Taft’s Ale House | Gustav Vienna Lager

Ryan Blandford, head brewer at Cincinnati’s Taft’s Ale House, won his first gold medal at the World Beer Cup while working for crosstown brewery Fifty West in 2016. When he heard Fifty West’s 10 & 2 Barleywine announced, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I was jumping up and down and swearing,” laughed Blandford when we spoke on the phone last week. “As a young brewer you look up to these guys who are winning all these medals and when you’re fortunate enough to win one, well, you’re kind of freaking out.”

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First Impressions on Revolution Brewing’s 2018 Deth’s Tar and its Two Variants

Two releases in and this year’s version of Revolution Brewing Deep Wood Series is shaping up to be its best so far. After the daring idea to can its barrel-aged creations last year, the Chicago-based brewery decided to push the limits even further in 2018 by expanding the lineup to 10 ambitious beers, including new offerings such as Code Switch and Deth by Currants. The second release happens this Friday, November 16 at its Kedzie Taproom location (3340 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL) and will feature the popular Deth’s Tar, the highly-acclaimed Cafe Deth and the new Deth by Currants, which won the fan vote for best fruited variant.

We were lucky enough to get early access to these three Deth-inspired stouts and came away wholly impressed. Here are our initial thoughts.

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Event Preview | Wynkoop Brewing’s Day of Darks Festival

As we transition into November it’s natural to begin shifting from bright berliners and pilsners to their more roasty, boozier brethren. No better event helps to kick off that changing of the guard, than Wynkoop Brewing’s Annual Day of Darks Festival.

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Amalgam Brewing’s The Cultural Center Taproom Opens Next Saturday

One of Colorado’s most promising rising breweries is finally set to open a taproom. Amalgam Brewing, which spent the first year and a half of their existence embracing the unorthodox practice of brewing through an alternating proprietorship and dropping gypsy beer releases at various liquor stores, is about to become a little more accessible to the public, while still maintaining a bit of unconventional flair.

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Bottle Logic Brewing | Darkstar November

Temperatures are dropping, costumes have been Instagrammed, worn, mangled and stashed away in the closet — out of sight, out of mind — once again. Having moved out of the U.S. seven months ago, it came as quite a shock to me this past week to learn that MOST COUNTRIES DON’T CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN. So forgive me if I want to hold on to it for just a little longer.

But the changing colors and declining thermometers also indicate another seasonal change is upon us: Stout Season. We have a glorious few months where high ABVs and barrel-aging take the spotlight as they encourage long talks by the fireplace and cap off fall festivities. In this humble writer’s opinion, Bottle Logic Brewing provides some of the finest dark brews around, and what beer is more appropriate to fully transition us into the season than the very appropriately named Darkstar November.

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Revolution’s Wil Turner to Join Open Outcry as Head of Brewery Operations

Chicago’s largest craft brewery will be searching for a new head brewpub brewer as Revolution Brewing’s Wil Turner is making the move to the Southside where he will become Open Outcry’s new head of brewery operations.

“We’ve been incredibly lucky to have Wil as our Head Pub Brewer the past seven years,” Revolution’s Director of Retail Operations Meg Rutledge said. “Someone with his talent and decades of experience is hard to find, and it will be tough to see him go. At the same time, Open Outcry is getting a great brewer, and we wish Wil all the success in the world.”

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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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Fat Head’s Brewery | Sunshine Daydream

This is it, my friends. We are in November. At least for many of you throughout the country, the weather has shifted. The jet stream has begun to re-calibrate. Winds are picking up, the clouds are more uniform, and the precipitation has already started to solidify into the four-letter word most people loath to use. It’s inevitable, though. Unless you are in Yuma or Miami, or you have your sights set on Hawaii for a month, that thermometer isn’t going to budge much over 60 degrees for awhile. Your bright and sunny days are going to be at a minimum. Thankfully, a well-known brewery has just the antidote to shoo away the clouds and bring back the warmth for a little while. Fat Head’s Brewery’s Sunshine Daydream is at your beck and call; this session IPA is available all year long, rain or shine.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | November 7, 2018

The Denver Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, etc.
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Local Breweries Reach into Backyards & Communities for Ingredients

At PorchDrinking, we’re all about “drinking small” and supporting our local beer communities, so when we heard of some smaller breweries using locally sourced ingredients from their own yards, gardens, and communities, we were immediately intrigued. Ingredients can be one of the most challenging parts of running a brewery; locating, coordinating, and purchasing these items for smaller breweries is a moving target. The following local breweries are getting creative by using community connections to create beers that both tie directly to their area while creating completely unique brews for their neighborhood.

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Georgetown Brewing Company | Manny’s Pale Ale

Readers of PorchDrinking.com, I’d like to introduce you to Seattle’s pale ale. That’s right – in the city with the most craft breweries in the entire country, known for pioneering brewers and enthusiastic hopheads, I’m daring to single out one brew as Seattle’s illustrative pale. Please raise a glass and introduce yourself to Manny’s Pale Ale from Georgetown Brewing Company.  Read More

These Colorado Breweries Are Offering Free Beer & Election Day Deals

Election Day has finally arrived, and already the US is seeing record-breaking voter turnout for this year’s Midterm Elections. Already 35 million votes have been cast the day prior to the election, which dwarfs the 20 million cast this time four years ago.

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Five Great Chicago Stouts You Don’t Have to Line Up For

We have officially entered that time of year where breweries begin releasing their big, barrel-aged beers. Many come with massive release events that can draw large crowds and (of course) long lines. The beers might be hard to get and if you don’t get them on release day…you’re out of luck.

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TrimTab Brewing Co. | Mosaic Singularity IPA

After a short-lived, but spoiled, beer experience while living in Los Angeles for the past two years, I find myself back in the deep South for one simple thing: educational singularity. With this move came the heartbreak of broken connections and proximity to some of the best breweries the U.S. has to offer. However, every once in a while you find a diamond in the rough. Even with the slow start that Alabama had with developing reputable beer and breweries, I’ve really seen the state taking off in the right direction in the last couple of years.

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Chicago Quick Sips | November 5 Chicago Beer News & Events

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected].

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Modern Times Beer & Pueblo Vida Brewing Company | Arcosanti Fresh Hop IPA

Everyone has a favorite brewery, or a few of them. If the stars ever align and those breweries get together and brew a collaboration beer, then that’s about as good … Read More

Holy Mountain | The Ox

If you’re not familiar with Holy Mountain Brewing out of Seattle, then this beer, The Ox, will motivate you to change that. This barrel-aged saison is brewed with orange zest and Cascade hops, fermented in oak barrels (drooling). I had the pleasure of trying some of their brews for the first time recently and was floored by both the innovation of their brewing and quality of beer, particularly this saison.

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Surly Brewing | Darkness Variants

Surly Brewing Darkness has always been a highly coveted stout come the fall. The Russian imperial stout typically is available in a non barrel-aged version and a barrel-aged version. To change things up, Surly announced three variants, each in a different type of barrel and available only at Darkness Day.

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Brewery Showcase | Honest Weight Artisan Beer

One of my favorite aspects of the craft beer community is just that: the community. There’s a sense of comfort when you’re able to strike up a conversation with locals about the happenings around town. Contributing to the community is one of the main values for Honest Weight. Located on the edge of the Pioneer Valley and neighboring the Quabbin Reservoir (one of the primary water supplies for Boston), Honest Weight Artisan Beer has started to become a household name in the area.

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Stem Ciders | Chile Guava Apple Cider

“Cider is too sweet. Cider isn’t beer.” If that’s your thought on the matter of ciders, I would implore you first to refrain from comparing cider to beer. Beer is beer. Whiskey is whiskey. Wine is wine. And cider is cider. Yes, the packaging and crafted nature of the business has often allowed the two imbibe industries to converge, but they are not the same. I would then suggest next that you explore ciders as its own entity; you’ll find that the ciders of today are nothing like the jugged-cider sold at family pumpkin fests, and they differ greatly from the hard cider that first emerged fifteen to twenty years ago. Cider today is innovative, nuanced and balanced, demonstrated exquisitely by Stem Ciders‘ Chile Guava Apple Cider.

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