Rogue Ales | Cold Brew IPA

Coffee and beer is hardly a revolutionary coupling. As is the case with most hackneyed combinations, however, there’s a reason these two are so often paired together — albeit usually in the context of a stout or porter, whose malty flavors and thick, creamy mouthfeel play well with the roasted bitterness of coffee beans.

Rogue Ales’ Cold Brew IPA aims to do something different, even in the less-common realm of coffee-infused IPAs and pale ales. The can boasts of a “hop punch,” an intriguing claim given the array of coffee beers I’ve had over the years, most of which treat hoppiness as an afterthought. Thanks to a generous hop mix that includes Liberty, Rebel, Freedom and Simcoe, the Newport, Oregon-based brewery manages to deliver.
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Island Hoppin’ Brewery | K-Pod Kolsch

It’s hard to overstate the natural beauty of Washington state. The state is home to mountain ranges, temperate rain forests, desert plains, active volcanoes and other natural wonders that are so varied and abundant, you could easily spend every weekend of the year in a new terrain. Even from my home base of metropolitan Seattle, the closest mountains are less than 30 minutes outside the city and you can book a whale watching tour that leaves from downtown.
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Deschutes Brewery | Twilight Summer Ale

Some of the best outdoor memories I have are around the twilight hour. You’re settling in for the evening – dinner is already done, fire stoked and watching the stars peek out as the sun sets. There is something about the feeling of moving with the sun, I am usually up when the sun wakes up and winding down after it sets, you just feel one with the universe.

Deschutes Brewery‘s seasonal offering of Twilight Summer Ale seems to capture these feelings beautifully.

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Holy Mountain Brewing | Afterswarm

If you’re a beer drinker in Seattle, you’re a Holy Mountain Brewing drinker in Seattle. It’s as simple as that. Even in a city renowned for its thriving and creative craft beer scene, Holy Mountain effortlessly stands out thanks to a niche it has filled in the heavily-hopped Pacific Northwest market: Holy Mountain is your go-to for great Belgian styles, or any beer that has been flirting with mixed fermentations or barrel-aged ingredients. One of Holy Mountain’s latest releases, Afterswarm, is an ideal case-in-point.

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Pelican Brewing Company | Beak Bender

Now, don’t get me wrong—I understand that everyone is different. That said, we’re all human and there are a handful of things that are guaranteed to make anyone’s day. Take, for example, a yawn-inducing work meeting being cancelled, a spectacular cup of coffee, running into a puppy on the street, and, perhaps best of all, one of your favorite breweries adding a beer onto their year-round line-up. Queue Pelican Brewing Company and the Beak Bender, a hoppinated India Pale Ale that is now available year-round. You’ll want to get familiar with this one—trust me. Read More

Deschutes Brewery | Black Butte Porter

My PorchDrinking 2018 beer resolution was to drink more of the classics and the beers that first got me into craft beer, so I picked up a six-pack of Deschutes Brewery‘s Black Butte Porter for this beer showcase. Bend, Oregon-based Deschutes has been making Black Butte since the very beginning and it is very easy to see why it has stood the test of time just like its namesake landmark — the stratovolcano, Black Butte. The butte is breathtaking and if you want to see for yourself, you can virtually hike it in under three minutes on their website.

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Deschutes Brewery to Begin Canning

Founded in 1988, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery has enjoyed over three decades of success by tapping into the craft beer furor of the Pacific Northwest through artfully-hopped beers. With years of experience behind them, Deschutes is acutely aware of the difference between a fleeting fad and a trend that is here to stay. And the rise of brewers moving to cans is no fad. To meet the growing demand among many craft beer drinkers for increased flexibility and accessibility from their beers, Deschutes is moving three of their flagships into 12oz cans this March.

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Couples of Craft | Rose Ann & Charles Finkel of The Pike Brewing Co.

Just like in any other city, Seattle has its fair share of beer celebrities. The electricity that craft pulses through this town, not to mention the quality of the drinks themselves, make it near impossible not to point and whisper when some of our favorite owners or brewers make cameos in their respective taprooms. So, when I sat down with Rose Ann and Charles Finkel, owners and founders of The Pike Brewing Company, and some of the original craft pioneers in Seattle, I couldn’t help but be just a bit starstruck.

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The Commons Brewery & Epic Brewing | Common Interests

Whether its music, art, film or food, we are fans of a good collaboration—with no exception when it comes to beer. With the steady rise in craft beer popularity, numerous collaborations between so many like-minded individuals in our community is inevitable. Particularly, The Commons Brewery from Portland and Denver’s Epic Brewing took on a collaboration in a fun and interesting way. While each brewery selected an adjunct ingredient native to their location, they created something unique and tasty. The Commons Brewery brought Oregon red winter wheat and Epic Brewing choose Colorado honeydew melon; together they created a sour ale called Common Interests.
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Stoup Brewing | Mother of Exiles IPA

It doesn’t take a lot for me to crave a beer. Has it been a good day? Let’s have a beer. A bad day? Let’s have a beer. It’s sunny out! Let’s have a beer. Oh no, raining again? Better have a beer. Needless to say, I’m easily convinced. But tell me that I’m drinking for a good cause? Well, then let’s have more than one, without a doubt. This is the case with Stoup Brewing’s recently released Mother of Exiles IPA, which benefits the Refugee Women’s Alliance as part of the Beer Trumps Hate campaign.

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Ultimate 6er | The Six Best Ballard Beers That Are Not IPAs

Ballard, Seattle: home of canal locks, Golden Gardens, farmer’s markets, overpriced housing, beards, sandwich boards, and, oh yeah – a gaggle of breweries. But if you want to brew in Ballard, you gotta be handy with the hops, if you know what I mean. Earn your keep.

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Fort George Brewing | Cavatica Stout

I’ve been drinking a lot of imperial stouts. Unlike most, I believe every season is stout season. Luckily for me it’s February and I don’t get flak for drinking a 12% Russian imperial stout. The proliferation of adjuncts to the market has been interesting. Brewers adding coffee, vanilla, cocoa, peppers, mint, you name it. While fun for the palate, I still prefer an adjunct-free stout. Let that malt shine, those chocolate and coffee notes should develop alone. One favorite is Cavatica Stout from Fort George Brewing.
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Fremont Brewing | Coconut Edition B-Bomb

I’m not ashamed to admit it people: I’m a total Fremont Brewing fangirl. Always have been, and expect that I will be. But, in my defense, I fangirl hard for good reason – the Coconut Edition B-Bomb being just one of them.

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Crucible Brewing Company | Molten Peaches

Like any story worth sharing, it started with a night of drinking wine with his grandparents. The moment of clarity slapped Dick Mergens out of sleep at 3AM, and he saw it immediately through a boozy haze: “I should open a brewery.” The 23-year-old Lowe’s employee crawled out of his grandparents’ basement the following morning and shared his vision with his coworker Dylan. Soon enough, two other longtime friends were on board. It was only a matter of time before I walked into their brewery to taste Molten Peaches.  Read More

Ultimate 6er | 6 Reasons to Love Bale Breaker Brewing Company

The Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington accounts for nearly 80% of the United States hop crop, and the team at Bale Breaker Brewing Company have established themselves as leaders in the Yakima Valley hop scene, both as growers and as brewers. The brewery is located amongst hop fields that were first planted in 1932, and the brewers at Bale Breaker have made a point of showcasing Yakima Valley hops in virtually every Bale Breaker brew. Though a relatively young brewery (they opened in 2013), Bale Breaker has become one of the most well-known IPA producers in Washington and is a leader in the Eastern Washington brewing scene. Today we present an Ultimate 6er dedicated the people who made Bale Breaker what it is today: 6 Reasons to Love Bale Breaker Brewing Company. Read More

Reuben’s Brews | Holiday Gose

I’m going to start this off by saying I am not a fan of the holiday season. Suddenly, I’m expected to be merry and in good spirits, which is just not the way I work. Bribe me with a winter warmer and we might be able to talk, slip me an Imperial Stout and we will be best of friends. Like a lot of you, alcohol makes this season bearable. To quote National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, “I had a lot of help from Jack Daniels.”

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Baerlic Brewing Company | Harshmellow Mountain

Baerlic Brewing Company has swiftly and effortlessly made a name for themselves in Portland, Oregon’s stacked beer scene. Sitting in the heart of the beer hub within the city, Southeast Portland, Baerlic’s enthusiastic staff, delightful atmosphere and – of course – impressive beer line-up always makes for a lovely stop.

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Drake’s Brewing Co. | 1500 Dry Hopped Pale Ale

The Bay area here in California is blowing up Craft Beer wise! Drake’s Brewing Co. has been around for awhile, and they just celebrated their 28th Craft Birthday!! Read More

Anheuser-Busch & City of Portland Team Up Against Old Town Brewing

Aside from brewery acquisitions, trademark infringements may just be one of craft beers’s most polarizing issues. But one major trademark dispute involving Portland’s Old Town Brewing, has been bringing Portland’s craft beer community closer together.

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Engine House No. 9 | Frambuesa Moka

Sour styles in any incarnation were my beers of the summer and although I love stouts, the transition into the colder, rainier reality of stout season has been harsh this year. That’s why I was so excited to find the perfect middle ground: the Frambuesa Moka, a tart, dark potion from Engine House No. 9 in Tacoma, Washington. Read More