PorchDrinking Playlist | Schlager From Another Mother

With the days growing shorter and the mercury dropping in the glass, it will take something more than your standard Top 40 hit to bring joy and energy back to your soul. Meet Schlager. It’s widely considered to be one of the cheesiest pop music forms in the world, but middle-aged Germans and Austrians still consume it with vigor. With danceable beats and cliche lyrical themes, you may wonder why I’d concoct such a playlist…

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A Brief History of Oktoberfest

Readers, please see the end of the article for PD’s sources on this rundown of an awesome, beloved tradition. 

Who doesn’t love a royal wedding? It wasn’t all that long ago that millions of people around the world tuned in to see William and Kate get hitched. The infatuation with royal nuptials goes back beyond recorded history, and the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, later to become King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen was no exception. From this wedding celebration grew an annual festival, which would evolve into the largest folk festival in the world: Oktoberfest.
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Ultimate 6er | Zinzinnati Oktoberfest

With only a few days away from the largest Oktoberfest in the United States, it’s time to put on the drinking cap. Each year more than 500,000 people come to Cincinnati (aka Zinzinnati) to attend this rich German heritage event sampling German-style food, music and my favorite, beer. Read More

Metropolitan Brewing Co | Afterburner Oktoberfest

ABV: 6.1% | IBU: 30

I’ve been a lager lover ever since my college study abroad semester in Germany. Those minimalist, four-ingredient beers served as my first introduction to good beer and opened the door to the rabbit hole of beer that I’ve been falling down ever since (Vielen Dank, Rothaus!).

After coming back to the U.S. though, it was difficult to find any American lagers on par with what Germany was churning out. And imports just never held up after the international travel. Plus, with the American craft ale boom starting to really ramp up, it was easy to get taken with the tide. So my lager love was cellared until I could return to Germany again.

Except there’s been a steadily growing American craft lager movement, and I’m definitely late to the party (thanks for distracting me, sour beers!). So it’s time to bust out my cellared lager passion and shout my lager praises Zicke Zacke style, for Metropolitan Brewing’s Afterburner Oktoberfest. Read More

Coast Brewing Co. | 32°/50° Kölsch

ABV: 4.8%

I picked up another four-pack of Coast Brewing’s 32°/50° Kölsch this weekend. I love this Kölsch. It is currently offered in draft, 22oz. bombers and four-pack 16oz cans year round. Coast Brewing’s 32°/50° is an excellent spring/summer time beer to accompany any and all outings. In a world of dark ales and hoppy IPAs, the Kölsch is a welcomed and pleasant respite from the intensities of the season.

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Weekly Growler Fill | National Beer News Roundup

There is all sorts of beer things happening and I’m here to get you up to date. Grab some tickets to a beer festival, have a beer and a cupcake, or drink a cold one on your flight. It’s all possible and I’m showing you how, when, and where in this edition of the Weekly Growler Fill.

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Vagabund Brauerei | Wedding, Berlin

Vagabund Brauerei is relatively new in the Berlin beer scene, but then again so is craft beer in general. Vagabund is located up in Wedding in Berlin, about a 25 … Read More

Gøse – Fanø Bryghus and Brown Paper Bag Project

ABV 5.5%

A few years ago, in the French region of Brittany, I had a beer that took me by surprise: the label said it was brewed with sea salt. I hadn’t yet heard of gøse and the beer had a salinity and fullness that was new to me. I forgot the name and spent several years trying to track down salty beer. On a brewery tour in Seattle I piped up and asked the head brewer if he’d ever heard of such a thing—he looked at me like I was crazy. Of course I wasn’t; I’d just asked several years before the sour beer frenzy hit the States. Read More