Rocky Mountain Great American Beer Festival Regional Breakdown

Rocky Mountain (CO, ID, MT, NV, UT, WV)

And alas we have finally arrived at the Rocky Mountain Regional Breakdown!  We’ll admit we’re a little biased as most of our staff is based in Denver or Boulder but the Rocky Mountain region boasts a tremendous assortment of fantastic brews.  There are the big dogs like Avery, Great Divide, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Odell and there are also amazing up and comers like Copper Kettle, Elevation, Grimm Brothers, Renegade, and River North.

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Copper Kettle Brewing Company- Denver, CO

One day, in the not so distant future, when the craft beer boom will have reached the height of it’s golden age, historians will point to breweries like Copper Kettle Brewing Company as the benchmark for the neighborhood brewery movement.  As a point of emphasis, we’re no longer talking neighborhood bars, those will have already become ancient relics in this idilic world.  Because comparatively, what good is a palm pilot when you have an iPhone and what good are bars that supply Bud Light and Smithwicks when you can cozy up to a glass of Helles Lager, or Mexican Chocolate Stout? Read More

GABF Eve Tristan’s Note

Hey there fellow porch dwellers new and old!  So nice of you to join us once again.  My friends and I started this site three months ago with the general interest in writing about beer, music, sports and pop culture.  Long term, perhaps two or three years down the road we had the goal of building something influential enough to receive press passes to the Great American Beer Festival.  Well that goal was kinda achieved two or three years early.

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New Belgium Brewing Company- Fort Collins, CO

New Belgium Brewery was where it all began. It was in those same recycled bike framed bar stools in New Belgium’s tap room that I first embarked on my own journey into craft beer.

Virtually every Friday afternoon my buddy Cody and I would duck out a bit early and delve into the wide world of brew. It was here that I discovered my first sour. What the hell?! This beer, La Folie tastes like liquefied shock tarts! How is this possible?!

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Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and New England GABF Regional Breakdown

Today we continue our regional coverage by breaking down the Mid-Atlantic and New England Regions.  All of these are smaller regions which is why we decided to group them all together, however what they do have to offer packs a punch.  With the likes of Ommegang, DogFish Head, Surly, Boston Beer and Allagash, these are can’t miss regions!

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PorchDrinking Playlist: Songs White People Love

There are certain songs that, to put in bluntly, white people absolutely love. Not to be racist or anything… well, maybe a tad racist. These songs are so completely catchy, dance-y and universally beloved by white people, that one could simply walk into any bar, throw down a few bucks into the jukebox, select any of these songs and within no time, you’ll have a crowd singing off-key, awkwardly dancing, high-fiving and embracing each other shoulder to shoulder, as if they had just won the World Cup… Read More

Pacific Great American Beer Festival Regional Breakdown

Pacific (CA, HI)

The Pacific region boasts one of the most impressive lineups of breweries at the fest.  One could really spend an entire session in this region alone.  We were able to find out what several of these breweries will be pouring!

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GABF Denver Beer Bars Guide

Coming to town for the Great American Beer Festival is about more than just the festival itself.  It involves local breweries, restaurants, the city of Denver, and beer bars.  We decided to break down some of the local Denver beer bars that you may want to check out just in case you couldn’t already find enough beer.

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Southeast Great American Beer Festival Regional Breakdown

Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN)

Don’t count out the southeast region just because it doesn’t boast a tremendous beer history.  This region is an up and comer.  With Cigar City anchoring the field and two solid showings out of Lexington, KY, the southeast has the opportunity to make major in roads in the brewing community in the near future.

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Renegade Brewery – Denver, CO

Renegade Brewery could be one of the best breweries in the city of Denver that non-residents may have never heard of. Brian O’Connell’s brew laboratory specializes in taking traditional styles and adding one twist to completely differentiate their beers from the rest. Even their flagship Ryetous refuses to conform to the base line IPA category with it being a rye IPA. “There is no theme to our style other than being creative without going completely off the wall,” said O’Connell.

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PorchDrinking.com Getting a Makeover

So we never really do things in the most orthodox manner.  So when Chris, our web designer asked if we could shut down the site for the next three days to completely revamp our look and feel… well I just said go right on ahead.

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Pacific Northwest GABF Regional Breakdown

Pacific Northwest (AK, OR, WA)

The Pacific Northwest – land of salmon, mass-consumer coffee, towering evergreens, and rocky, rainy coast lines. And, not surprisingly, a rich craft beer community. From the rugged mountains of Alaska, to the coastline communities of the Puget Sound to fixie riding hipsters of West Burnside, the Pacific Northwest offers up some of the Nation’s most recognized craft beer names with new breweries continuing to pop up in small towns and large cities alike. Here are our favorites that we’ll be attending at the Great American Beer Festival.
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Great Lakes Regional GABF Breakdown

Starting today we’ll be bringing you a regional break down of breweries you should definitely stop by during the festival.  In some cases we were also able to find out what specific beers they’ll be bringing.  Today we kick off our coverage on the Great Lakes region.  This includes breweries from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
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Strange Brewery – Denver, CO

I recently discovered that I’m kinda a weird dude. My friend Paula recently called me out for being an “Asian, hipster, frat boy from Kentucky who also listens to bluegrass/country music.” I guess she has a point. Perhaps that’s why I find Strange Brewery in Denver, CO so endearing.
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PorchDrinking GABF Coverage

Today marks the beginning of our two week long Great American Beer Festival coverage.  As such we’ll be mixing up our normal rotation a bit.  Each morning our writers will be previewing a local brewery for any local visitors who may be travelling to the area.  Moving into the late morning we’ll also be breaking down each of the regions with blurbs and in some cases beers to check out from those breweries.  We’ll still have our normal features in the afternoons such as the Ultimate 6ers, Week-in-Reviews, PorchDrinking Playlist, Fantasy Football and Storytime With Hank, as well as occasional festival related guides and features as well.
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New Music Showcase: The Bundys

The Bundys are the newest in the line of folk/Americana up and coming artists to keep an eye on. Originally from Cincinnati, but now based in the music hotbed of Nashville, the sibling trio bring catchy harmonies and soulful upbeat instrumentals. Similar artists include Elephant Revival, The Civil Wars and Lady Antebellum. While they are still relatively new to the music scene, they’ve already got four fantastic samplings available and we can expect even more to come in the near future. Give them a listen.
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Roundtable Discussion: I Love the 90s

This past weekend my housemate Shane turned 26 and as a result we threw him the most ring poppy, most gushered, squeez-it filled 90’s style birthday party to commemorate his glory days.  As such we rocked a 90’s playlist as detailed last week, had plenty of 90’s style treats… Lunchables aren’t as great as I remembered them being.  So this week we posed a trip down memory lane to our PorchDrinking Staff about what their favorite memories were of the 90s! Read More

Summer Concert Playlist

It’s been said before, but this summer I went to a lot of concerts. Honestly I’m not repeating this for the sake of boasting about all of the sick shows I saw. OK maybe just a tad. More so the purpose of this summer concert playlist is to highlight the amazing shows that I hope you also get the opportunity to see to see in the near future. I’ve actually recently encountered a few people aren’t entirely into seeing live music and there have been times when I could sympathize. But if there was any major take away from this summer’s musical binge, it would be that live music has the capacity to change your entire perception of a band and in some cases change your life in general. So for this week’s PorchDrinking Playlist I bring you a few samples from the shows that I attended. On the whole I chose the best songs performed during the show, and in some cases those might not be the most popular or most well known tracks so hopefully they’ll add become a pleasant new addition to your listening catalog. Read More

News: Great American Beer Fest Floor Plan Released!

The floor plan for this year’s Great American Beer Fest was released earlier this morning. Most notably this means that hardcore festival goers can begin plotting out their ultimate beer routes.  I’ve seen many approaches for GABF in the past. Here are a few to help you decide which route you might want to take first. We’ll be breaking down a few more routes in more detail in the coming weeks for our complete GABF Coverage:

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One Minute Beer Review: Southern Tier – Imperial Creme Brulee Stout

ABV: 9.6%

Take a moment and just take a big whiff of this beer before you actually drink this creme brulee stout. Goodness that’s heavenly. This brew treads that line … Read More