Anchor Steam – Anchor Brewing

Anchor Steam – Anchor Brewing

ABV: 4.9%

Need a beer that will help convert your dad to the craft brews that we know and love? If I were you, I’d throw him an Anchor Steam and be on my way. Read More

Deschutes & Hair of the Dog – Conflux #1

ABV 11.6%

The craft beer industry is a collaborative world. When the great minds of two breweries come together, the results are often twice as good. The barrel aged project between Hair of the Dog and Deschutes that results in Conflux #1 is an excellent example of this collaborative style.  Read More

Mt. Carmel Springtime Ale

Most of the Midwest just got what (we hope) is the last snow of the season. Not that we had that many to begin with. Before the storm, I went to my local grocery in search of something dark and delicious, and ended up bringing Mt. Carmel’s Springtime Ale instead. That’s not to say that it wasn’t delicious; however, this was the darkest beer I could find, so I was severely let down by my grocer’s selection.

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Lexington Brewing Company Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout

Lexington Brewing Company’s Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout – (8.0% ABV)

A snow day has allotted me the time to bring you another beer review this week (lucky you). And, as optimism amongst most writers on and readers of this blog spikes about the impending Spring, my job, nay, my duty is to drudge everyone back down into the pragmatic and dark depths of Winter. So hold your daylight savings horses one minute, while the white still blankets the ground because the only green I see on the horizon is that of St. Patty and his drunken band of rabble rousers. What does all of this mean? It is only quarter to Spring and we still have a good fifteen minutes of darkness before the wheats inundate our gustatory cells and leave those forlorn Bocks, Stouts, and Porters to hibernate for the summer.

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Green Beer Day | Miami University

Every year on Miami University’s campus thousands of students voluntarily climb out of their slumber at approximately 4 or 5 a.m. for a pilgrimage up High Street. Their mecca lies Uptown where at 5:30 a.m. on the Thursday before spring break, every bar opens inordinately early to pour an Olympic pool’s amount of green colored beer. Today, March 16, is that day. A national holiday dubbed Green Beer Day (GBD).

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Three Floyd’s Brewing Dark Lord Days

By our nature, we covet.  And how do we begin to covet, you may ask?  Do we seek out things to covet?  Sure, we love the unusual and the eclectic; we find beauty in rare things and seek out that one of a kind piece.

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New Kids on the Block 80’s Party

We are extremely excited to announce a pair of radical parties coming up celebrating Colorado Craft Beer Week! The week of festivities put on by the Colorado Brewers Guild aims to celebrate Colorado breweries, their beer and the people who brew them.  CCBW will also feature special tappings, food and beer pairings, educational events and more including the Legends and Rarities event and the New Kids on the Block 80’s Party.

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West Sixth Amber Ale

5.5% ABV

Formerly known as the Deliberation Amber, Lexington’s West Sixth Brewery is canning its second beer now simply known as the Amber Ale. This beer has been on tap at the brewery since its inception, but February marked an expansion in both where and what they distribute.

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Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada – Rhizing Bines

Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada Rhizing Bines

ABV: 8%

IBUs: 70

Rhizing Bines is the delightful product of a mind meld between the kings of innovative hopping processes: Delaware’s Dogfish Head and California’s Sierra Nevada. What happens when two craft brew heavyweights from each coast combine their powers for good? Well, pretty fantastic beer, of course. This Imperial IPA is the second installation in these breweries collaborations, the first of which – the dark, maple brewed “Life & Limb” – debuted in 2009. Though I feel that more diehard hops fans will be left wanting for a bigger punch of bitterness, this is a beer that will please even those on the fence about IPAs. Read More

Odell Brewing Company – Deconstruction Ale

ABV: 10.5%
IBU: 26

In the dead of winter, there is a kind of cold that seeps deep into your bones. It chills you and won’t let you go unless you combat it in a very special way. So what’s a freezing Porch Drinker to do? Why grab a barrel-aged Deconstruction Ale from Odell Brewing Co. This golden ale has a complex, unique flavor that is hard to compete against.

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Avery Strong Ale Fest Preview

Here at PorchDrinking.com we love festivals. We are festivarians. Beer festivals, music festivals, bacon festivals, you name it! The opportunity to rub elbows and share stories and experiences with like-passionate people makes us giddy. On the horizon this weekend is the Avery Strong Ale Fest in Boulder, Colorado. The beers will be big and our smiles will be even bigger. Join us on the porch in preview!

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Homebrewing 101 – Your First Brew & Ingredients

This is part 2 of an ongoing series on homebrewing. For part one on equipment & pre-brewing prep, please go here.

Now that you have the right equipment, you need some ingredients for your first batch. If you are reading this article, you most likely know the four main ingredients in beer: Grains, Hops, Water, & Yeast. Quite simple, but within each of these categories there are a lot of options. While you might be intimidated by all of the selections, your first batch should be a simple one. I know you are probably excited to make the most amazing vanilla caramel mocha latte milk stout, complete with all sorts of fancy spices and ingredients, but that is not the way to start. You can’t be a five star chef without learning the ropes along the way, and the same can be said about being a brewer.

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3Beans Sixpoint Brewery

Remember Four Loko? Well, while I definitely don’t remember the nights I drank this fruity poison, I definitely remember the hullabaloo it caused in the news, for parents, and for the general public. And after only a few years of availability, it was no surprise when this drink was permanently banned from store shelves. Although the taste wasn’t all that great (kinda a mix of gasoline and Capri Sun) it was indeed a great concept. After all, it was a drink that got you drunk after one can (probably a little too drunk) and it gave you enough energy to stay up the entire night. However, I think we can all agree that Four Loko needed to be taken down at least one notch. Well, prayers have been answered, and whether one of my new favorite breweries, Sixpoint in Brooklyn, NY, meant to or not, I believe they created a more natural (and less terrifying) version of a Four Loko beverage. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, 3Beans. And don’t worry, it taste NOTHING like Four Loko.

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Cascara Quad – New Belgium

10.00%

When I looked outside at the forming white blanket my only concern was what brew could satisfy my cold spirit? I want big + I want malty + I want boozy. Luckily, I had a New Belgium Cascara Quad in my fridge. I’d been saving this (inexpensive) gem for the right time and today’s much needed snow offered a sweet reason to make it mine.

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Upland Brewing Co.-Komodo Dragon Fly Black IPA

Spring is in the air today in Cincinnati. It’s nearly 50 degrees out there, the sun is shining and the future is looking bright. A day like today is no time for a step back into wintery stouts and my usual heavy beer of choice. It’s time for something refreshing, like the taste of spring that’s teasing us today. Read More

Copper Kettle Brewery

Those of us who live in Colorado are lucky that we have such an amazing craft beer scene available to us. Most can find a local brewery within a few miles of them at any given time. At this particular moment, I am appreciating this fact as I’m in my company’s plane somewhere above Kansas on my way home to Denver, and craving an amazing craft beer. Copper Kettle Brewery, located at 1338 S. Valencia Street, in Denver near Parker and Mississippi, will be my first stop after I land. They opened with the intent to be the local “Cheers” brewery for those who live near them. Don’t let this fool you though, as they make some amazing beers and have won a few medals at GABF since their inception in 2011. Their most well-known beer is their Mexican Chocolate Stout, a spicy brew you will not forget. A gold medal winner at GABF in 2011 in the Herb and Spice Beer category, you will want to try this one when you visit.

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Oskar Blues Brewery – Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

A spontaneous road trip from Denver to Estes Park may turn into a random brewery trip if you’re lucky. More than 15 breweries sit between the two and it’s always a good idea to take advantage of that. On Saturday, I stopped at Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont. The colder weather out here in Colorado has opened up a lot of stout options over the last month. Hearing that Oskar Blue’s had one called Ten Fidy Imperial Stout left me intrigued. Read More

Heileman’s Old Style

If you live north of the Mason-Dixon Line, chances are the weather still stinks. But instead of listening to the overgrown rodent we call a “groundhog” for our meteorological forecasts, we can turn to an equally non-scientific sign that spring is just around the corner: pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training.

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BrewRiver GastroPub

I recently went on a first date to BrewRiver GastroPub in Cincinnati. Although it’s been open since last July, I just hadn’t found the time or the right company to enjoy it with until now. BrewRiver—aptly named since it sits along the Ohio River—gets on board with the local trend for all the right reasons. Their site states, “Supporting ‘local’ isn’t just about local food and drink. It’s also about the idea that when we support one another fully, there are no boundaries to consider and no lines to cross.” When I read that, I had a feeling I was in for a good experience.

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Trappist Achel Extra Brune

 9.5% ABV

Having just gone to the Cincy Winter Beerfest the evening before, I had a plethora of beers from which to choose for this review; however, there was a beer on hand that I have been waiting to open since Christmas, a gift from my brother in-law, who also has a predilection for good beers and a gives the best gifts: Trappist Achel Extra Brune. Read More