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

Top

Features

District Brew Yards Now Open in Wheeling, IL

November 4, 2022 |

District Brew Yards is well-known within the West Loop of Chicago as a pour-your-own beer hall with four different breweries in operation. After looking for expansion opportunities throughout the past year, the previous Ram Brewing location in Wheeling, Illinois was the perfect fit. The current West Loop location has four breweries in residency: Around the Bend Beer Co, Burnt City Brewing, Twisted Hippo and Casa Humilde Cerveceria. At the Wheeling location, customers will find these four breweries, as well as Histrionic Brewlab. In addition to these five breweries, there is an Added Libations Tab, where ciders and wines will be available.

Read More

These Are America’s Best Breweries for Barrel-Aged Stouts

November 3, 2022 | 28

As warmer days begin to dwindle and the daylight hours dissipate, it feels only natural for our taste preferences to evolve accordingly. The onset of colder weather, as well as the arrival of the holiday season, always feels like a natural signal for beer drinkers to shift their focus toward boozier, barrel-aged Stouts. In addition to the perceived liquid layer of warmth, these specialty releases also feel fitting for gifting or saving for special occasions, which become more bountiful as the end of the year draws nearer.

Coincidentally, in celebration of International Stout Day, we decided to showcase the country’s best breweries for barrel-aged Stouts. This post was co-authored by Tristan Chan, Eric Griffin, Alysia Shoemaker, and Britt Antley.

Photo by Brittni Bell Warshaw

This post was made possible with the support of Laws Whiskey House. In addition to their no-shortcuts approach toward producing world-class whiskey. They also have lent their barrels to some of the best barrel-aged beers in the country. Explore more at www.lawswhiskeyhouse.com

Read More

Barrel Room Spotlight | Pulpit Rock Brewing

November 2, 2022 |

While many breweries may claim it to be unspoken, there has undoubtedly been good-spirited competition across the country when it comes to the realm of barrel-aging. Whether it be the value placed on selected barrels versus adjuncts, formulas for length of aging time to establish a specific finishing gravity, tweaking the interplay of base malt and barrel, or the variation of countless other factors throughout the process, every brewery has their own way of creating a product that is both unique and marketable.

Read More

Beer Is Art | Obakeng Malope’s Campaign to Lift South Africa’s Youth Out of Poverty Through Craft Beer

October 14, 2022 |

Obakeng Malope has a mission. The South African brewer and filmmaker has started a project blending beer culture and social change with enormous scope on both a national and international level, and her hard work and tenacity has already led to significant press and multi-national collaboration.

Malope is the creator of Beer Is Art, an initiative to offer access to the craft beer industry to South Africa’s unemployed young people. In the second quarter of 2022, 4.8 million 15-34 year old South Africans were unemployed, 46.5% of the population in that age group. Malope believes that the growing South African craft beer industry has the potential to help lift some of these young people out of poverty. “The youth are sitting at home unemployed here in South Africa. The campaign teaches about beer, that beer is not something that you drink and get drunk off. We teach beer and food pairing, brewing, beer podcasting and licensing. We show them that they can turn beer into a career,” she says.

Read More

Staff Picks for Best Beers of the Month | September 2022

October 10, 2022 |

Spooky season is upon us and we’re thinking back to some of our favorite beers over the last month or so. Schedules and holiday plans are probably dotting your calendars already as the football season rolls on and winter sports are about to start. The positive thing about having such chaotic weeks lately is that beers have tasted really great. Each one allows for that small break from reality for just a few minutes. As always, we hope you’ve had some of these beers we loved, too. Read More

Beer Industry Workers Find Community Through Craft Beer Professionals Group

September 2, 2022 |

For an industry so tightly built around togetherness and community, the pandemic could have easily crippled many aspects that came to define the very fabric of craft beer. But the digital age has helped us to adapt quickly and for one online beer community, it was the perfect opportunity to serve as a resource for togetherness at a time when connecting in person was prohibited.

Read More

PorchDrinking’s Best Beers of the Month | August 2022

August 31, 2022 |

Vacations are ending, and school is starting back. That can only mean one thing: summer is ending and 2022 isn’t slowing down at all. That’s alright, though, because the last quarter of the year means good weather, football and big beers. Most of the time anyway. Before we get ahead of ourselves and send summer sailing, let’s all raise a glass one more time for the staff favorite beers of August. Read More

Could Novel Strand’s New Fermented Tea Beverage Spark The Next Big Trend?

August 19, 2022 |

The art of fermentation has been around for thousands of years, with evidence of fermented beverages tracing back to as far as 7000 BCE. Even still, innovative new techniques, modern ingredients and a deeper understanding of the science of fermentation have broken ground for new advancements in the field.

Tamir Danon, co-founder of Denver’s Novel Strand Brewing has embraced an unconventional approach toward microbial sciences since beyond the Baker neighborhood brewery first opened in 2018. Prior to Novel Strand, Danon earned his master’s degree in microbiology with a focus on genetically modifying yeast to model diseases like cancer for his graduate thesis. And at NYU, Danon worked studying genetic disorders. But nowadays, he’s applying what he’s learned toward experimenting with Brettanomyces and testing out unique new hop varietals.

Read More

AleBlazers Series | Q&A with Japas Cervejaria

August 18, 2022 |

Japas Cervejaria is a brewery that has been around for seven years, and is now taking America by storm with a series of special events throughout the month. Owned by three Nipo-Brazilian women, Maíra Kimura, Yumi Shimada and Fernanda Ueno, they have been brewing in Brazil since 2015. The Japas Cervejaria brand has already begun distribution throughout California, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with plans to open South Carolina and Texas soon! We were able to connect with the three founders to discuss how they got started brewing beer and how it helped them explore their Japanese-Brazilian ancestry.

Read More

South Asian Heritage Month | Why It Matters To The Beer Industry

August 9, 2022 |

Being a South Asian in beer within the diaspora can be a lonely business. As per Brewer’s Association data from 2021, just 2% of US breweries are owned by Asians, with no available information on South Asians specifically. With so few South Asians involved in the beer industry, taking time to reflect on and celebrate South Asian Heritage Month* (July 18 -August 1**) offers an opportunity to amplify our presence, support one another, and reach out and share our culture through the medium of beer, our chosen career or interest.

Read More

Celebrate IPA Day with Firestone Walker’s Hop Dreams: A Brewer’s Journey

August 4, 2022 |

The idea of craft beer is often romanticized around the idea of artisan-grown hops, grain, and locally sourced water. But over the years as the craft beer movement has exploded and craft beer’s base has grown wider, some of that sense of craftmanship may have gotten lost in the messaging.

Read More

Firestone Walker IPA Mixed Pack Featuring Melon Conspiracy

July 22, 2022 |

Much like ordering a flight at a new brewery, mixed packs are a great option when you want to have a variety of beers available to you. If you find yourself unsure what to bring to that summer barbecue or boat ride, variety packs can provide the perfect solution! Fortunately, Firestone Walker has a variety of mixed packs to choose from, including the new IPA Mixed Pack featuring Melon Conspiracy.

Read More

Colorado Beer Beat | Bi-Weekly Beer Release Guide 6/30

June 30, 2022 |

Welcome to the Colorado Beer Beat, a bi-weekly roundup of all of the new can releases around the state. From Denver to Grand Junction and everywhere in between, we have you covered. Be sure to check back on Thursdays (usually!) to find out what’s new in the Colorado beer scene.

The holiday weekend is starting a little bit early because of the Avs Championship Parade going on today! Now it’s just a matter of finding the perfect spot to watch from and the perfect brew to sip on while you’re there. Keep the suds flowing all the way through the 4th of July to make it one of the best weekends in Colorado this summer!

Read More

AleBlazers Series | Q&A with Sarah Flora of Flora Brewing

June 21, 2022 |

As part of the PorchDrinking AleBlazers Series, I was excited to get to chat with Sarah Flora of Flora Brewing. If you’ve had a chance to peruse her website or YouTube channel, you know that she is a top-notch homebrewer. Additionally, she just made her commercial debut at Pilot Project Brewing, a brewery incubator in Chicago, with Medusa, a Pale Ale that is perfect for summer!

Read More

2022 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival Pour List Announced

May 25, 2022 |

We are just a week and a half away from the grand return of the 2022 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival taking place in Paso Robles, CA on Saturday, June 4. Having built a reputation as one of the most celebrated festivals within the craft beer industry the FWIBF returns after a COVID-induced hiatus with another all-star cast of breweries.

Not only are some of the best of the best breweries represented from around the globe, but a festival of this caliber always brings out the rarest beers as well. In addition to the usual hyped barrel-aged styles typically found at destination festivals, it’s refreshing to see a wider representation of world-class lagers as well.

Be sure to check back as we break down some of the can’t-miss beers to try at this year’s Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival, but for now, enjoy a look at the initial pour list. Tickets are SOLD OUT for this year’s festival as last year’s ticket holders were offered first right of refusal. Keep in mind, as with all beer festivals, pour lists are subject to change, but this serves as a nice preview of what’s anticipated from each brewery.

Read More

Hooray for Craft Beer! | A Review & Interview with Author Em Sauter

May 25, 2022 |

Hooray for Craft Beer!, the new book of educational beer cartoons from Em Sauter of Pints & Panels, celebrates learning about beer in an inclusive and non-intimidating way. The follow-up to 2017’s Beer Is For Everyone (of Drinking Age)!, this new title from Brewers Publications issues an invitation to people of all levels of beer knowledge to enjoy and understand our favorite beverage.

Read More

A Comprehensive Guide to Colorado’s Best Lager Breweries

May 20, 2022 |

Just a few short decades ago, state-side Lager beers were largely considered light, watered-down beer for the masses. In recent years, a host of breweries have proven that stereotype wrong, and a multitude of Lager-focused breweries are now flourishing in Colorado. Drawing inspiration from European breweries, often in the Czech Republic or Germany, and sometimes combining those elements with modern techniques, these breweries are making a range of bottom-fermented beer that is sure to intrigue both the casual drinker and the connoisseur.

Read More

Editorial | Making the Case for Widely Adopting Craft Malting in Beer

May 16, 2022 |

Forget Cold IPAs, Hard Seltzers, and Ready to Drink Cocktails, because as we’ve seen with many other style trends that have come before, they’re likely momentary flashes in the pan. What is the next trend that’s more likely to elevate craft beer? How about Craft Malt? Brewers often call malt the ‘Soul of Beer’ and it’s unmistakably the backbone. 

Read More

CanSource Provides Canning Solutions Amid Minimum Increases

May 16, 2022 |

At the onset of the pandemic, the ability to pivot quickly after tasting rooms were closed for on-site consumption led a majority of breweries to focus their attention on packaging beer to-go. It was at that moment that aluminum cans became one of the hottest commodities in the industry. 

But just as canning beer became a major relief for breweries who desperately needed a way to get beer in the hands of consumers, it also became a major pain point. Ball Corp, which has long been the dominant supplier of aluminum cans, announced that it would increase minimum orders for a single SKU of printed cans from one truckload to five truck loads. This meant that a brewery that could previously order 200,000 printed cans of a single brand would now be forced to order approximately 1 million cans, essentially eliminating a primary supplier of printed cans for a majority of breweries in the market today.

Read More

5 Essential Minnesota Brewery Day Trips Outside of the Twin Cities 

April 29, 2022 |

Minnesota is known as the “Land of 10,000 Beers,” or is it the “Land of 10,000 Lakes?”  Either way, with a little over 200 breweries currently located in the state, exploring the Twin Cities and beyond will lead you to some of Minnesota’s finest beers. Listed below are 5 essential day trips to breweries outside of the Twin Cities that can be completed in a day or less. This article is by no means an exhaustive list of all the day trips that could be planned to visit breweries in the “Land of 10,000 Beers” but rather a launchpad to begin exploration. 

Read More