longest in American history at 28 days, has impacted over 800,000 furloughed government workers and … Read More

We Talked with Allagash | Canning Allagash White; River Trip Debut

Classics can stay classics while still getting a refresh. Such is the case for Allagash White, one of the staple Belgian beers in the United States. Allagash announced last week that they’ll be canning Allagash White, as well as a new beer in their core lineup: River Trip. I got in touch with Brett Willis, marketing specialist at Allagash, to learn more about the announcement.

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Schlafly Beer Releases Flagship Beer in Cans | Pale Ale

Have you heard? Schlafly Beer will be releasing their flagship beer, Pale Ale, in 12 packs of 16 oz. cans! This is a big move from the largest, locally owned St. Louis brewery, that introduced the Midwest to craft beer in 1991. This announcement comes just ahead of Can Appreciation Day, which is coming up on January 24. Since their flagship beer has stood well over the test of time, Schlafly made the move to distribute in cans so that it’d be even more accessible to current and future craft beer lovers.

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Dogfish Head Reveals New Off-Centered Art Series Beer | The Perfect Disguise

Is it an IPA disguised as a Kölsch or a Kölsch disguised as an IPA? Well, you’ll be able to weigh in on this mystery in very soon because Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is revealing their newest Double IPA, The Perfect Disguise. In doing so, the Delaware brewery leverages two different beer styles to show off their creativity and come up with a beer that will surely be a topic of debate.

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Drink Beer, Protect the SF Bay with Anchor Brewing | Baykeeper IPA

Is there a better way to kick off the new year with a new brew that makes a fierce impact on the environment? Probably not! Anchor Brewing Company is doing just that. They’re proud to release Baykeeper IPA, which is made in collaboration with a local non-profit. The San Francisco Baykeeper has been defending the Bay from pollution for 30 years; so, Anchor teamed up with them to create this bright and delicious IPA.

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Firestone Walker Expands its National IPA Profile with Release of New Mind Haze IPA

“We’re finally ready do a hazy IPA the Firestone way.” Those were the words from Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson in this week’s press release. While 2018 created the initial haze craze, 2019 represents the second wave of the trend, with more major players like California’s Firestone Walker Brewing Co. entering the fray with their new Mind Haze hazy IPA.

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Oskar Blues and Cigar City Announce First CANarchy Collab

With the passing of each new year, it’s natural for beer fans to wonder what new innovative beers are in store for the next 12-months. And now we’ve got the first big offering from two major industry names in Oskar Blues and Cigar City. It comes in the form of Bamburana, a collaborative beer between these two CANarchy Collective owned breweries. Not only does it mark the first widely released collaborative release within the CANarchy family, but it’s also the first nationally distributed collab beer for the two as well.

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Hear from the Experts: National Brewers Reflect on 2018 Year in Beer

Just like that, another year has come to close. And with this new year comes an excuse to reflect on the last twelve months. It’s a time to celebrate what we’ve learned, experienced and (at least in our case) drank, and a reason to set goals and resolutions for how we want the next year to be even better than the last.

Here at PorchDrinking, our first order of business for 2019 was to use the arrival of the new year to reach out to some of the best and brightest in craft beer. We wanted to get these pioneers’ take on 2018, and gauge their thoughts on how they see craft continuing to evolve as we begin our new journey around the sun.   Read More

The Longer the Government Shutdown Goes On, the Bigger Problem it Becomes for Craft Brewers

The government shutdown is now in its third week due to the debate over a border wall and has resulted in noted consequences for federal workers, government entities and general governmental functions. While many are more pressing, perhaps the one many craft beer fans should keep an eye on is how it impacts the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

One of TTB’s functions is approving new beer labels, licenses and ingredients that are vital to the continued business of any craft brewer, winery or distiller. As long as the government keeps its doors shut, the TTB does too, which means any meaningful innovation or initiative from craft brewers come to a grinding halt as the government body will not “review or approve any new submissions” during the shutdown.  Here are some of the major implications if the government decides to extend the shutdown further.

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Chicago’s Barrel-Aging Pros Answer: What’s Next for Barrel-Aged Beers?

When calendars turn to a new year, the barrel-aged beer craze tends to die down just a little with most of the breweries having already released their clean bourbon barrel-aged rarities to the public. With so many breweries now producing barrel-aged beers not just in the winter months, but year-round, where does this style go from here?

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2nd Shift Brewing Company | Katy

Katy was the beer that introduced me to 2nd Shift Brewing Company, back in late 2013, when they were based in New Haven, Missouri. Their reputation proceeded them, as I had been looking to try their beers in St. Louis, but had no luck until I found Katy at a house beer tasting event for Pedal The Cause.

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PorchDrinking’s Best in Beer 2018 | Pacific Region

2018 has been quite a year for California! Our Pacific team has been all over this lovely state to cover beer festivals, brewery openings, special releases and much more. We … Read More

Schlafly Final Ibex Cellar Release of 2018 | Barrel Aged Barleywine

Schlafly is releasing a Barrel Aged Barleywine, the last “From The Ibex Cellar” series of 2018. The Schlafly Ibex Cellar series is one for which I’ve grown antiquated since my first visit to the Ibex Cellar in 2017, located beneath the historic Schlafly taproom in downtown St. Louis with friend and local brewing legend, Stephen Hale.

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PorchDrinking’s Best in Beer 2018 | Pacific Northwest

2018 was another exciting year to be a member and supporter of the Washington beer scene. From highly anticipated new openings to heartbreaking brewery closures, PorchDrinking’s PNW team is grateful for the opportunity to cover it all. In honor of our beer-obsessed, flannel-wearing, hop-loving region, we present PorchDrinking’s Best of the PNW Awards for 2018:  Read More

Deep Wood vs. Bourbon County | Who Won in Chicago?

With Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout now fully released and Revolution’s Deep Wood series with one more small release in January, we can take a step back and see how these beers stacked up against one another this year.

In no way am I saying that these are the best and only barrel-aged Stouts coming out of Chicago that we should talk about this season. However, when you have two behemoths like Revolution and Goose Island in one city, it’s hard not to compare them side-by-side with their biggest releases.

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Why I’m Giving up Hazy IPAs in 2019

In 2019 I’m giving up the haze crazy, hop bombs, and juice boxes. I’m doing this not to rebel or revolt against the New England IPA. It’s a matter of self-control and I just didn’t do a good job of that this past year. It’s a fine style of beer that has taken this industry by storm and helped launch some of the most well-known breweries today, but personally, in 2018 I just gravitated towards them too often. Read More

Dogfish Head Stretches its Creative Roots with New Alternate Takes Whiskey Series

Delaware-based Dogfish Head is anything but timid when it comes to their product. From beers made with space rocks to colorful creations that combine beer and wine, the brewery most known for their intensely-hopped IPAs has made it a point to expand their creative profile beyond just beer into the lucrative distilling space. After experimenting with small batches of spirits in as early as 2002, Dogfish put their foot in the ground in 2015 with the launch of their new distillery which creates 100 percent scratch-made gin, whiskey, rum and vodka at their Milton, DE location. Now, the ambitious brewery and distiller is taking things one step further with the launch of their Alternate Takes spirits program that aims to shake up the traditional liquor you see on your local liquor store shelves.

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First Look | Cellar West Artisan Ales Re-Opens Today in Lafayette

After over two years in North Boulder, Cellar West Artisan Ales is moving to a new home in nearby Lafayette, CO.

From the start, Zachary Nichols, the owner/brewer at Cellar … Read More

Here’s Where to Find Founders Brewing CBS & KBS in Colorado

When we first broke the news back in August that Founders Brewing would finally be arriving in Colorado for distribution, the immediate flood of questions we fielded from readers centered … Read More