PorchDrinking’s Best in Beer 2018 | Mountain Region

It was another monster year for beer in Colorado. And while it would be nearly impossible to break down the best beers from 2018, we looked back on some of our favorites from the past year as well as some … Read More

PorchDrinking’s Best in Beer 2018 | The Southwest Region

The southwest region may be one of the most overlooked in terms of craft beer notoriety. One reason is that much of the beer produced in this region doesn’t get wide distribution. However, 2018 brought a lot of notoriety with … Read More

2019 Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Pour List Once Again Brings Heat

Throughout my years of visiting breweries, attending beer festivals and covering the industry, one thing has become abundantly clear, Coloradoans are spoiled when it comes to beer. This assertion is none more evident than the collection of talent that’s assembled … Read More

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 look forward to covering more in 2019. Here is the … 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 around whether we’d see any allocations of their famed Canadian … Read More

Costa Rica Will Host the Second Annual International Beer Cup Exclusively for Independent Craft Breweries

At the beginning of the new year, San José – Costa Rica will host the second annual international beer cup, exclusively for independent craft breweries from January 14 to 19, 2019.

This Cup is the first of its kind that is limited exclusively to independent commercial brewers. Over 600 entries will be judged by 38 judges, including certified BJCP judges, Cicerones and internationally renowned professional brewers from top independent breweries from around the world, including Peter Lengyel, Jennifer Talley, Barrett Tillman, Peter Bouckaert and Ehren Schmidt, to name a few.

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BrewDog’s DogHouse Craft Beer Hotel is Disneyland for Drinkers

Craft beer is always best enjoyed locally, straight from the brewery taproom. But if you can drink at the source, why not sleep at the source, too?

While Columbus, OH has seen a craft beer renaissance in recent years, it … Read More

5 Beer Instagram Tips and Discoveries for a Better Beer Blog

November marks one full year since we kicked off our beer blog, Ale Adventures. In that time, we’ve had a lot of incredible opportunities and highlights which we shared about in our last post. But we’ve also learned a lot about beer blogging and utilizing social media.

Here are five things we’ve learned in our first year of beer blogging that might just help you on your own journey.

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Malört | Forging Friendships With a Shot and a Beer

The first shot of Jeppson’s Malört induces a reaction akin to sucking in one’s entire face, and that’s followed by a look of despair as one hopes and prays the aftertaste resembling something close to insect repellent will give way to something better. It doesn’t. Malört is awful. It’s vile. It’s nasty. And it’s beloved by an abundance of Chicago drinkers. The cult-like drink is part “bad decision,” part “right of passage.” These days, craft breweries and craft-friendly bars in Chicago regularly pair Malört with craft beer—or offering it to you after a night of craft beer. A communal sharing of Malört forges friendships and kinship. Simply, Malört is bonding in a bottle.

Born of the Great Depression, Jeppson’s Malört (now owned by Chicago’s C.H. Distillery ) was developed by a Swedish immigrant in Chicago (although it dates back to medieval times). The Swedish-style Bäsk liquor (Swedish for bitter liquor) flavored with “malört” (Swedish for wormwood), has been known to offer medicinal benefits such as settling one’s stomach. Indeed, our Midwest Editor, Mike Zoller, can confirm this — he swears it recently worked for him.

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Craft Beer Highlights from Four Unique European Cities

I was lucky enough to attend Oktoberfest, but that’s only part of the 11-day beer journey I took across four cities in early October. Outside of the Bavarian beer fest, Munich has a bunch of awesome beer history, quaint beer gardens and famed beer destinations like Hofbrauhaus. Much like Munich, the Belgian capital of Brussels is steeped in brewing tradition thanks to its array of world-renowned trappist breweries and Belgian beer bars like the Delirium Cafe. These two beer-fused cities offer an embarrassment of riches to any beer lover, but it’s the beers and experiences I had in the other two cities I visited: Budapest and Amsterdam, that really opened my eyes to just how diverse and vibrant the beer scene is in Europe. From beer baths in Budapest to a craft brewery situated under a picturesque windmill in Amsterdam, my beer experience in Europe was amazing. Here are my main takeaways from the unique beer scenes in each city I visited.

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3 Observations from Oktoberfest in Bavaria

Walking through the entry gates of Oktoberfest was like walking into a beer-soaked version of Valhalla. On a sparkling Saturday with warm weather and a faint breeze, I got to experience the best beer event in the world—lederhosen and all.

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Our Favorite Puns and Beer Names From GABF 2018

With more than 4000 beers being poured at GABF last weekend from approximately 800 breweries, you probably didn’t get a chance to try them all. Even if you liked beer as much as a certain Supreme Court Justice nominee, you still probably wouldn’t have been able to try every beer on site. Regardless, we did do some extensive investigating of the beers at GABF and compiled a list of our favorite beer names.

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Narrow Gauge’s Jeff Hardesty | Godfather of St. Louis’ Hazy Beer Movement

Some call it a trend, some call it a craze. But for me, it’s the style that has added a new layer of fun to beer.

The style I speak of goes by many names. New England style IPAs, Hazy or Juicy beers, and now, I’m even starting to see “Juicy or Hazy Pale Ales” and even “Juicy or Hazy Imperials and Double India Pale Ales.” The more the merrier.

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From Bine to Glass: Going Inside This Year’s Yakima Hop Harvest

Come for a drive with me. It will only take two hours or so. We’re leaving Seattle – taking I-90 out of town, going east. Within half an hour or so we’ll hit the majestic Cascade Mountains – one of the countries’ most expansive ranges, stretching from Northern California all the way into Canada. It’s home to some pretty famous volcanoes – Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens if we’re naming names. But we’re not stopping in the Cascades. We are pushing onward, for another hour, until we cross into Eastern Washington. It’s a vastly different landscape than the wet, lush, rainforest on the other side of the state. Here it’s dry, arid and almost desert-like. A beauty that’s starkly different, but no less beautiful, than the Cascades that we’ve just driven through. Within a few minutes, we’ll hit Yakima – our final destination. Why are we going to Yakima, you ask? It’s an obvious answer this time of year: It’s hop harvest. Read More

Chuck’s Hop Shop’s General Manager Dishes on Seattle’s Craft Beer Scene

If you love Seattle’s craft beer scene, you love Chuck’s Hop Shop—it’s as simple as that. Chuck’s Hop Shop, which has two locations in the Emerald City, has gained a reputation for being the fan-favorite, no-frills watering hole and bottle shop for craft beer fanatics. It’s where you go for an incredible and ever-rotating selection with dozens of beers on tap and hundreds of bottles available to go as well as knowledgeable and approachable bartenders that are eager to give recommendations on what brews simply cannot be missed. As a result, Chuck’s has cemented itself as a pillar of the Pacific Northwest craft community in the four years since its founding.

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A Newbie Guide to Oktoberfest in Munich

America has a lot of beer festivals. I mean… a lot. I could practically book every weekend for the next few months with at least 2-3 Chicago beer festivals. The heightened popularity of these events resides on a foundational bedrock of human existence: people like drinking, and people like drinking together. And while things like the Great American Beer Festival draw massive crowds and a considerable amount of hype amongst USA-based beer drinkers, there’s typically one beer fest that appears on any beer fan’s bucket list across the globe: Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

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Dispelling the Myths Behind Utah’s Emerging Beer Scene

Let’s face it, when you are planning a vacation around beer, Utah isn’t usually at the top of the list. The liquor laws that dictate ABV and where you can consume may deter serious beer drinkers before even firing up an Airbnb search. However, Utah beer has a character of its own, a character that is both quiet and formidable all at once: A sleeping bear that is slow to wake but indomitable when angered. As such, let’s dispel some of the myths surrounding Utah’s beer culture. Read More

Lucky Dorr Celebrates One Year of Success in the Heart of Wrigleyville

Deep in the heart of Wrigleyville, nestled between the macro-beer strongholds of Sluggers and the Friendly Confines, is a small, 400 square-foot box of craft beer paradise. Started last July, Lucky Dorr is one of the recent upgrades to the sprawling Wrigley Field complex that aims to give baseball fans and regular neighborhood beer drinkers alike a truly unique craft beer experience. The young craft beer spot focuses on exclusive, ballpark-inspired collaboration beers with local breweries as a way to provide patrons with something different from the Bud and Goose Island-filled stadium cups they’re used to. It’s an ambitious venture, but it seems to be working. We spoke to bar manager and brewer Niilo Hayes about the success of the craft beer bar and what he has planned for the operation — and for Wrigleyville — in the years to come. Read More

The OGs of Craft Beer | Oskar Blues – Dale’s Pale Ale

When you speak of OG beers, few stalwarts deserve the title more than Oskar Blues Brewery’s Dale’s Pale Ale. You can call many brewers innovative, but being able to say that you canned the first ever craft beer definitely gives you some added bragging rights. Dale’s Pale Ale’s adept combination of floral hops and malt overtones was first packed into aluminum back in 2002, in the early days of craft beer’s infancy, before beer was served in snifters and incessantly critiqued on social media. The iconic “strong pale ale” is still one of the most recognizable beers on the market even as the style of Pale Ale has evolved and the India Pale Ale entered its heyday. Here’s why it continues to capture the taste buds of drinkers across the country.

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2018 Beer Lover’s Guide to Colorado’s Oktoberfest Celebrations

Believe it or not, summer is once again drawing to a close, but before we dive into pumpkin spice bombs and fresh hop season, let us raise a liter to German-style beers with a round-up of Colorado’s craft beer-centric Oktoberfest celebrations. So lace up those dirndls and strap on the lederhosen it’s time for the beautifully crisp, easy-drinking, toasted malt forward profile of Oktoberfest Märzen lagers. Check out our craft beer guide to Colorado’s Oktoberfest celebrations. Keep in mind, we’ll keep adding Oktoberfest beers from Colorado’s craft breweries as they’re released, as well as Oktoberfest celebration events as they’re announced.

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