Five Tips for Continuing Your Craft Brewery Adventures With a Baby in Tow

Prior to welcoming our beautiful baby girl into the world in May, my husband and I spent many weekends exploring Michigan’s amazing craft beer scene together. When we were dating, many conversations took place over our favorite IPA at the local brewery or while trying somewhere new that neither of us had ever been to. Craft beer is our passion and hobby, but this came to a screeching halt when our little one arrived. Suddenly, beers were replaced with bottles, and sleep became our most precious commodity. After a few weeks, though, we had a strong desire to find a way to incorporate our pre-baby interests into this new adventure we were on, and we set out to bring our daughter to her first brewery. Since then, we have learned a lot about what makes or breaks a night out on the town with a newborn in tow, and we felt a desire to share our wisdom with our fellow craft beer lovers to let you know that IT IS POSSIBLE to enjoy spending time with your little one AND to indulge in a night out with a good craft brew.
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Chicago takes hazy gold once again at GABF, 9 other medals

Chicago is once again home to Great American Beer Festival’s gold medal-winning Hazy IPA after Old Irving Brewing Co. took home top honors for Beezer. Last year, the first year with the Hazy IPA category, Alarmist won the inaugural gold for Le Jus. (And, in 2017, Hailstorm won for its Prairie Madness IPA which was the most-entered category by breweries that year.)

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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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GABF Spotlight | The Best Chicagoland Beers

There will be more than 4,000 beers poured at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. It is impossible to try every beer there, it would even be a feat if you tried 3% of all the beers being poured at the event.

I went through the pour list of every Illinois brewery pouring at GABF this year and picked out a handful of beers that if you’re not from the state, should be on your list to try. Keep in mind that pour lists do change and so I’m going off of what is available on the festival’s website. I’ll also give you an honorable mention beer from each brewery that may not be the most hyped up beer they have, but it’s still worth trying.

Also, know that a lot of breweries submit beer for judging but don’t make the trip out to Denver to pour their beer. So if you saw that your favorite brewery sent beer to GABF, it doesn’t mean that they are actually going to be there for you to try. Read More

Event Preview | The 9th Annual BeerHoptacular

Billed as Chicago’s original craft beer festival, the BeerHoptacular returns once again to the Vertiport hangar on September 28 with over 100 beers being poured.

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Saint Arnold Brewing Company | Art Car IPA

The phenomenon of the art car has intrigued me for some time. Have you ever seen these things? Cars covered from bumper to bumper with colorful paint jobs and anything from mosaic tile to plastic figurines. Sure, some look like a hoarder hoarked on a hooptie, but there are certainly some examples that truly are mobile art. The layers of detail and creativity are impressive, and it’s that creative spirit that inspired Saint Arnold’s Art Car IPA.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | September 24, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More

Denver’s Counter Culture Brewery Shows Classic is the Contemporary

PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | September 18, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More

Ultimate 6er | Pairing Six Revolution Beers with White Castle Menu Items

I’ll never forget waiting in the drive-thru lane of a White Castle at 12:45 a.m. after immediately seeing Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. It wasn’t my first time, but it was my most memorable time eating those delicious little sliders with onions that really do pop with flavor.

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Boiler Brewing Co. | Koo Koo for Coconut

The Old Federal Building (now known as The Grand Manse) is an impressive building that sits in downtown Lincoln, NE. Inside, there is beautiful woodwork and even a stately courtroom with the original judge’s bench. But you want to go straight down to the basement, the belly of the building, to the former boiler room.

Founded in 2015, Boiler Brewing Company has turned this space into a cozy and relaxing taproom that focuses on small-batch brews with a tap list that is anything but “small.” With pours starting at 4 oz, you can try a whole slew of beers that pique your interest. One beer you should try is Koo Koo for Coconut, an oatmeal milk stout they starting brewing back in April of 2016. Read More

Recapping Burnt City Brewing’s Kveik Fest

There are beer festivals centered around hazy beers, big stouts, sours and other styles, but rarely is there a festival around a strand of yeast. Burnt City Brewing teamed up with Omega Yeast Labs to showcase the Kveik strand of yeast and show just how versatile it is.

30 breweries were on hand at District Brew Yards, the home of Burnt City in Chicago, to pour more than 60 beers, a majority using the Kveik yeast. Everything from hazy IPAs to stouts to barleywines were on hand at the festival.

Mathew Powers and I were both there for PorchDrinking.com and we were also joined by Jack Muldowney from The Hop Review; we’d like to share some of our favorite beers from the afternoon. 

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New Glory Craft Brewery | Hopaway Beach

There are not many breweries in the Sacramento, CA area that have a better track record of brewing IPAs than New Glory Craft Brewery. When you check the “about us” section of their website, the first sentence reads: “We reject the mainstream concept of ‘flagship’ or core beers.” A quick look at their current tap list includes 24 beers; 15 of them are either a Pale Ale, IPA, Double IPA or Milkshake IPA. I’m not sure how many different IPAs and hop-forward beers they’ve turned out since 2014, but it’s safe to say they’ve worked every angle of the style.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | September 4, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More

Revolution Brewing Adds Hazy IPA to Year-Round Lineup

One of Chicago’s most notable series of beers is getting a new year-round addition. Revolution Brewing’s Hero Series which features their iconic Anti-Hero is welcoming a hazy IPA, aptly named Hazy-Hero.

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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | August 28, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More

Ultimate 6er | Six Beers to Celebrate Labor Day

Labor Day is unfortunately overlooked as a day most people are just happy to be off work. The irony of it is that the first Monday of September represents those same hardworking Americans. All of the social and economic achievements of American workers deserve acknowledgment, and Labor Day is a humble way of thanking and serving tribute to a history of hard work and positive contribution towards a stronger, more prosperous nation.

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Chicago Quick Sips | Aug. 26 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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PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | August 21, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More

PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat | August 14, 2019

The Denver Beer Beat is a weekly roundup of brewery openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, and more happening in the Front Range and beyond. Be sure to check in each Wednesday to discover anything and everything happening around Colorado’s beer scene. Now let’s get to this week’s can’t miss beer events. Read More