German Beer Day | PorchDrinking Staff’s German Beer & Brewery Picks

Prost! For some parts of Europe, grape is king. But, in Germany, it is all about barley and hops. German Beer Day (Friday, April 23) celebrates that country’s rich brewing culture and history. So we wanted to briefly discuss German brewing and ask some of our team what German Breweries they’d like to visit and what German beer styles they genuinely love.

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Brewery Showcase | Rhinegeist Brewery

Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist Brewery was founded in 2013 as a step toward reclaiming the area’s German brewing heritage. Rhinegeist’s expansive 250,000 square foot brewery and taproom is housed in the former Christian Moerlein turn of the century packaging hall and over the years has grown into multiple floors throughout the building.

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Cincinnati’s German Brewing Heritage

It’s Oktoberfest time! For beer lovers in and around Cincinnati, Ohio, this season is pretty much made for them — the Queen City throws the second largest Oktoberfest celebration outside of Munich, and the world’s largest chicken dance.

Sadly, COVID-19 will put a major damper on how Oktoberfest social events are handled this year. However, one of the great things about the season is the glut of Oktoberfest, Märzenbier and Festbier releases. (Check out this primer on what exactly it is we’re drinking when we have an Oktoberfest beer.) While it’s great enjoying these styles at a Cincinnati Oktoberfest celebration with an oompah band playing in the background, they’re also plenty enjoyable to relax with on a patio or porch as the summer heat wanes into crisp autumn evenings.

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Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Hacker Pschorr Münchner Gold

With a rich history going back 600 years, Hacker Pschorr is truly one of the OGs of German beer. These guys were doing Reinheitsgebot almost 100 years before there WAS a Reinheitsgebot. This Munich-based brewery produces several dozen different beers, only a handful of which—including Münchner Gold—are distributed in the US.

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Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Paulaner Oktoberfest Lager

The global pandemic has put a damper on our oom-pah-pahs and Zicke, zacke, hoi, hois. Indeed, Oktoberfest 2020 — whether it be in Munich or anywhere else — is not quite the same. Nevertheless, the six official Oktoberfest breweries in Munich have not ceased in creating their beers. The youngest of the six, Paulaner, offers not one, but two versions: the historic Märzen that’s available year-round and the Oktoberfest Lager served in Munich during the festivities. For extra fun, search for the special one-liter can and glass mug set.

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2020 Guide to Colorado’s Oktoberfest Beer Releases

It’s clear by now that the year 2020 has no chill, and rather than ease into a gradual shift of in temperature, us Coloradoans have already begun experiencing some seasonal schizophrenia. And while Oktoberfest may have been canceled in Munich, … Read More

Celebrate German Beer Day with America’s Best German-Style Breweries

German Beer Day, April 23, celebrates the enacting of the Bavarian Beer Purity Order, or Reinheitsgebot, which officially restricted beer ingredients to water, hops, and malt (the existence of yeast was not understood in 1516 but was later added). While it is impossible to say where German beer would be today without the Reinheitsgebot, it has helped make German beer synonymous with high quality and consistency across the five centuries since it was signed.

In honor of German Beer Day, we’ve put together a roundup of some of America’s best German-style breweries, who focus primarily on producing and preserving these historic German-styles. Read More

Brewery Showcase | Private Landbrauerei Schönram

With the inferior American adjunct Lager varieties produced by the industrial brewers and the explosion of craft brewing, lager-style beers have largely fallen out of fashion in the United States. Yet, while IPAs may be all the rage in the U.S., in Germany, Lagers still reign supreme and no one is producing better examples of these beers there than Private Landbrauerei Schönram.

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Ultimate 6er | 6 Beers Worth Traveling Internationally

Want to travel? “Traveling more” is a resolution for 25% of Americans for 2020. It’s not surprising, as travel is generally very fun and occasionally life-changing. Now is the time to look past some of your other, less-worthy resolutions (see you in 2021 eating healthy and saving money!) and commit to being Dora the Beer Explorer in 2020.

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New Glarus Brewing | Dancing Man Wheat

As summer comes to an end, I would like to look back on some of the fond memories of 2019. While the birth of my son, Alexander, has to rank as one of the top moments of my summer, a close second has to be my discovery of my new summer beer, Dancing Man Wheat–a Hefeweizen from New Glarus Brewery out of New Glarus, Wisconsin.

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Märzen vs. Festbier? Paulaner Explains It All

This post was sponsored and supported by Paulaner USA. 

Steins. Pretzels. Dirndls. Lederhosen. Sausages. More Steins. Tents. Singing. Chances are, I just summed up your Oktoberfest experiences. But other than hearing about that time your friend studied abroad in Germany, what do you really know about Oktoberfest and the beers served there?

Märzen, Helles and Festbier aren’t usually what you brandish at your bottle share, but the craft that goes into producing these styles is immense. Munich breweries are very proud of their beer traditions—none more than Paulaner, Oktoberfest’s #1 provider of stein-filled happiness. We asked the masters for a little more background behind the magic that goes into each glass, which in turn fuels all the good times and pretzel consumption.

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Island Hoppin’ Brewery | K-Pod Kolsch

It’s hard to overstate the natural beauty of Washington state. The state is home to mountain ranges, temperate rain forests, desert plains, active volcanoes and other natural wonders that are so varied and abundant, you could easily spend every weekend of the year in a new terrain. Even from my home base of metropolitan Seattle, the closest mountains are less than 30 minutes outside the city and you can book a whale watching tour that leaves from downtown.
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Sprecher Brewing Company | Winter Lager

Like many of you, I get a lot of beers and beer accessories for Christmas. This year my boyfriend went with a monthly beer club – with the extra promise he won’t have more than 2 of the 12 every month. As a bonus, they were nice enough to deliver before my PorchDrinking deadline, so I get to share my haul with you guys! While I was familiar with one of the breweries from the east coast, the club introduced me to Sprecher Brewing Company and their Winter Lager.
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Dovetail | Bamberger Dunkel

Fans of Bavarian-style beers will want to check out Dovetail’s new beer, Bamberger Dunkel. It’s released just in time for Oktoberfest celebrations in the city of Chicago or just kicking off the fall season. This beer will make you feel warm with the windy city chill. It is medium bodied, so the drinker will not feel too full after a glass, thus leaving room for plenty of German sausage. If you forgot to BYOS (bring your own sausage) to Dovetail, don’t worry. They will have plenty of Landjäger for sale.

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Dovetail Brewery | Hefeweizen

The Chicago metro area certainly has a multitude of beers available for consumption these days, given its now 175+ breweries in operation. But, every once in awhile, a beer comes along that inspires a beer writer such as me to, well, write about it. This time, the beer comes from the mad geniuses of Chicago’s Dovetail Brewery. The Dovetail motto, “We brew like monks (minus the vows),” notes its dedication to traditional, continental European-style brewing methods and that is why the Dovetail Hefeweizen is one of the best you’ll ever have.
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Beer Showcase | Stiegl Lemon Zitrone Radler

“In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” but a few months before Columbus landed in the Caribbean, an Austrian brewery that came to be known as Stiegl arose in the town of Salzburg. Five and a quarter centuries later, the world has dramatically changed, but Stiegl is still there and still delivering beer in its hometown by horse and carriage. The one thing that is new is the Stiegl Zitrone Lemon Radler, its newest summer-friendly, highly sessionable U.S. import.

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One Minute Beer Review | Franziskaner Weissbier

Although owned indirectly by Anheuser-Busch, I would argue that Franziskaner Weissbier still has a place in any beer drinkers repertoire.

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Dogfish Head | SeaQuench Ale

ABV: 4.9 | IBU: 10

Dogfish Head has a knack for marking time — 60, 90 and 120-minute intervals. But, in the case of SeaQuench Ale, it’s not mere minutes that matter, it’s centuries. Five hundred years ago, the German brewing purity law, or Reinheitsgebot, gave birth to the prominence of the German lager we’ve all come to know and love. Sea Quench Ale honors that anniversary by simultaneously celebrating German brewing and ignoring that law.

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