Event Recap | Bacon & Beer Festival 2015

If bacon is good and more bacon is better, then even more bacon with lots of incredible craft beer is the absolute best. The Bacon and Beer Festival returned to Denver on Sunday, October 8… and it was glorious. Bacon is an extremely versatile ingredient and this festival was a platform for some of Denver’s top chefs to show us its versatility. It was also a great opportunity for local breweries to show how their beers can pair with diverse swine dishes. Like last year, proceeds from the event benefited Metro CareRing and Project Angel Heart.

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Georgia’s SweetWater Brewing Plans West Coast Expansion

Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing Company is staking its claim on the West Coast, putting a twist on the whole craft breweries moving east trend.

SweetWater announced Thursday it had taken … Read More

‘Breasta Fiesta’ | Georgia’s Creature Comfort’s Brewing Co. Honors Artist Sara Papp

Front and center in the manifesto for Athens, Georgia’s Creature Comforts Brewing Co., the brewery says, “We take inspiration from those who crave curiosity and share its reward. The thinkers, the inventors, the artists, the explorers.”

You have to believe Sara Papp was one of those people.

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Event Preview | Novemberfest (Washington D.C.)

Oktoberfest season is too short for many of us, with not enough time to savor the brews among the leaves and sweaters. Solution: Northern Virginia’s Rustico will host its … Read More

Schooner EXACT Brewing Co. | 3-Grid IPA

ABV 6.7% | IBU 62

One of the great things about living in a beer-forward city like Seattle is the beer fluency of the entire city. Virtually every person in the area can carry on a conversation about beer styles and the relative virtues of one brewery over another without prompting, guaranteeing that a diverse set of opinions is just a conversation away. It’s in this way that I discovered the Schooner EXACT 3-Grid IPA.

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Vernal Brewing Co. | Allosaurus Amber Ale

4% ABV

Utah’s September muzzleloader buck deer hunt yielded, for me, the viewing of several beautiful sunrises, tons of squirrels, birds of prey attacking those squirrels, other orange-clad hunters, lots of does and one tiny spike buck that I thought about shooting for only a moment before letting him walk away unscathed. What it didn’t yield was any buck sizable enough to fill the freezer.

Now I sit here, in October, drinking an Allosaurus Amber Ale from Utah’s Vernal Brewing Co. I drink this tasty, medium-bodied amber ale next to a campfire in the Book Cliffs of Utah, where I’ve spent the last two weekends trying to make up for a failed deer hunt by trying in vain to fill my spike elk tag for the winter’s meat. We’ve seen some elk, but so far the only spike among them was in our neighbor’s campsite, already dead and being prepared to fill their freezer. Read More

Pucks & Pints | Beer Pairings for NHL Teams

The days are getting shorter, leaves are changing color and there is a bit of a chill in the air. That can only mean one thing: the National Hockey League is about to get under way and the hunt for the Stanley Cup is on. What goes well with hockey? The perfect craft brew, of course! This is our toast to the NHL and the delicious beers that remind us how great the game of hockey is. Listed below are the beer pairings for each NHL team. The criteria for the choices of the beers comes down to: regionality, availability, and the relativity of the name or certain aspect of the beer and the team identified. This is purely for fun and we hope you enjoy discovering your team’s beer.

When your team drops the puck for the first time, celebrate the start of the NHL season with a perfect, craft beer. Game on!

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Drake’s Brewing Company | Denogginizer

ABV: 9.75% | IBU: 90

Drake’s Brewing Company, founded by Roger Lind, started in 1989 with two stainless steel dairy tanks, a fifteen barrel kettle, one fermenter, and a few British pub cellar tanks. The goal was simple: create good English-style ales. Eventually with the addition of fresh Pacific Northwest hops, top quality malt, and a neutral California ale yeast strain, the ales started to take a more distinct, west coast style. Years passed, recipes refined and evolved and in 2004 Drake’s created Denogginizer, a perfect nod to their English style roots along with a toast to their West Coast hop evolution, tying their past to their present.

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Ultimate 6er | Reliving Utah’s Past GABF Success

At the time you are reading this, we are either recovering from a week long hangover or dead! GABF would be the way to die. Hundreds of breweries bringing the best beers in the world. There is nothing greater than walking shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of like-minded people. Everywhere you turn is a new friend and a beer. Yep, pretty sure we died. Seems like the pearly gates are drenched in golden suds.

We live in Utah and dream of Denver, Bend, San Diego and Asheville. But wait a minute… if you believe in the alcohol lockdown in the Wasatch Mountains, we surely live in beer hell. We are here to say, this is absolutely not true. We present six GABF medal winning beers from the last several years. So when the Zion curtain locks us in, we will be okay, because Utah brewers make some sweet brews. Read More

How to One Up that Pretzel Necklace

The age old debate on whether to wear a pretzel necklace to a beer festival dates back to Baron Marzen Dortmunder Zwickel Weizendoppelbock III’s attendance at the very first Oktoberfest in 1810, the tradition continued when Benjamin Franklin donned his own braided treat to Thomas Jefferson’s collaboration fest with fellow founding father Samuel Adams. And now we celebrate these pioneers by donning our own tasty carb-tastic accessories. However, as the times change and fashion evolves we’ve learned to upgrade our necklaces to hold much more than mere pretzels. While some have tricked out their gear with beef jerky, cookies, doughnuts and more, we thought we’d take it to the next level by asking Xzibit to… Read More

Roundtable Discussion | Favorite Things about GABF

It’s Great American Beer Festival week! This is our favorite time of year. Clearly you can see why.

Since all of us get super excited in the presence of good beer, Tristan asked the staff who was attending this year and what they were looking forward to most?

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Beer Celebrities You May See at Great American Beer Fest 2015

Great American Beer Festival is a great opportunity for beer geeks, like yours truly, to rub elbows with the best in the craft beer industry. Last year, we introduced you to some of the most famous people in the beer world that you might run across at Great American Beer Festival. Out of that list of 25 celeBEERties, I was able to meet 10 of them, including Garrett Oliver, Dick Cantwell and my beer crush, Sam Calagione.

Most of last year’s class will likely attend GABF this year, but we have a new list of beer celebrities to keep your eye out for, including some of the world’s best brewers, actors/musicians that are trying their hand at brewing, and advocates for the industry. Read More

Event Recap | Snallygaster

Guest Post Written By: Daniel Workman

Overcast and rainy conditions failed to dampen (although they might have chilled) spirits amongst attendees at he fourth annual installment Snallygaster craft beer and … Read More

Savannah’s Coastal Empire Beer Co: 2015 Is a Year of Milestones

Savannah, Georgia, known for its ghost tours, historic riverwalk and ruckus St. Patrick’s Day parties, is swiftly attracting yet another type of tourism: craft beer adventurers. And the city’s Coastal Empire Beer Co. is part of the evolution.

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The Lorenzo Lamas of Beer Drinkers: My Interview with Andy Juett

Andy Juett is a comic renaissance man in Denver, Colorado, focusing on stand-up, acting, writing, producing, and hosting. Andy is one of the creators of the High Plains Comedy Festival, which just celebrated its third successful year, and a partner in the Sexpot Comedy. Andy recently starred in and wrote season one of a short online comedy series, Glenn Has Idea$. Andy will be performing at and hosting Offensively Delicious (our preview here), a craft beer comedy show sponsored by Renegade Brewing on Wednesday, September 23, during the Great American Beer Festival.

I sat down with Andy at Renegade to share a beer and a few laughs.

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Russian River Brewing Company | Consecration

ABV 10%

Russian River Brewing Company is not only regarded as one of the best breweries in California, but also in the country. The other day I had the great pleasure of visiting their brew pub and the first thing I noticed was the phenomenal selection of beers to choose from. They have everything from sessions to pilsners to stouts to porters and their famous IPA’s and wilds/sours. The demand for all the Russian River Brewing Company beers is high due to their philosophy that it is easier to make better beer than it is to make more beer! I have not had a beer aged in wine-barrels I have enjoyed as much as Consecration. Read More

Cicerone Certification Program Releases New Test Guidelines

Are you studying to be a Certified Cicerone or a Certified Beer Server? Your new test guides are out, and there are some changes you want to pay attention to (for all your flashcard making needs).

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Ultimate 6er | The 6 Stages of Cleveland Browns Fandom

As summer comes to a close and we make our way into fall, one thing becomes more imminent than anything: FOOTBALL. And what better way to celebrate the advent of a new season than with some brews? As a native Clevelander and lifelong Browns fan, I know the football season brings with it a roller coaster of experiences spanning across a wide spectrum. So, in anticipation of another grueling season, I present to you the 6 Stages of Cleveland Browns Fandom, as described by beer.
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Brewery Showcase | Elevation Beer Company

Location: 115 Pahlone Parkway, Poncha Springs, CO 81242

Hours: 7 Days a week from 12-8pm

Brew Capacity: 15bbl system and 615bbls of fermentation

Distribution: CO, TX, AZ, and WA

Some moments stick with you. Whenever you search back through your memories, you can still see the entire scene echoing vividly through your consciousness. And while it may sound a bit silly, the first time I tried Elevation Beer Company is one of those moments. Read More

Cellarmaker Brewing Co. | Imperial Coffee & Cigarettes Porter

ABV: 10.3% | IBU: 45

When I found myself alone in San Francisco for a night after a conference, I did what any good PDer would do and took myself to the nearest beer bar. I ended up at the Mikkeller Bar, which had rave reviews for its unique draft list and boasts “the Perfect Pour” thanks to its gas blending system. After scanning the 40-plus draft options, I chose the Cellarmaker Imperial Coffee & Cigarettes Porter from the San Francisco-based Cellarmaker Brewing Co. Nothing else seemed as appropriate in a dark San Francisco bar on a Wednesday night.

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