Downhill Brewing | Saturday Nut Fever Peanut Butter Brown

Peanut butter fans will find a lot to love in Downhill Brewing Saturday Nut Fever Peanut Butter Brown. This brew packs in a strong dose of nutty flavors along with complementary chocolate and roast notes. The overall experience is much like peanut butter on dark chocolate. Read More

Legend Brewing Co. | Brown Ale

Every state has a classic craft beer that changed people’s perception of what beer was. From Spotted Cow in Wisconsin to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in California, there’s a dependable representative that can be found everywhere from gas station to supermarket. In Virginia, we’re fortunate enough to drink the incredibly popular Brown Ale by Legend Brewing Co.

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Halloween Beer Treat | LUKI Brewery Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie

During a drastic weather change like the ones we experience in Colorado from time to time, it’s easy to go right from crispy summer brews to heavy winter Stouts without the intermediary Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers. But LUKI Brewery in Arvada, Colorado, is giving its fairly new fan base reason to seek out squash and gourd-centric beers this fall: Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie.

Instead of being labeled a “pumpkin Ale” or an Imperial Stout with pumpkin like so many others, Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie is a spiced Brown Ale. LUKI’s current craft lineup contains no sub-5% ABV beers nor any 10%+ ABV booze bombs; the beers are born from owner and brewer Jeff Smith’s love of old-school styles and desire to create well-balanced, accessible (and still entertaining) brews.

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Baxter Brewing Co | Muddy Boots

Amid this pandemic, the inequalities that hold up the structure of our society are more evident than ever, the reality that the American culture as we know it simply does not work without this inequitable foundation is no longer deniable. As our nation begins the endeavor of reopening our economy, we are forced to reconcile this realization with our desire to return to normal. But is that “normal” what we are truly craving? We are at a precipitous where as a society we have the time to reflect on realities of our system if we so choose this is our moment to reopen our country a new, different, better; will we take this chance or will we let it pass us by?
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Against the Grain | Brown Note Brown Ale

I tend to be the type of beer drinker who plays favorites. For several years, I fell into a rut of good-beer-drinking. I knew what I liked and that’s mostly what I drank. But my eyes have been opened to the massive range of variety in today’s craft beer scene. In my home state of Kentucky, craft brewing was a little slow to take off but has really hit its stride over the past few years. Lately, I’ve been on a mission to seek out new Kentucky-brewed beers. On a recent visit to Liquor Barn in Lexington, I was perusing the aisles, trying not to get taken in by the label gimmickry that has become prevalent in craft brewing.

I failed. My eyes were immediately drawn to one particular beer, mostly because the label was, well…rather disgusting. I’m all for humor in beer labeling, but, really? Then I noticed the brewery: Louisville-based Against the Grain.

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We Asked Brewers About Brown Ales vs. Porters

Ah, ’tis season of winter beers. As the days and nights turn colder in the northern parts of the nation, the bite in the air invites us to turn from the lighter beers of summer to the bigger, bolder and richer beers designed to be sipped by the fire, enjoyed with hearty menus or served at warmer temperatures.

The three most popular winter styles, outside the realm of barrel-aging, involve stouts, porters and brown ales. While most can adequately describe stouts, the differences between porters and brown ales are often misunderstood. To better understand the styles, I asked some breweries in the St. Louis region to provide clarity on the topic.  Read More

Mt. Carmel Brewing Company | Coffee Brown

Last Christmas, my extended relatives decided to gift me a few deliveries of The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. Opening these mail packages felt like a relic of a different era when getting craft beer required more effort and planning. It can be a fun gift to give to the beer fan in your life when they’ve had everything at the supermarket. I’ve received beers from breweries in New York, Pennsylvania, and Iowa that I never heard about before, but the best beer to come from these shipments was Mt. Carmel Brewing Company’s Coffee Brown.
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Ultimate 6er | A Can of Thanksgiving

I can hear my mom on Thanksgiving Day yelling, “EJ, get in here! It’s time to eat!” But times have changed since then, so I better not hear that nickname today. For any future yellings, please refer to me as Eric.

So let’s imagine for a second that instead of a Thanksgiving turkey on a silver platter, there was a can of beer. But what would that beer be? And say for instance instead of a green bean casserole, you guessed it, another can of beer? What beer would take its place? This is the Ultimate 6er for Thanksgiving, just in case your food happens to be all beer.
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Style Profile | Brown Ale

Every other month PorchDrinking will be tackling a style profile. The idea being to get the word out and identify beers you can use to calibrate your senses to better enjoy the beer you consume. Beer can be a complex topic but worry not because PorchDrinking is here to show you the ropes – like an older brother or sister, only less abuse and more information.

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Fossil Cove Brewing Co. | La Brea Brown

Just like the weather, my palate is confused. Normally at this time of year I would like to be confidently making headway through my stash of last year’s stouts. When I wake up in the morning, I’d love for the house to be cold. I’d love for the last residue at the bottom of the dirty beer glasses on the counter to resemble motor oil. However, Mother Nature seems to be confused. Here in Arkansas we’ve barely had our first freeze and afternoon temps are still climbing in to the 70’s. I can’t make up my mind when paroozing the aisles of my liquor store or the taps at my favorite watering holes. The crisp and easy drinking/sessionable beers of the summer are long since in my rear view but I can’t bring myself to pull out the good stuff and dive headlong into stout season. The solution for a seasonally confused Arkansas beer drinker when you need something local to quench your thirst? Look no further than Fossil Cove Brewing Co.’s La Brea Brown Ale.

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BadWolf Brewing Company | Session Brown

ABV: 4.7% | IBU: 29

It’s cliché but sometimes you want a beer that you can drink in the fall while wearing a flannel. Maybe you’re wearing brown boots, maybe you’re sitting on a haystack or maybe you’re just sitting on your back porch on a sunny, somewhat warm afternoon.

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Lonerider Brewing | Sweet Josie Brown Ale

ABV: 6.1% | IBU: 30

To continue with the theme of canned North Carolina beers, let’s take a look at another one from Lonerider Brewing, Sweet Josie Brown Ale.
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Brasserie Dieu du Ciel | Rigor Mortis

Summer time is here, and aside from the scorching heat and long anticipated summer nights, I sometimes crave a darker style beer to balance the light lagers and pale ales that have come to be the norm. On this particular day I was in the mood for a beer I’ve had my eye on for awhile, the Rigor Mortis from Dieu du Ciel out of Canada. One thing I know is that everything I’ve had from this brewery rocks my socks, and I couldn’t help but be drawn toward their Abbey-style brown ale. Read More

Reuben’s Brews | American Brown

ABV: 5.9%
IBU: 36

Reuben’s Brews was one of the first breweries I covered when I began writing about craft beer and has always been one of my favorite taprooms to visit, so I have happily monitored their rapid growth into a well-recognized force within the Seattle craft beer scene and beyond. Reuben’s opened in August 2012 but, thanks to a delicious and award-winning rotating beer list, they reached brewing capacity within six months. This lead the team at Reuben’s to begin looking for a location in which to expand their operations two years ago, and they opened the doors to their new, spacious brewery and taproom on May 9 of this year. I stopped by the brewery to pay homage to my roots as a craft beer writer – and to sample one of their rotating brews, the American Brown. Read More

Brüeprint | Brüenette Brown Ale

ABV: 5.2% | IBU: 24

I love when I’m browsing the North Carolina section of my local bottle shop and an assortment of unfamiliar beers from the same brewery appear before my … Read More

Mt. Carmel Brewing Co. | Coffee Brown Ale

ABV: 6.0% | IBU: 38

If you have been as busy as I have been, going from meeting to meeting, email after email, and working past 5 most days, you need … Read More

Uinta Brewing | Bristlecone Brown Ale

ABV 4%
25 IBU

One day, Uinta Brewery (you-INN-tah, to be perfectly clear on pronunciation), nestled between the Salt Lake City metro area and The Great Salt Lake itself, brewed a toasty, warm and earthen brown ale. It was delicious, and they christened it “Bristlecone” after the mighty, ancient alpine tree.

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Shmaltz Brewing Company | He’brew Messiah Nut Brown Ale

ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 21

Thanks to football season, I spend a lot of time talking with the Lord in the fall. “JESUS F*CKING CHRIST!” I screamed when the Iowa kickers cost us the game against Iowa State. “Goddamn that was too close” when we beat Pitt 20-24 in September. But mostly I am huddled in a corner muttering “OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD” whenever Kirk Ferentz goes for it on 4th. Luckily for me (and all Iowa fans) we have Mark Weisman, our personal Hebrew Hammer of a running back who saves our drives on a continual basis. In honor of Iowa’s own savior, I thought it was time to introduce the PorchDrinking community to He’brew, the Chosen beers made by Shmaltz Brewing company.

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Ale Asylum Madtown Nutbrown

5.5% ABV

Hop on board the crazy train with a yummy Madtown Nutbrown from Ale Asylum. (See what I did there? Hop? Ha ha ha! I slay me!) Ale Asylum is one … Read More

Trappist Achel Extra Brune

 9.5% ABV

Having just gone to the Cincy Winter Beerfest the evening before, I had a plethora of beers from which to choose for this review; however, there was a beer on hand that I have been waiting to open since Christmas, a gift from my brother in-law, who also has a predilection for good beers and a gives the best gifts: Trappist Achel Extra Brune. Read More