Against the Grain Brewery | 35K

ABV: 5.0% | IBU: 25.5

Another summer has come and gone. As we rapidly approach the fall season, you start to see pumpkin beers as the main focus within the craft beer industry.  But for me, it’s all about the stout! I know that you can enjoy any beer during the year, no matter what season it is. However, when the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter, I personally just love drinking stout, such as Against the Grain 35K.

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Ultimate 6er | Zinzinnati Oktoberfest

With only a few days away from the largest Oktoberfest in the United States, it’s time to put on the drinking cap. Each year more than 500,000 people come to Cincinnati (aka Zinzinnati) to attend this rich German heritage event sampling German-style food, music and my favorite, beer. Read More

Chicago Prepares for 8th Annual Cooking Up a Cure Benefit

Not too many events in Chicago can pair the city’s best chefs alongside a wide variety of local craft beer, spirits and wine. On Thursday, Sept. 15, the 8th annual Cooking Up a Cure will take place at Galleria Marchetti to raise money for the Greater Chicago chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation.

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Beer Bar Showcase | HopCat Chicago

HopCat Craft Beer Bar in Chicago (2577 N. Clark St | Clark & Wrightwood) takes beer drinkers on a funky ride through time to the 1970s. Glowing orange lamps, geometric carpets, oil-paintings of rock legends and plenty of mahogany and red-leather meet beer drinkers the moment they enter the building.  Of course, the one glaring difference between a 1970s lounge and HopCat Chicago is clear — the immense presence of craft beer in the form of 130 taps and 200 bottle choices, nearly half of them born from Chicago-area fermentation tanks.

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Event Preview | Lagunitas Beer Circus Chicago 2016

For the third year running, Lagunitas’ Chicago brewery is hosting the indefinable Beer Circus this  Saturday, September 10th. The event is the first stop of the traveling circus this year, with appearances added in Brooklyn, NY and Asuza, CA. with, of course, their annual main event at the original Petaluma location (win tickets to the Petaluma event here!). Read More

Mackinaw Brewing Co. | Red 8 Ale

ABV: 5.2%

What I know about tailors is from the “here’s what they won’t tell you about tailors” had-to-be-there stories from friends I’ve never seen in fitted suits. I leave work late in the evening to drive to Traverse City, Michigan, expecting early the next day to stand bare-assed in front of a five-sided mirror and a woolen man with circular glasses and pins in his teeth. He’ll shift my inner thighs someplace more manageable, while muttering, “No, no, this won’t do.” Read More

Shorts Brewing Company | Soft Parade

ABV: 7.5% | IBU: 15

The mad genius of Soft Parade is that it’s a year-round beer. When you look at that label—which I’ve obsessed over before—it screams a late summer beer (which is why I’m talking about it now). However, it has the heft to get you through fall and summer and a sweetness to pick you up with the blooming each spring. Shorts says they created it to appeal to wine drinkers, and I think they might have failed. Instead, they created a product that can hit the beer drinkers who want sweet and unique, the people who want a heavy hearty ale, and the people who want to just get fucked up (that 7.5% ABV always comes as a shock).

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Ultimate 6er | In St. Louis This Week? We’ve Got Six Beers For You.

Drink 314 has joined forces with DrinkMoBeer.com to bring you a this week’s special Ultimate 6er – which we’ll dub Your STL 6er. It features six local or regional beers that we are recommending you try this week.  Chris, Tim and Andrew are all craft beer nuts and present an “everyone’s” opinion on the beers they find and tryout.  We hope you enjoy their reviews. Read More

Event Recap | Brooklyn Brewery’s Chicago Beer Mansion 2016

On August 13, 2016, Brooklyn Brewery brought their A-game to Chicago and threw down one of the more unique beer festival experiences. The Brooklyn Brewery Beer Mash, which was part of a … Read More

Goose Island’s BCBS 2016 Announcement Greatly Exaggerated

For many beer enthusiasts, the release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) is akin to Christmas morning. The 2016 variants are beginning to leak through several sources, but according to Megan Lagesse, Communications Director at The High End beer division of Anheuser Busch (and whose office is situated at Goose Island), rumors of the BCBS release — regarding the exact variants — are untrue. She explained, “We have to submit many labels to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) prior to releasing the beer. We have to do that well in advance, but that doesn’t mean those are the actual, final versions. So, about those rumors. They are just not true.” Read More

Cherry Creek Winery | Dancing Elephants

ABV: 6%

I’m not normally a cider guy. I’m spoiled by good non-alcoholic cider in Michigan, and the different taste just confuses me. However, it’s the only type of craft beer that my boyfriend seems to actively enjoy (that’s in not small part to Vandermill of Grand Rapids coming to the Fall Detroit beer festival last year). Therefore, I ventured this summer in order to find something we can both enjoy. And the search came just in time. As The Rio Olympics pointed out in their bummer presentation, it’s historically hot and you gotta find a non-AC blasting way to keep cool on the strings of unbearably hot day. Delightfully, Cherry Creek Winery has decided to branch out from the grape game and created Dancing Elephants Hard Cherry Apple Cider.

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What We’re Drinking | August 26th, 2016

Guess who’s back, back again? The PorchDrinking team has rejoined forces to bring back our weekly What We’re Drinking series. As the evenings grow shorter, the temperature begins to drop and we all know that summer is quickly coming to an end. Because of this, we are drinking whatever the hell we want. We love our seasonal brews but let’s be completely honest here. We love #allthebeers. So cheers to another awesome week and hoping we can stretch a little more out of this summer. Read More

Wedtoberfest Combines Wedding Show with Beer Festival

Wedding shows – they’re typically geared towards the brides to come walk around and talk to different vendors to book for their big day. Usually you don’t see many guys at these shows… until now. Wedtoberfest takes place Sept. 22nd from 6-9pm at Artifacts Events in Chicago and combines a wedding show with a beer festival.

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Crystal Lake Brewing | Beach Blonde

ABV 5.3 % | IBU: 18

Summer isn’t over yet. There’s still time. There’s still time for cook-outs, boating the lake or river, bonfires, s’mores and a backyard game of bags. With my first child coming hard down the pike and store shelves already bloated with Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers, I keep telling myself there’s still time to tick-off the activities on my summer must-do list. So perhaps that’s in part why I’m completely enamored with an easy drinking, well-rounded, and totally crushable beer from Crystal Lake Brewing. Read More

Brewery Showcase | Around the Bend Beer Company

Around the Bend Beer Company isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel; the two-year-old brewery is on a mission to make the wheel faster, slicker, and cooler. When brewing a Kolsch-style beer (Ghost of ‘Lectricity), a first-wort brewing process is applied to extract more hops flavor, yet also smooth out its edges. When Around the Bend brews an American Pale Ale (Silk Road), galangal is blended into the recipe. And who else make the connection between orange marmalade and a Double/Imperial IPA? You find it in Mr. Marmalade.

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Temperance Beer Co. | Greenwood Beach Blonde Ale

Are you still searching for that perfect summer beer that can quench your insatiable thirst created by a scorching mid-day sun? Then you may want to wander over to Temperance Beer Co. in Evanston, IL, for their Greenwood Beach Blonde Ale with Pineapple. It is only around for a few months out of the year and makes its appearance on the Chicago beer scene in early May. Being named after Greenwood Street beach in Evanston, it makes sense that this blonde ale is one that you can sip on all day and truly enjoy what Temperance Beer Co. has brewed for you. Now back to the day where I first discovered this amazing beer! Read More

URGENT: Event Preview | Fifty West Brewing Co.’s Fifty Fest

Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 17th.  This date signals the return of Fifty Fest, a celebration hosted by Fifty West Brewing Company which brings together the perfect trifecta of Beers, Music, and … Read More

Event Preview | Schlafly’s HOP in the City Festival in St. Louis

St. Louis has its fair share of beer festivals, but few incorporate music as well as Schlafly Beer‘s HOP in the City festival, which will hit our town on September 17th. Read More

St. Louis Favorite American Brown Getting Canned This Week

Getting ‘canned’ has never felt so good. Especially if you’re a fan of Civil Life Brewing Company‘s American Brown, one of their most popular brews. Read More

Event Recap | Milwaukee Firkin Beer Fest

Pouring rain and beer, the annual Milwaukee Firkin Beer Fest was delayed for 45 minutes. But not even the storms could hinder the event or dampen the spirits of festival goers, as attendees waited out the weather so they wouldn’t lose their spot. There was the slightest chance of lightning canceling the entire event, but mother nature took it easy. The rain settled and the gates opened. Still drizzling, Yajaira and I shared an umbrella as we sped across the numerous booths.

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