PorchDrinking Playlist | Summer Sun

It’s officially summer and the sun’s out, temps are rising, and we’re looking forward to endless patio beers, creekside camping spots, and long mountain drives. In this week’s PorchDrinking playlist, we’ve got 15 songs for the summer sun — for yard games in the park, hammocking in the shade, and those long drives to the mountains or lake for the best weekend adventures.

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MORE Movies Based on Apps

We should have known after “Christian Mingle” and the other movies I pitched to Hollywood that the tide of movies based on apps was just beginning. This summer, “The Angry Birds Movie” has crushed the box office – presumably, mostly among children – paving the way for even MORE films based on apps.

I want a cut of that 9 figure payday from hastily making half-thought-out app-based movies that capture the current pop culture without really fleshing out a script. Here are a few more pitches for movies based on apps. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | 1987

It’s always interesting to group a bunch of similar items together and see how they compare — like getting your friends together for a delicious IPA bottle share, or sitting around discussing who the greatest quarterback of all time is. Time to revisit one of our first ever PorchDrinking playlists. We put together a playlist full of artists who were all born in 1986 and it was interesting to hear the common themes in the music. Let’s go back in time again… to 1987! Read More

Ultimate 6er | Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard Entertainment Inc. is one of the finest video game studios on American soil, mounted in the halls of pop culture for creating some of the most significant video game franchises in the world. From their humble beginning creating Super Nintendo titles such as Blackthorne, The Lost Vikings and Rock & Roll Racing, Blizzard is a name loved by gamers for their legacy of rich stories and diverse content. When this crew makes a new game, the video game landscape changes.

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“Hamilton” Beer & “Hamilton” Trivia with Gun Hill Brewing’s Dave Lopez

Every sentient being on the planet says it: If you’re in New York, you just HAVE to go see “Hamilton,” the musical currently taking Broadway by storm. (And it’s ridiculously difficult to see if you don’t purchase tickets way in advance.) It’s life-changing, they claim. It manages to make Americans talk enthusiastically about two things that have NEVER been so universally beloved: history and musical theater.

I did see “Hamilton” last month in New York, and all the hype is true. It’s fantastic. Lin-Manuel Miranda (the star/writer/composer) and the cast are extraordinary performers, and the way the show is staged tells a story worth hearing in a bold way unlike anything I’d seen before. I’m one of those people now. “Hamilton” is like veganism – you’ll know a friend of yours has seen it because they insist on telling you all about it. After seeing the show, I immediately followed some of the cast on Twitter, including Miranda’s alternate Javier Muñoz, who played Alexander Hamilton on the night on which I saw the show. And I was intrigued to see Muñoz talk about his involvement in a group creating a craft brew based on the show.

That’s right. There’s “Hamilton” beer.

Gun Hill Brewing in The Bronx has created “Rise Up Rye,” a limited rye beer (4.8% ABV) inspired by “Hamilton.” And just like I immediately went on the hunt for “Hamilton” tickets when I first heard the soundtrack, the revelation that a “Hamilton” beer existed sent me on a quest. And while “Rise Up Rye” isn’t available to me in LA (yet), I wanted to know more. This is where Dave Lopez enters.

Lopez is a co-managing partner at Gun Hill Brewing Co, which has had a Colonial-America look and feel about it since it opened in February 2014. Everything from the website layout to the labeling on their bottles looks like what you would’ve seen in the 1700s. And when you consider that the biggest thing in pop culture right now is the story of young, scrappy, and hungry New York revolutionaries with a vision, it’s easy to see how Rise Up Rye was a natural fit for Gun Hill.

Lopez generously agreed to talk to me about how Rise Up Rye came to be. And then… I put him to the test with a pop (culture) quiz to find out just how well he knows “Hamilton.”

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The 2016 Election Cycle (Lazily) Represented by Simpsons GIFs

As the 2016 Presidential Election draws closer, both political parties are looking to pivot from their unconventional primary seasons and secure a win in November. Both the Democrats and the GOP find themselves with candidates who… they’re listening to the concerns of an enthusiastic electorate and… sigh…

I’m gonna level with you. The whole thing is kind of a drag, right? It’s only May, and it feels like this whole thing has already been going on for years. And I could talk about the realignment of conventional wisdom, as candidates with such high unfavorability make forecasting difficult. I could make some quips about the Clintons moving back to the White House or the Trumps painting it gold. But, like… aren’t we all sick of it?

The whole election cycle is exhausting, man. Just scroll through these GIFs from “The Simpsons.” They don’t cleverly explain the 2016 Presidential election. They aren’t prescient or well-researched. But they’re better than more election coverage, and you people like “The Simpsons,” right? Read More

6 St. Louis Beers Perfect for Team Captain America (Part 1)

Let’s get it out of the way.  I’ve never been a “geek” about anything, ever.  But after now attending two Comic-Con’s with my self-proclaimed “geek” of a son, who I … Read More

Guilty Displeasures: 10 Things You’re NOT Allowed to Dislike

About two years ago, Saturday Night Live did a taped piece about a group of austere agents hunting down any rogue person who doesn’t conform to worship Beyoncé, the “Queen B” – or is it “Queen Bee” or even “Queen Bey?”

Spelling aside, SNL’s sketch demonstrates the ubiquity of Beyoncé’s influence and the high esteem in which all people are meant to regard her. Extreme exultations spread across social media and peer groups whenever Beyoncé drops new material or asserts her authority as the queen. Casting doubt or scorn on Beyoncé worship is… socially dangerous.

You will not catch me (publicly) saying anything negative about Beyoncé. I don’t want any of the men or women of my life to see me as a renegade. But isn’t it sort of odd that there are some things in our popular culture that are expected to be unanimously beloved? Those who don’t personally care for Beyoncé’s music (or even her public image) find themselves with the opposite of a guilty pleasure – instead of something they like that they’re not supposed to, they dislike something that they’re supposed to love.

Here’s a look at a few guilty displeasures – entities in pop culture that you’re NOT ALLOWED to dislike. Read More

I Should Have Gone to the Prince Show

Almost exactly three years ago, Prince played four shows in Seattle. He played two shows each night on April 18th and 19th at the Showbox at The Market. I lived here. I was in town. And I didn’t go.

Like many my age, there are music icons that I simply never had the opportunity to see; Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix come to mind. Some of them are still performing (see: The Rolling Stones), but even if I had the chance to see them, I’d feel like I wasn’t really seeing them as they were at the height of their relevance and skill. That being said, the number of those icons whose careers have basically spanned my life is pretty limited. Read More

If Summer Movies Were Anagrams…

This summer, there’s a lot of money to be made with the slew of blockbusters hitting theaters. Superheroes return, movie stars take on exciting new roles, and popcorn will be consumed by the bucket.

But instead of a normal summer movie preview… let’s preview what some of this summer’s movies would look like if you scrambled all the letters in the titles. By simply re-ordering the letters that make up a movie’s title, you can create even more original and eccentric films. Below are some anagrams of this summer’s movies, a brief plot summary we made up, and even a poster.

Yes, all of these are actual working anagrams. And no, none of these are actual movies. Not coming to a theater near you — they’re exclusively on PorchDrinking.com!

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2016 Record Store Day | Vintage & Vinyl at Avanti F&B

Gone are the days of thinking vinyl is only something of your parent’s generation. What was once thought of as a thing of the past, are all the rage … Read More

Objective Bracketology: Be the Only One in Your Pool to Use These Methods

With March Madness kicking off this week, everyone is watching their brackets closely to see which teams will rise to the top of the NCAA tournament. From detailed player analysis to superstitious patterns, people spend a lot of time and energy coming up with the best angle for filling out a bracket so that they can win their March Madness pool

And then some other jerk who arbitrarily picked their teams wins.

So if you can’t beat them, join them, right? I’ve covered this in the past with brackets based on things like which team’s mascot would win in a fight, and a year later, which team’s school boasts the most famous alumni.  Those brackets did not do well. There’s no reason to think that this year’s Mascot Madness will do any better. Maybe that’s because I used totally subjective judgments to determine who should win each match-up. Maybe what my bracketology needs is a conceit based on data with much more empirical value, but with the same basketball wisdom.

In other words, I came up with brackets that are objective, but have NOTHING to do with how well the teams play basketball.

I am for real entering these brackets in some public pools, just so I can see which strategy is most practical, and how many actual college basketball fans I can beat. If you really don’t know who to pick in your pool, give one of these brackets a shot. Give March a bit more Madness.

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Ultimate 6er | The People v. O.J. Simpson

If you haven’t been watching the television remake of the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial, The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, get on it! This ten episode FX … Read More

2016 Music Festival Roundup

Thinking about adding a music festival to your spring/summer plans?  We know that picking a festival, especially with all of the different lineups, locations, and unique qualities can be rough. It’s practically a full … Read More

2016 Academy Awards Bingo Boards

The 88th Academy Awards are upon us! And to make tonight’s awards festivities a little more interesting, Drew Troller, our Pop Culture Editor decided to take a page out of our Super Bowl Bingo boards by creating (with some collaborative help – shoutout to Vanessa Wiseman) a set of 2016 Academy Awards Bingo Boards for your interactive drinking enjoyment. Read More

EGOT – The Most Prestigious Acronym in Show Business

It’s award season, which means all the rich, beautiful, talented, powerful people in show business are getting together pretty frequently to congratulate each other on being so rich, beautiful, talented, and powerful. Televised ceremonies allow us normal folk to peek in and see the people we love receive honors for their contributions to their craft. And each field has its own top prize – the Emmy for television, the Grammy for music, the Oscar for films, and the Tony for theater.

Imagine if there was someone with such a wide range of skills that they could cross over across those four media and win awards in each. And in fact, there are nine people alive who have won the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Tony. They’re recipients of the most elusive and sought-after acronym in the business. The most prestigious award an entertainer can earn is the EGOT. Read More

How to Host The Muppets at a Beer Tasting

I, like so many of you, grew up watching “The Muppets.” The various shows and movies are among my most beloved childhood memories – right up there with juice boxes, … Read More

Beer & Yoga: Bringing the Flavors of Life Together

“The flavors of life.” Four words that, when expressed, leave one feeling a bit more fulfilled. But for most of us, keeping those flavors handy is a daily struggle. … Read More

25 Super Bowl Beers | Colorado vs Carolina

Super Bowl 50 pits the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers in a historic matchup replete with many storylines. Will the grizzled veteran in Peyton Manning, back on the field … Read More

Drink Hollywood | 14 Real Life Movie & TV Bars

If you’ve seen more than a few TV shows and movies in your life, at some point you’ve watched a scene where characters talk (and drink, and sing bad karaoke, and flirt) in a bar. Some of the most memorable scenes in pop culture take place at bars. And more than once, I’ve been out for a drink with friends when I have the thought, “oh wait, isn’t this where they shot that scene from that thing?”

When you really start looking into it, every nook and cranny of Los Angeles has a bar. One report estimates that there are 1,000 bars in LA, and an additional 10,000 full-service restaurants. A few of these drinkeries have made their way into movies and TV shows that I’ve seen. Here now is a look at where you, too, can drink where your favorite characters drank.  Read More