Event Preview | 2018 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest

Summer is upon us and that means there are at least 1,000 beer festivals already announced, or at least it seems that way. However, when you’re one of the country’s preeminent breweries, you’ve got the ability to handpick other elite level breweries to join for an invitational; enter the Firestone Walker 2018 Invitational Beer Fest. We hope you were able to snag your tickets before they sold out (no tickets will be available at the door) and you have started to hydrate because this year is going to be a doozy.

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Left Hand Brewing Company | Saison au Miel

A beer series usually provides intrigue, and it provides brewers with a chance to be creative, experiment, tell a story and have some fun. Like the brewer, let’s have some fun and figure out the intention of the first installment of the Left Hand Brewing Company Les Quatre Saison Series: Saison au Miel.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | May 23, 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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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Atlanta Beer Beat | May 23-29, 2018

The Atlanta Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings and more!

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Funkwerks | Pineapple Provincial

Here in Colorado, it’s the beginning of the season for patio sitting, flip flop wearing, and summer time imbibing. The abundance of sunshine has got me in vacation mode and not just any kind of vacation mode—the kind where you sink your toes in the sand and smell the salt in the air. Sadly, I won’t be embarking on such a vacation anytime soon but Funkwerk’s Pineapple Provincial, paired with a tiny umbrella, will take you on a tropical vacation one delicious sip at at time.

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Crow Hop’s New Tap Room is a Big Leap Forward

Downtown Loveland is currently home to three breweries (soon to be four) which are well-established in the community and gaining notoriety among the always crowded Colorado craft scene. Loveland Aleworks has been in their current residence, for a long while, and Verboten had a recent change when they moved to their current location on 5^th Street. Crow Hop Brewing, the third of the trifecta, called 3^rd Street their home since their opening in 2015. That all changed last week, when the team closed shop on 3^rd and moved one block north to the east side of 4^th Street in Downtown Loveland. Prior to their grand reopening in early June, Crow Hop has put on a few soft open events for their loyal patrons, and Thursday was the first soft open for folks outside of Crow Hops staff and immediate family, and the event did not disappoint. Read More

Great Divide Brewing Company | Heyday Modern IPA

As an employee owner of New Belgium and a lover of craft beer, I am always on the lookout for high-quality brews. One place I often look, and am rewarded by, is fellow longtime Colorado craft brewer, Great Divide Brewing Company. Today, I’m lucky enough to enjoy their Heyday Modern IPA. Heyday is a new offering from Great Divide that riffs on current IPA styles to create a modified IPA experience they’re dubbing, “Modern IPA,” and it’s a beer that has me thinking of summertime. Read More

Illinois Craft Beer Week | Brewer Enthusiasm

The vast majority of craft brewers take immense pride in every beer they produce, and it shows in the exuberance they demonstrate while discussing their creations to patrons during Illinois Craft Beer Week. Sure, beer releases, festivals, events and tap takeovers during craft week are wrought with stressful, logistical challenges. Nonetheless, whatever might betide, in those moments when a beer fan inquires as to the details of a beer served, sheer joy routinely arises. In fact, all those associated with the brewery exude palpable excitement when presented with an opportunity to speak about their products.

All that hard work. All that cleaning. All that blood and sweat is worth it when it gets boiled down to the very essence of beer making — the beer, itself.
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Sixpoint Brewery | Righteous Barrel-Aged Rye Ale

Spring came very late this year, which delayed my normal drinking schedule a bit. By Easter, I’ve typically transitioned to pilsners, session IPAs and goses, but this year’s cooler temperatures had me settling back into my winter routine. It may have been fate when Sixpoint Brewery‘s Righteous Barrel-Aged Rye found its way into my fridge, and it was a welcome sight during this unseasonably cool, rainy spring.
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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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Assessing the Comic Book Success of Revolution Brewing’s League of Heroes Variety Pack

Revolution Brewing knows how to make damn good beer, and they know how to market it. With an overwhelming amount of quality craft options in the Chicago market, Revolution has been able to defend their sales turf by standing out through their unique marketing efforts – look no further than their League of Heroes variety pack.

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Bear Republic Brewing Co. | Racer 500 Indy Pale Ale

With my wife being from Indianapolis, I know that when the calendar turns to May; it’s Indianapolis 500 month. To celebrate the event, Bear Republic Brewing Co., known for its Racer 5 IPA and other racing-inspired beers, has released Racer 500 Indy Pale Ale. The beer is only be available at the brewpub and the state of Indiana.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | May 16, 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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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Atlanta Beer Beat | May 16-22, 2018

The Atlanta Beer Beat sheds light on news of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings and more!

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Burial + Other Half | One For Me Helles Lager

Somehow I’ve managed to go years without reviewing a single thing from Burial Beer Company, one of the better-known, Asheville-based brewers in North Carolina. Today we make an end to that with One For Me, Burial’s collaboration Helles Lager brewed with Other Half Brewing out of New York. Read More

Forbidden Root’s ‘Assembly Required’ Line Brings Sour Haze to the Midwest

Scroll through your Instagram these days and you’re sure to find a wide selection of hazy beers in tulip glasses, strategically positioned to capture the faintest glimmer of sunlight on the glass. For many, the fanfare around the NE-style IPA is as much about the visuals as it is about the beer’s inherently juicy sweetness. Humans are visual eaters after all, so creating a beer that delights both your eyeballs and tastebuds makes sense. When I scrolled through my feed a few months back, my finger stopped on a post from Chicago-based Forbidden Root. The West-side brewery has made a name for itself with their botanical brews and hazy concoctions, but this newest endeavor, dubbed Assembly Required, was daring even for them. It was a sour NE-style IPA, more opaque than hazy, with a bright rosy red hue that departed from the typical orange juice color of a traditional haze bomb. Their new Assembly Required line is a bold evolution to the must-make trend of the present. After tasting the next batch, I’m confident in saying that the sour haze trend is alive and well in Chicago Read More

Great Lakes Brewing Company | Holy Moses Raspberry White Ale

Last January, I waxed nostalgic a bit. Great Lakes Brewing Company decided to re-introduce Holy Moses White Ale as a constant, everyday staple in the beer fridge at the local, and not-so-local, supermarket. I quivered with anticipation when I heard the news, and then I balked at their seasonal May release. It was a beer that would add raspberries to its refreshing citrus undertones, and at the time I did not think I would be ready for that transition. After GLBC’s foray into Holy Mimosas after the Holy Moses release earlier this year and after trying to make them myself—I used mango juice—the idea that there would be another form of Holy Moses to grace our shelves and our bellies was more exciting than the initial reveal. Now, Great Lakes Brewing Company and Holy Moses Raspberry White Ale has arrived, just in time for the warmer weather—FINALLY.

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Ballast Point Set to Open New Chicago Brewery

The West Coast meets the Midwest on Tuesday when Ballast Point Brewing Company opens its Chicago brewery in the West Loop neighborhood. The long-awaited opening adds another well-known beer name to the city’s beer scene.

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La Folie Returns to Cork & Cage for 20th Anniversary of New Belgium’s Wood-Aged Sour Program

How does one properly pay homage to the predecessor that launched an entire movement? By returning to the basics. La Folie, New Belgium Brewing’s Sour Brown blend, was the country’s first commercially produced sour developed by Peter Bouckaert in 1999, and still features the oldest continuous souring culture in America. It has since gone on to earn multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival and more importantly, inspired thousands of American brewers and beer drinkers to embrace barrel-aged mixed culture sour beers.

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Event Preview | 2018 Illinois Craft Beer Week

While it seems that Illinois is celebrating craft beer every week of the year, there’s one week in May that is set aside to specifically recognize the role that the Prairie State is playing in the greater world of craft brewing.

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