Sun King Brewing Co. | Grapefruit Jungle

Sun King is Indianapolis’ oldest and largest production brewery and they just turned five years old! Like all five year olds, there had to be a party. Sun King didn’t … Read More

West Sixth Brewing | West Sixth IPA

Think back to the first time you tasted a true craft beer. Better yet, think back to the first time you tasted a local craft beer: one that was created in your state, your town or perhaps even in your neighborhood. Did it have a little extra “flair” to it? Read More

Cooking with Beer | Stone Cold IPA Pickles

When was the last time you went to a farmer’s market or a flea market and didn’t see a jar of IPA Pickles selling for some ridiculous price? Along with the boom in craft beer production has also come a boom in craft beer related items – one of them being beer pickles. Instead of giving in and paying top dollar for one of these jars, I decided to go off and make pickles on my own.

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Elysian Brewery | Savant IPA

ABV: 6.30%
IBU: 66

I am not a scientist and I rarely claim to be, but there has to be research available that proves that people love monkeys. I was at Hugo’s, my local beer store, trying to judge a beer by its label and make the impossible decision: Elysian’s DayGlow IPA with a tiger shooting rainbow lasers out of its eyes or Elysian’s Savant IPA with a monkey in glasses painting a picture. My past experience with Elysian has revolved around their incredible fall pumpkin beers, which made me appoint Elysian my beer of the evening for a rainy Wednesday night.

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Central City Brewers | Red Betty IPA

6.5 % ABV | 80 IBU

The Canadians are here and they aren’t leaving Denver! Earlier this month Central City Brewers and Distillers arrived in Colorado with a classy looking … Read More

5 Takeaways from SAVOR

PorchDrinking had a great time at SAVOR this weekend and we won’t bore you with the beautiful ambiance of the National Building Museum, the delicious cheese spread or the interesting … Read More

Sun King Brewery | Fistful of Hops

6.5 ABV, 77 IBU

Welcome to Indiana, home to my back porch. I’m excited to bring all the fermented wonders that this great state has to offer to you PorchDrinkers. Around here Sun … Read More

Weekly Growler Fill | National Beer News Roundup

A lot news has occurred in the beer world in the recent past. Some good, some bad. I’ve put together the weekly growler so you can catch up on anything you missed. I can’t tell what I want to do more right now: grill a steak or conduct a drinking experiment. Maybe I’ll do both.
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Cooking with Beer | Fried Beer-Battered Avocados

Here it goes again, another recipe about Cooking with Beer. This one should really be called ‘The Trials and Tribulations of Frying Beer-Battered Avocados’ or ‘Kitchen Failures: Avocado Edition.’ Luckily, the saying held true and the third time really was a charm. Frying avocados sounded amazing but figuring out the right way to accomplish the task wasn’t easy. The first time around, the batter was too thick and I forgot some ingredients (so don’t drink too much before cooking). The second attempt, the batter still didn’t seem right and the avocados turned to mush. The third time, well, it was perfection. The batter was crispy and full of flavorful hops from the Upslope IPA. The avocados turned out to be just the right texture. These little crunchy green nuggets tasted great — probably even better to me since I finally conquered what seemed to be an impossible mission. But when you think about it, how could you ever go wrong when beer and avocados are involved?

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Deschutes Brewery | Fresh Squeezed IPA

Deschutes Brewery

6.4% ABV | 60 IBU

What a mouthwatering beer, this one! The next best summer beer. I was strolling past one of my favorite quaint Wicker Park patio bars only to be pleasantly lured in by their $4 Beer of the Month, Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA. Read More

Ultimate 6er | The Walking Dead

Many of you may be thinking, “Doesn’t this guy know that the 4th season of The Walking Dead ended a month ago!?” As with many shows, I am hardly the patient type who waits week to week for a new episode just to sit through the incessant commercials, so coming into this show just last month was the perfect way for me to get all set for season 5! It has definitely been enjoyable, and I could hardly contain myself while watching with some of these delicious IPAs in hand, getting me ready for hop season. Anyway, enough rambling and on to the pairings! Read More

Great Lakes Brewing | Chillwave Double IPA

Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Chillwave Double IPA – 9.4% ABV

I honestly had no idea there were people who willingly went onto the chilly lake in the dead of winter off the shores of Cleveland to surf. My ignorance lasted until I watched the Cleveland episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. Bourdain was brought to the rocky shores, snow blanketing the sand, and he got to watch the surfers out on the ice-cold lake attempting to catch a few waves, before needing a couple beers themselves.  Read More

Ultimate 6er: French IPAs

Hoppy beers are a relatively new arrival in France. A few avant-garde brewers like Daniel Thiriez started experimenting early on, but most breweries continued to make less-than-exciting traditional beer based on the relatively meaningless blonde–ambrée–brune color palette. Happily, a number of new-generation breweries are not afraid to hop things up a bit and put out their own French IPAs.

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3 Floyds | Permanent Funeral

The wolf inside this pale ale is trying to walk upright. This bright and aromatic beer was brewed with our friends in the band Pig Destroyer. Using some minimal marketing speak that could be surmised to posit that even with the first sip, 3 Floyds Permanent Funeral is a werewolf of a beer makes you want to howl at the moon, party your face off and surf on top of your buddies van! I will agree with that 3 Floyds marketing team!

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Short’s Brewing | Huma Lupalicious

7.7% ABV, 96 IBU

The world can be full of happy coincidences. I just made a trip to Michigan to plan my upcoming wedding to a beautiful gal. While enjoying … Read More

Brew Dog – Hardcore IPA

When I think of India Pale Ales, I don’t think of The Subcontinent, I’d venture to guess that most of you don’t either. Maybe California or Comstock, MI, but probably not India. The IPA is a British invention that is as tired as that other big British invention: Watt’s steam engine. America does IPAs the right way – the American IPA is the Saturn V rocket to the paltry British IPA. Or at least so I thought. Read More

Stochasticity Project | Grapefruit Slam IPA

ABV: 8.2%

IBU: 95

I was recently asked someone in passing what their favorite citrus fruit was. Is that an odd question? I guess that’s the kind of question you ask and can expect an honest-to-god answer. Why would anyone taradiddle on tangerines? I think you can tell a lot about a person by their taste in citrus fruit – I’d venture that a majority of replies will be “ummm, oranges?”. That’s fine, oranges are good, but in all honesty, they’re the Bud Light of the citrus world. I don’t have anything against oranges or the good people who grow them (I have a glass of OJ every morning when I wake up) but this answer is all too milquetoast. There are so many varieties of citrus fruit; it’s damn hard to get anything but excited about them. The lowly citron, the mandarin orange, the lemon, the Kumquat!, the possibilities are endless. Read More

Ultimate 6er | The Big Move

Moving sucks. It usually takes place starting at an ungodly hour of the morning, it involves hard physical labor, scratches and bruises, and at least one or two arguments. It also takes FOREVER. Being the loving and caring people we are, we usually invite our friends to share in this very special misery, bribing them with grand promises of delicious pizza and delectable beers. I’m going to be moving at the end of the month, so here are the beers I would bribe you with, if you were to help me. *HINT* *HINT* Read More

Weekly Growler Fill | National Beer News Roundup

It’s Monday. I’m sure plenty has happened over the weekend—things you remember, things you don’t—but the internet never sleeps. So I’ve rounded up all the beer-related content that you didn’t even know you were missing to help keep your weekend buzz going. I don’t know about you, but I’m craving some Thin Mints right about now.

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Anchor Steam Releases Anchor IPA

Beer week is a term I’m sure many of you do not take lightly. As a new resident to the city by the bay, San Francisco, I am … Read More