Event Recap | The Side Project Invitational

An Inaugural to Remember

It’s been almost two weeks since the Side Project Invitational, and attendees’ heads are still spinning over the experience. Subtitled as “A Festival of Barrel-Aged Stouts & Barleywines,” it was immediately advertised as not for the faint of heart. Strategically placed on Super Bowl Sunday, February 2nd, as the kickoff to Side Project’s annual Stout Week, it brought people from all over the United States to Maplewood, Missouri to see what all the hype was about.

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Karl Strauss Changing of the Barrels | Event Recap

Every year that a brewery makes a thriving success of brewing more amazing beers, it is an accomplishment not only for themselves, but also for the industry and their patrons. Karl Strauss Brewing Co in San Diego, California, celebrated its 31st anniversary with their Changing of the Barrels event. This anniversary party not only features their flagship lineup but of course also highlights some superb beers that have been sleeping in barrels, awakened specifically for this moment

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Olde Hickory Brewery | Flanders Red

Beer hunting is most fun when digging up long-forgotten, buried treasure. Recently, I had the pleasure of discovering Olde Hickory’s Flanders Red Ale. This beauty was aged for 30 months—a full two-and-a-half years!—in bourbon barrels before bottling on Halloween 2016. I found it in late 2019, hiding in plain sight on the shelf at Carrboro Beverage Company. That means this Bad Larry was aging for more than five years before I picked it up. Today, I have the pleasure of sharing it with you, our lovely PorchDrinking readers. Read More

Inside Revolution Brewing’s Barrel Program Ahead of Cuvée De Grâce & Ten Year Beer

From late September through the end of February Revolution Brewing’s Marty Scott has one thing on his mind – barrel-aged beer. As the brewery’s Barrel Program Lead, he’s been … Read More

Revolution’s Boss Jacket Stars in the Third Deep Wood Release

While the barrel-aged releases are dying down as we get closer to the end of the year, Chicago’s Revolution Brewing still has two more for their Deep Wood series and the third release (of four) happens this Friday at the taproom on Kedzie.

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Old Irving Brewing Set to Release Barrel-Aged Krampus

The brewery that took gold in the hazy IPA category at the Great American Beer Festival is getting ready to release its barrel-aged series this week as Old Irving Brewing’s Krampus is out of the barrels.

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Crystal Lake Brewing Boathouse Reserve 2019 Series Preview

Fresh off its Silver Medal at the Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer (FoBAB) for its Rye Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, Crystal Lake Brewing has unveiled its 2019 Boathouse Reserve barrel-aged … Read More

What We’re Drinking | November 15, 2019

Most of us were hit with an Arctic blast this week, dropping temperatures in Texas by 30 degrees within an hour. Although a welcome change from the oppressive heat, things turned wintery quick! Here are a few ideas to keep you warm this week from your PorchDrinking staffers. Read More

Proper Brewing Co. | Monolith Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

With Monolith, Salt Lake City’s Proper Brewing Co. begins its much-anticipated barrel program.

Monolith is a barrel-aged version of Proper Brewing’s Grand Sláinte Imperial Stout. It’s a limited-edition brew you’ll want to get your hands on.
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Staff Picks | The Festival of Barrel-Aged Beer’s (FoBAB) Best of the Best

Once again the UIC Forum was packed with breweries from all over the country pouring some of their best barrel-aged beers at this weekend’s Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers. In 17th annual showcase of country’s elite barrel-aged beers, Bottle Logic repeated in taking home Best-in-Show honors for Arcane Ritual.

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What We’re Drinking | November 8, 2019

As usual, the crew here at PorchDrinking.com is drinking some great beers this week. You can definitely tell we’re entering the holiday season based off the beers we’re drinking. I think you can make any beer work for just about any occasion, but there are some that perfect for certain times of the year. Here’s What We’re Drinking. Read More

Maplewood Set to Release First Barrel-Aged Cuppa Beers

Known for their thick body, heavy adjuncts and deep flavors, the Cuppa beers from Maplewood Brewery and Distillery enter a new chapter tomorrow with the release of their first barrel-aged versions in the series.

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Illinois Breweries are Preparing for FoBAB

In any industry, to be recognized for exemplary work is an incredible feeling. To win a medal at the Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer (FoBAB), one of the country’s premier barrel-aged beer festivals, is a massive accomplishment.

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Firestone Walker’s Terroir Project | An Experimental Crossover

For many people, the expectation is that breweries must always be innovating to be relevant. While smaller breweries have the luxury of chasing a trend and nimbly playing the field, many larger and established breweries find this a challenging task. Firestone Walker, though one of the larger craft breweries, has continued to find a way to create their own space. Whether it’s through unique beer releases or highly curated events, they always seem to be up for the challenge. Read More

Drinking Through the 2019 Surly Darkness Barrel-Aged Variants

For the second year in a row, Surly Brewing Co. will be releasing a series of barrel-aged variants of their popular Russian Imperial Stout, Darkness. The different barrel and adjunct beers were released at Darkness Day last year and will follow suit this year.

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Funkwerks | Barrel-Aged Tropic King

A few years back, Funkwerks Tropic King was somewhat of an undercover gem in the brewery-rich city of Fort Collins, Colorado. The Imperial Saison was locally made, had amazing depth, and had a reputation for being affordable while still dangerously high in ABV. Recently, though, as Funkwerks expanded their distribution far beyond Fort Collins, and Tropic King can now be found in ten states, the locals lost some of their bragging rights—until now. Funkwerks is no stranger to experimentation, and their latest unique offering is Barrel-Aged Tropic King, which is a local-only release.

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Wild Creatures | Tears of Saint Laurent

What happens when a vintner’s daughter, who has worked in her family vineyards and wine cellar from early childhood, falls in love with spontaneously fermented beers in Belgium? Enter Jitka Ilčíková and her “vintner brewed beer” at Wild Creatures in Mikulov, Czech Republic.

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Event Preview | Karl Strauss Brewing Company Turns 30

On February 2, 1989, Karl Strauss Brewing Company opened their first brewery on Columbia St. in downtown San Diego, CA. Thirty years later, they are still going strong with 10 brewpubs scattered from San Diego to Orange County and two locations in Los Angeles County.

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Zipline Brewing | Bourbon Barrel-Aged The Stout

When the chill of winter sets in, in the Midwest, we all pile on the layers. Wool socks, scarves, non-ironic stocking caps. But with the sun still setting before you can make it home from work, there’s one more trick to help warm you up – bourbon. One sip warms you from the inside out and takes away that chill that never seems to subside.

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Chicago’s Barrel-Aging Pros Answer: What’s Next for Barrel-Aged Beers?

When calendars turn to a new year, the barrel-aged beer craze tends to die down just a little with most of the breweries having already released their clean bourbon barrel-aged rarities to the public. With so many breweries now producing barrel-aged beers not just in the winter months, but year-round, where does this style go from here?

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