Ultimate 6er | A Can of Thanksgiving

I can hear my mom on Thanksgiving Day yelling, “EJ, get in here! It’s time to eat!” But times have changed since then, so I better not hear that nickname today. For any future yellings, please refer to me as Eric.

So let’s imagine for a second that instead of a Thanksgiving turkey on a silver platter, there was a can of beer. But what would that beer be? And say for instance instead of a green bean casserole, you guessed it, another can of beer? What beer would take its place? This is the Ultimate 6er for Thanksgiving, just in case your food happens to be all beer.
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Engine House No. 9 | Frambuesa Moka

Sour styles in any incarnation were my beers of the summer and although I love stouts, the transition into the colder, rainier reality of stout season has been harsh this year. That’s why I was so excited to find the perfect middle ground: the Frambuesa Moka, a tart, dark potion from Engine House No. 9 in Tacoma, Washington. Read More

2017 GABF Route Guide | Funk, Sours & Wilds Route

For the past month and a half our staff has been reaching out to every brewery attending the Great American Beer Festival to try to preview what they’ll be bringing to the fest. As part of that research, we’ve sifted … Read More

Chicago Quick Sips | September 18

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected].

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Silver City Brewery | Wily Temptress

I was first introduced to the Bremerton based brewery Silver City a few years ago, when I was lucky enough to sit down with Daniel Frantz on the back porch of my favorite Seattle bottle shop. Since meeting Frantz, who is the marketing guru for the brewery, I’ve been fortunate enough to familiarize myself with the brewery’s style and culture – this familiarization thanks to the consumption of countless bombers and 6-packs, as well as tours and phone calls with Silver City brewers and sales directors.

After all this time, two things stand-out to me: The brewery is fueled and run by some of the most passionate and knowledgeable people in craft, and every single beer Silver City puts out will be nothing short of stellar. If a beer has a Silver City label, it’s worth having.
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The Alchemist | Petit Mutant

While I was traveling throughout New England this summer, it made me realize one thing – I love it there. Somehow everything within those upper states – their seafood, their mountains and especially their beer – is picturesque and fantastic. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that when it comes to brewing beer, New England breweries don’t mess around.
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Ultimate 6er | Beers to Drink in the Desert

Regardless of the time of year, when you’re spending time in the desert, it is important to stay hydrated, thanks to the dry climate and low humidity. The same concept applies to drinking beers in the desert—you want a beer that is refreshing and easy-drinking, particularly in the summer months when the daily temperature can easily exceed 110°F. This is a six pack that speaks to the lighter side of the desert culture.

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Casey Brewing & Blending | Dry Hopped Funky Blender

When it comes to beer from highly-regarded sour breweries, the tasting process starts with the effort of getting the dang bottle in the first place. Casey Brewing and Blending is a convenient stop in Glenwood Springs if you’re journeying from Denver to anywhere at least two hours west on I-70 (or like us, on a trip to Aspen/Snowmass for the weekend with our parents). We registered a few days in advance for a tour slot ($20 per ticket, including a tasting event) and arrived bright and early on the day of.

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The Unknown Brewing Co. | 3.5ish

The next stop on North Carolina’s sour beer train takes us to Charlotte, home of The Unknown Brewing Co. This summer they released 3.5ish, a gueuze-inspired lambic-style ale, to celebrate three-and-a-half years (more or less) of beer brewing. Read More

Stillwater Artisanal | Insetto

I was strolling through my local Whole Foods’ beer department when my eye was drawn to something beautiful. It was a repeating pattern. Appearing almost like dark purple single-celled organisms with brighter violet nuclei, this pattern seemed to self-replicate across the face of the can, creating white insect shapes in the negative space. Once I read the description of the contents, I knew that Stillwater Artisanal’s Insetto would be coming home with me that night. Yes. The whole thing was exactly as creepily seductive as it sounds.

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Half Acre Beer | Wooden Teeth Brett Saison

Half Acre brings the funk with its Brett Saison, Wooden Teeth. This complex small batch beer, has the sophisticated feel of a champagne coupled with the casualness of a cider. The mixture of flavors brings the old brewing world together with new techniques. Wooden Teeth is funky, sour and a bit sweet for a perfect balance, resulting in an interestingly fun drinking experience.

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Beer Showcase | Avery Brewing Ginger Sour

August 5, 2017 marks 24 years of brewing for Avery Brewing. To commemorate the achievement, Avery released Twenty Four Imperial IPA — a stellar beer, to be sure. But, the biggest news emerging from the Boulder-based brewery in 2017 involved its decision to substantially alter the beer portfolio by saying goodbye to old standbys and instead concentrating more on barrel aging. Hence, it behooved us at PorchDrinking to look at one of its latest Botanical & Barrel releases, Ginger Sour, while simultaneously raising our pint glasses and exclaiming, “Happy Anniversary, Avery!”
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Rally King Rallies for Two Year Anniversary

In two short years, Rally King Brewing has become one of Fort Collins’ go-to watering holes. What started as a passion project for owners Matt and Michelle Kriewall has evolved into a standout brewery in what many consider the craft beer capital of the United States. Rally King is tucked away in a strip center on the east side of town, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spot between a gamer’s paradise and a delicious Asian restaurant. This past Saturday, however, you’d be hard pressed to overlook Rally King’s taproom.

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Sour Summer: Five Sour Craft Beers to Beat the Heat

Featured image courtesy of Braxton Brewing Co.

For most, the hot summer months mean moving to lighter beers. It makes sense that a light, crisp, refreshing beer is better when you are in the sun, but that doesn’t mean you have to default to a light lager or blonde ale. Many other styles fit the hot summer months just as well, such as sour craft beers. And I am not talking about the traditional sours like lambics but rather kettle sours (aka quick sours). There’s been a huge influx of this type of beer and I think they are a great fit for a hot summer day because they offer low ABV, are ideally drank cold, and provide a crisp, refreshing taste that fights off the effects of the hot summer sun.

Here in Cincinnati, we have a lot of great options that fit this style. Plus, these beers are easy to bring along when you are enjoying the outdoors. Here are five of my favorite Cincinnati summer sours.

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Colorado’s Newest Generation of Sour Brewers Shine at Avery’s 7th Annual SourFest

Kyle Carbaugh had no designs on brewing sour beer when he and his wife, Miranda, opened Wiley Roots Brewing in Greeley four years ago. Their best-known beer early on was about as old-school craft beer basic as you can get — an American-style wheat. It won a Great American Beer Festival bronze medal just a few months after the brewery poured its first pint.

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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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Avery’s 2017 Boulder SourFest Pour List Showcases Local & National Heavy Hitters

This weekend’s 2017 Boulder Sour Festival will once again showcase a wide array of national and local talent, boasting their best in the sour and wild beer formats. Now it its 7th iteration, Avery’s annual celebration of acidic beers will see one major amendment, this year focusing solely on wilds and sours that have been aged in a wooden vessel, meaning this year’s entries will no longer include standalone kettle soured beers.

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Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House | Sour Noir

Cincinnati is approaching 40 breweries, which is an amazing feat for my city. One of the breweries that has been around since the beginning of the craft beer boom is Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House. As the city’s craft beer … Read More

SweetWater Brewing Co. | Through the Brambles

SweetWater Brewing Company and Southeast beer drinking basically go hand in hand. Since 1997, SweetWater has been pumping out their signature 420 Extra Pale Ales and really helped start and shape beer culture in the Atlanta metro area. As craft brew consumption and taste has continued to grow, SweetWater’s beer profile has grown right along with it. Whether lining up for Anniversary Series beers or longing for Dank Tank beers of the past, SweetWater grew a beer following by pushing flavors and higher alcohol content long before this was the “mainstream.”

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Ratio Beerworks | Loveless Raspberry Dark Sour Saison

Image (c)Desiree Duzich, Spoiled Beer Brat Productions

Valentine’s Day marks the release of one of Ratio Beerworks newest beer creations: Loveless Raspberry Dark Sour Saison created to celebrate the Denver brewery’s 2nd Anniversary. We got a sneak peak of this beer at a special early tasting on February 9.

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