Indulgent Beer Series | Aslin Padrino Imperial Stout

On the cusp of Thanksgiving 2020 after an incredibly stressful year; we all deserve a moment to indulge. Though as you can only fill your stomach so much or tolerate a certain amount of beer; what do you choose? Well, there’s no better option to treat your senses than to enjoy a beer that comes with its own recipe card!

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Indulgent Beer Series | Hubbard’s Cave Coffee & Cakes

Who says you can’t have your coffee and cakes… and drink them, too? The folks over at Hubbard’s Cave are here to prove that you can, in fact, do just that. This Chicago-based brewery has dished up something straight out of boozy brunch dreams and let’s just say: We’re here for it.

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Halloween Beer Treat | Resident Culture & The Eighth State ‘Instant Destiny’

Resident Culture Brewing Company and The Eighth State Brewing Company teamed up to create Instant Destiny. This Imperial Stout is packed with roasted peanuts, toasted cocoa nibs, vanilla, cassia bark, toasted coconut, and jaggery (a cane sugar traditionally consumed in Asia).

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The Bruery | Black Tuesday Imperial Stout

With what seems like a never-ending supply of new exciting beers coming out these days, it’s not uncommon to see a beer that was a whale just six or seven years ago now sitting on the shelf collecting dust. So when you come across a beer that has been able to generate the same high level of enthusiasm from ever-fickle craft beer fans AND sells out immediately year after year, you know you have discovered something truly exceptional. The Bruery’s Black Tuesday Imperial Stout is such a beer.

First released over a decade ago, in 2009, Black Tuesday continues to enjoy a near cult-like following in many craft beer circles. It is currently ranked 17th on Beer Advocate’s list of best American Imperial Stouts and 62nd for all around best beer.

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Amalgam + Westbound & Down | Meta Coconut Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

In the current landscape of craft beer, brewery collaborations have become relatively commonplace. However, Meta Coconut, a barrel-aged Imperial Stout blend aged on a ridiculous amount of coconut and released as part of the separate membership programs a both Amalgam Brewing and Westbound & Down Brewing, is unique in that it’s essentially a collaboration between two breweries that share the same brewer. And while on the surface, two of Colorado’s most well-regarded breweries may appear as unlikely partners, they’re now intertwined in more ways that one. 

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Ultimate 6er | Mardi Gras Beers

Fat Tuesday is right around the corner so it is time for the Ultimate 6er of Mardi Gras beers! Mardi Gras is a celebration that is dear to my heart after living in New Orleans for five years, so I am very excited to share my Mardi Gras beer recommendations with you!

These 6 beers are perfect for parade season. Whether you’re celebrating in New Orleans, Mobile, or on your couch, crack one of these and you’re ready to catch some beads.

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Brazos Valley Brewing Company | Slippin’ Into Darkness Russian Imperial Stout with Coconut

There is a myriad of possibilities when it comes to making use of coconut. You can put a lime in one and drink ‘em both up, or even bang two empty halves together whilst galloping the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join you in your court at Camelot. However, if you’re a brewery, you can do what the clever folks at Brazos Valley Brewing Company in Brenham, TX did and add coconut to an already delicious Russian Imperial Stout. Not since the Samoa Girl Scout cookie has coconut made something as delicious as Slippin’ Into Darkness with coconut.
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White Elm Brewing Co. | Fluffaluffagus Stout

When you walk into a White Elm Brewing Company taproom in Lincoln, Nebraska and ask for the Fluffaluffagus, you’ll notice a few things about this beer.  First, Fluffaluffagus is very fun to say. Second, this is a beautifully dark beer that pours with a tall, tan head. Third, as you lift the glass to your nose for a sniff, you’ll note that it smells familiar. Perhaps like a cereal you ate as a kid.  No (you go in for another sniff) not the cereal. It smells like after  you ate the cereal, and all you had left was the reward of the marshmallows floating around in the last of the milk.

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Cooking with Beer | Sweet Pork Rillons

Although craft beer fans are becoming more keen on pairing beers with their favorite cheeses and meals, I’ve always found that cooking with beer to be a challenge. If you’re not acclimated to the natural bitter flavors of hops and malts, then beer can turn your dish into an overwhelming, unwieldy experience. The upside to this we can now discover new recipes by experimenting with more beer styles. In all my years of cooking, these crowd-pleasing pork rillons may be the perfect vehicle to harness the true flavors of beer.

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Proper Brewing Co. | Monolith Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

With Monolith, Salt Lake City’s Proper Brewing Co. begins its much-anticipated barrel program.

Monolith is a barrel-aged version of Proper Brewing’s Grand Sláinte Imperial Stout. It’s a limited-edition brew you’ll want to get your hands on.
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Where Do the Barrels Go After They’re Done Aging Beer?

It’s finally the season for barrel-aged beers. Chicago is spoiled with its options: Revolution’s Deep Wood series kicks off this weekend; Cruz Blanca also has standout offerings – oh, and Begyle won gold for their Barrel-Aged Imperial Pajamas at GABF this year. While the beers get all the glory, the barrels that produce them sometimes get lost in the fray. Ever the creative-types, breweries typically find alternative use cases for these barrels after their primary usage days are past them. To find out how these barrels find new life post-barrel-aging, we asked the breweries. 

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Brewer’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Cassian Sunset | Central Waters Brewing Co.

Despite its neighbor to the south being named Beer Capital of America, Wisconsin’s breweries are plentiful and still sling some pretty damn good beer. While New Glarus might be the destination of choice for those on a Wisconsin beercation, braving the shivering Midwest January weather and making the drive a little farther north brings you to the small town of Amherst, home of Central Waters Brewing. Expect the journey to be arduous as you attempt to avoid snowdrifts, slippery country roads, rogue cows and Green Bay Packer Fans. However, you’ll be rewarded by visiting a brewery that brews one of my favorite winter beers from America’s Dairyland.

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Untitled Art Brewing Angry Chair Brewing Collaboration | Gas Station Coffee Imperial Stout

It’s the holiday season and everyone is buzzing around trying to find the best beer to share with friends and family. Most of us are also traveling to visit family—which means planes, trains and automobiles (like the movie, but hopefully less crazy). I personally took Amtrak to Grand Junction, Colorado, to visit family and it was great! What I did miss was the gas station coffee during pit stops. Thankfully, I was able to get the flavor without the hectic drive from California to Colorado!

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Ultimate 6er | Bah, Humbuzz

Cheer and happiness and all that festive crap is important, I suppose. But once in a while, the get-off-my-lawn crowd needs a shoutout. If you love the holidays and feel all warm and tingly at the sight of fresh December snow, this ain’t the article for you, Cindy Lou Who. This one’s for the grinches, the scrooges, the grown Charlie Browns; the curmudgeonly and cantankerous cranks of the world.

My promise to you right off the bat, is that there will be no cute rhymes here. If there’s anything I hate more than holiday music, it’s the nauseating rhymes companies try to incorporate into everything. Between the stress of shopping, the weather, traffic and that unbearable Mariah Carey song, we need an Ultimate 6er – and not just any 6er – to get us through to New Year’s Day. There are 12 shopping days left until Christmas, and today is 12/12. So here’s a 6er of beers that are all at least 12% ABV to pair with the season’s most pervasive annoyances.

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The OGs of Craft Beer | Great Divide Brewing – Yeti Imperial Stout

There’s a Talking Heads song you probably know if you were old enough to drink when Great Divide’s Yeti Imperial Stout was released. David Byrne’s songs weren’t always coherent, lyrically, but damn it if they weren’t cool. As I get older, this line often runs through my head: And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

How Great Divide got here was through the vision and hard work of founder Brian Dunn. In the ‘80s, while Talking Heads were writing songs about buildings and food, Dunn was overseas building farms in developing countries. When he returned to Colorado, he started homebrewing and went to grad school. When Great Divide officially launched in 1994, Dunn was the only full-time employee – brewing, bottling and selling the beer himself. After some fantastic initial success, Great Divide bought a building (an old dairy processing plant) in downtown Denver in 2001.

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What We’re Drinking | April 20, 2018

Hope everyone is ready for some smoking good beers…get it?! Cause it’s 4/20? Yeah, I don’t care either. What I do care about is some of the tasty brews that are starting to peek out before spring weather greets us all – Saisons, IPA, and fruited beers! In case you aren’t in a place that is hitting 60+ degrees Fahrenheit, crack that heater, put on a pair of shorts, crack a cold one and see What We’re Drinking.

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What We’re Drinking | February 23, 2018

SF Beer Week has come and gone, but friends, there is no one more excited it’s over than my dog! You read that right, Little Juno is more than happy her furrents aren’t out gallivanting around the East Bay and are available for cuddle sessions on a Thursday evening. No matter what your local weather, be it snow or sun, our writers are enjoying some tasty beverages. Kick up your feet, crack a cold one, and see what we’re drinking.

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Fort George Brewing | Cavatica Stout

I’ve been drinking a lot of imperial stouts. Unlike most, I believe every season is stout season. Luckily for me it’s February and I don’t get flak for drinking a 12% Russian imperial stout. The proliferation of adjuncts to the market has been interesting. Brewers adding coffee, vanilla, cocoa, peppers, mint, you name it. While fun for the palate, I still prefer an adjunct-free stout. Let that malt shine, those chocolate and coffee notes should develop alone. One favorite is Cavatica Stout from Fort George Brewing.
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WeldWerks Brewing | Peanut Butter Cup Achromatic & the Pastry Beer Debate

Lately, there has been quite a few articles about the rise of pastry stouts and why this is a problem, such as this recent article from the Chicago Tribune that argues we’re forgetting what beer tastes like. In case you did not know, a pastry stout is beerspeak for liquid dessert. Most often, pastry stouts include cacao nibs, vanilla, coconut and other adjuncts that help enhance the stout to emulate sweet treats.

The pastry stout debate, IMO, is moot. As craft beer continues to diversify, so do our taste buds. What is beer supposed to taste like nowadays? The answer is no longer “hoppy,” but subjective. It could be barrel-aged and malty, super hazy or fruity. The craft beer landscape is vast and  ever-changing, with new hop varieties, ingredients, and techniques that pop up every day. Whether you’re a Reinheitsgebot beer purist, or you prefer your beer to taste like a chocolate bomb, the beauty of craft beer is that there is something for everyone. And pastry stouts, much like other styles of beer, if done well, are fantastic. WeldWerks Brewing‘s Peanut Butter Cup Achromatic Imperial Stout is one such example.

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Event Recap | Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Philadelphia

After just a short time in line to get through security and ID checks, I made my way into the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, PA. I grabbed a sample glass with a green Sierra Nevada’s logo stamped on it and thanked the volunteers as I made my way into the festival grounds. Once in, I scanned the venue to see which tent to hit first. It can sometimes seem overwhelming when you first get into a beer festival, seeing the vast amount of choices with all the breweries lined up one after another. No choice is a bad one, but, personally, I was looking to begin the day off right at Beer Camp.

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