Collaborating for a Cause | For The Kidd’s

The high-production powerhouses of the industry have been far from the only ones showing support towards Alex Kidd and his family during his continuing fight with Stage IV cancer. A collaborative effort out of New Jersey, For The Kidd’s is the next feature in a growing series highlighting the incredible support provided by the craft beer community for a craft beer icon. Chris with Shore Side Brewing allowed us the opportunity to sit down and discuss a beer that he felt was more than fitting to be released for Don’t Drink Beer.

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Book Review & Interview | Wilds Brews by Jaega Wise

Jaega Wise has been brewing unusual and funky beers since her homebrewing days, long before she became the head brewer of Wild Card Brewery in East London ten years ago. While she loves (and brews) standard fermentation beers like IPAs and Lagers, her heart belongs to the more esoteric corners of the brewing world — sour and mixed-fermentation beers of all kinds. In her new book, Wild Brews: The Craft of Home Brewing, from Sour and Fruits Beers to Farmhouse Ales, Wise shares her collected knowledge of alternative fermentation in a thorough but easy to understand volume.

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Anniversary of Homebrew Legalization | October 14

Raise a glass and be thankful, for October 14 is the anniversary of homebrew legalization! In what arguably launched the craft beer movement, President Jimmy Carter signed HR1337 on October 14, 1978, allowing adults to annually brew up to 100 gallons of beer. Read More

Brew Your Story | A National Beer Collaboration

Oak Park Brewing Co. wants to help to tell the stories of black-owned breweries. On September 21, they announced a national beer collaboration to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Peoples Beer, one of the nation’s first Black-owned breweries.

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Stuck at Home? Perhaps it’s Time to Try Homebrewing

Favorite bars and taprooms closed? Local brewery not offering a drive-through for cans and crowlers? Way, way too much time on your hands these days?

Perhaps it’s time to consider, or rediscover, the joy of homebrewing. Homebrewing combines the creativity of crafting your own brew with the satisfaction that you made it all by yourself. Plus there’s a certain magic in watching yeast turn a murky sludge of water, grain and hops into a clear, tasty beverage that you can get buzzed off of. Read More

Great Frontier Brewing Co. | Oak Street IPA

Many breweries open with hopes to win a GABF Gold Medal; but not many open due to creating a GABF Gold-winning recipe. However, that’s exactly the case for Great Frontier‘s Mike Plungis.

Great Frontier Brewing Company is located in Lakewood, Colorado. Since opening over three years ago, their focus is on brewing gluten-free and gluten-reduced beers. The inception of the brewery and its beers, like the Oak Street IPA, all came about in a unique fashion.

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Book Review & Interview | The Homebrewer’s Almanac

The Homebrewer’s Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to Making Your Own Beer from Scratch (Countryman Press, 2016) by Marika Josephson, Aaron Kleidon and Ryan Tockstein

The folks at Scratch Brewing Co. are connected to the land around their brewery in ways few other brewers can boast. Secluded in the woods near Ava in southern Illinois, the Scratch gang doesn’t just use local malt and hops, they pull the ingredients that make their beers so unique from the terrain of the surrounding forest. Tree bark, leaves, mushrooms, berries, nuts, flowers, even plants many of us have been trained to think of as weeds—it’s all fair game for brewers Aaron Kleidon and Marika Josephson. Consequently, their beers have a quality of place—terroir, to use the fancy parlance—few other brews have.

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Homebrewing Recipe | Emerald Splash Cucumber Lime Saison

 ABV: 6.1 | IBU: 28 | OG: 1.057

When I was a greenhorn to the craft beer scene; I became the guy at beer shares who would bring accouterments in the form of fancy cheeses and cucumber/lime water. The flavored water ultimately served as the ultimate palate cleanser for event guests seeking to brush their weary tongues after too many barleywines and imperial stouts. Some people would even tell me they would come to a beer share or my homebrew club hearing cucumber/lime water would be there. Emerald Splash Cucumber Lime Saison is the result of people asking me to elevate that beverage to the next level.

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Homebrewing Recipe | House Porter

Everybody needs a smooth, quenchable beer for any occasion no matter what time of year. Winter is a time for heavy, sweet bombs but not everyone can sit down next to the fireplace with a chalice every day of the week. Yet the temperature outside never slows down the innovation of the homebrewer. So as we trade in our lawnmower beers for snow-shoveling stouts, here’s drinkable porter that will warm you up in no time.
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Weekly Growler Fill | National Beer News Roundup

Gov. Cuomo continues to modernize NY beer laws, Real Ale wins a trademark infringement suit, and Bud Light pretends to be Willy Wonka. Oh, the times they are a changing, and so is the craft beer industry. Don’t fall behind. Keep reading for the details of these stories and more in this edition of the Weekly Growler Fill.

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Weekly Growler Fill | National Beer News Roundup

New Belgium heads to Massachusetts, Bell’s names home brewing winners, and Upland sends their sours to Boston. The election is over and chances are, you’ve been drinking heavily. We’re not here to stop you, we’re just here to educate you about the fine breweries that have been keeping you sane for the past few months. Keep reading to catch the details of these stories and more, in this edition of the Weekly Growler Fill.

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Put that Pumpkin Beer Down, It’s Wet Hop Season

It’s that time of year again, when brewers start brewing harvest beers. No, it’s not pumpkin season. It’s hop season!

While pumpkin beers are brewed earlier and earlier every year… and I have already seen a few Oktoberfest beers, I refuse to buy either until I brew a wet hop beer. It has become a tradition for me since I was first introduced to the idea of wet hopping a beer at Voss Farms in 2013. Read More

Homebrewing Tips | Cleaning is Sexy

Image from Eckraus.com. 

She looks at him and raises the bottle to her lips. After taking a sip, she slowly lowers the beer in disbelief.

“You brewed this?” she asks.

“I did.” he replies with a grin. She sets the beer down and moves closer to him. He grabs her by the waist and they embrace in a passionate kiss.

“Shit!” I exclaim as the water overflows and my daydreaming fades away.

I sanitize the last bottle and place it on my bottling tree to dry. I’m almost ready to bottle two cases. I have already spent an hour preparing everything. My back hurts, my fingers are pruned, and I smell. Cleaning sucks. It’s not sexy, or romantic, or even mildly entertaining. It’s work. Read More

National Homebrew Day Celebrates Reinheitsgebot

Raise a glass, drink a beer, and kiss, it’s National Homebrew Day! I know that sounds odd, so let me explain.

In 1988, Congress declared May 7 as National Homebrew Day. So … Read More

My First Beer: How I Started Homebrewing

I remember my first beer. I dumped it down the drain.

I brewed my first beer as a way to deal with something extremely personal. Growing up in Aurora and becoming … Read More

Event Preview | Cherry Blossom Homebrew Competition: A Budding Event

Washington D.C. may be buried in frigid temperatures, but the cherry blossoms are still on tap to bloom in early April. This means that homebrewers are also on tap to compete in the DC Homebrewers Club‘s 3rd annual competition featuring the best in inspired brewing, for beer lovers of all experience levels. Read More

Home Brewing Kits As Mail-Order Subscriptions

It seems nowadays you can sign up for just about anything with a mail-order subscription. From razor blades to cosmetics, the convenience of having a product consistently come to your door is one that is catching on fast. Home brewers will soon have the opportunity to join the trend and have their brewing supplies delivered right to their door.

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True Hero: Alex C. Teves

I’m hesitant to write this, but in order to accurately tell his story, I have to tell mine.

I grew up in Aurora, Colorado, I was born and raised here, and I graduated with the same kids I met on the first day of school. Our city is a large-small town, meaning that everyone knows everyone. Even when I moved to college eight hours away in Durango; Aurora came with me.

On July 20th 2012 at 7:00 am I woke up and checked my phone to a report that a gunman had killed 12 people the night before. My heart sank. The shooting happened at Century 16, a theater I had gone to since the day it was built. I knew exactly where theater nine was. I could see it in my head. I immediately responded like most would, by scanning the internet for details about what had happened. The media was reporting that someone had opened fire, people were dead, and there weren’t a lot of details as to why. Soon more information came out and it all clicked. This was an attack on Aurora. This was an attack on my neighborhood, my high school, and my friends.

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Homebrewing | Storage Tips and Tricks

Photo courtesy of www.southernminn.com 

If you’ve given home brewing a shot, you’re not alone.

Recent research by the American Homebrewers Association shows that there are 1.2 million homebrewers in the … Read More

DC Homebrewers Hosts Fall Barbecue

If you are a homebrewer in the DC region and you’re aching to exchange recipes and improve your techniques, you need to get in touch with the awesome individuals at … Read More