Cooperage Brewing Company | McCurty Cove

This beer was bought, saved and finally drank with hope. Hope that baseball will come back in some capacity this season. However, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting further away as the MLBPA and MLB struggle for power in their latest negotiations. So while waiting with bated breath and crossed fingers we can at least pop a few crisp beers and reminisce about some of our favorite McCovey Cove bombs.

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Pontoon Brewing Company | Extra Extra Irish Extra Stout

Imagine going to your favorite local liquor store, before COVID-19 or even now (as safely able), and standing in front of the beer wall. It’s a beautiful sight. There are seemingly hundreds of options from every color to any design imaginable. Some simple, some intricate. This was my experience with Pontoon Brewing Company’s Extra Extra Irish Extra Stout as the simplicity of the label grabbed my attention among the plethora of options. 
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Flying Fish Brewing Company | Abbey Dubbel

Sometimes, no matter the weather or season, a brewery can score major brownie points if it offers a comforting brew that provides all-around enjoyment. Be it hiking, playing cards, attending a barbecue or perhaps sitting around a bonfire — a beer for seemingly all occasions, especially one that won’t particularly floor you after a few. One such beer is an Abbey Dubbel brewed by Flying Fish Brewing Company, located in Somerdale, New Jersey.

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Brewer’s Kitchen | Courtesy of Copenhagen

Despite taprooms continuing to stay closed in light of COVID-19, there’s no shortage of local beer releases, especially as we approach the summer months. Although May hardly counts as a “summer month” here in Chicago, we’re staying optimistic for warmer days. Courtesy of Copenhagen is a recent pick-up that will bring you to that feeling of enjoying a sunny summer day.

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Kiitos Brewing | Triple Dry Hopped Hazy IPA

While Kiitos Brewing consistently delivers tasty year-round beers, the Salt Lake brewery isn’t against experimenting in the brewhouse. Kiitos’ (KEE-tose) latest Triple Dry Hopped Hazy IPA shows off its desire to mix-and-match different hops combinations.

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Whiner Beer Co | Miaou

Lately I find myself gravitating toward a trustworthy core of Chicago craft beers I’ve befriended over the years. Brews like Begyle Blonde, Dovetail Helles and Whiner Miaou. These beers won’t surprise me—something I typically love when trying the latest from local breweries. These days, it’s all about familiarity and reliability. Whiner Beer makes a few beers I’d be content to have in my fridge on the regular, but this singular Belgian Wheat Ale is one of the brewery’s finest. 

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Marz Community Brewing Co. | Duchess De Bridgeport

duch·ess
/ˈdəCHəs/
Noun
a woman holding a rank equivalent to a duke in her own right.

If you’ve ever spent time in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, you’ve probably ventured into Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar. Taken over by Maria Marszewski in 1987, the combination liquor store/bar has become a staple for the area and thus, the neighborhood dubbed her the Duchess of Bridgeport. Keeping it in the family, her son Ed Marszewski started Marz Community Brewing Company in 2013. Today, Marz pays homage to Maria with their take on a Flanders Red Ale, named for her likeliness, with Duchess De Bridgeport.

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Arvon Brewing Co. | The Grand NE Style IPA

Arvon Brewing Co. didn’t have much chance to bask in the afterglow of opening a brewery. Before even a month had passed at their new taproom in Grand Rapids, Michigan, quarantine hit, forcing them to close off the space they’d worked so hard to prepare. But instead of letting the pandemic rain on their parade, they improvised. 

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Zero Gravity Brewery | Green State Lager

I remember my first time like it was yesterday. It was late March in the winter of 2016. My wife and I were looking for some après-ski nourishment. After a long day of skiing at Stowe, this was an absolute necessity. Making our way down the mountain access road we eventually wandered into a restaurant called Doc Ponds. 

Gazing at the beer menu while taking a seat at the bar, I asked the bartender, “what do you recommend?” An avid Vermont skier, I’m very familiar with the Green Mountain State’s vast craft beer market. However, I always like a local’s take when I can get it. Ultimately, his response pushed me in the direction of Zero Gravity Brewery Green State Lager, a beer that they had just put on tap. One sip and I was in love, hooked on the light, crisp, bready Pilsner bearing the state’s name. 

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Examining the Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Series

In this new COVID19-driven world, to-go options and canning have taken center stage in the craft beer industry. So it’s no surprise that the first brewery to put craft beer in cans, Oskar Blues, is still producing and distributing a variety of beer styles. One such collection is the Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss IPA series, a rotating release of IPAs the brewery unveiled in 2019. The idea behind the project is to “showcase unconventional combinations of exceptional hops.” The result for beer drinkers is a series that celebrates the diversity of hop flavors and aromas.

The brewery sent PorchDrinking a few samples to try: Tropical IPA, Hazy IPA and Citra DIPA. The Tropical will return next spring, but the seasonal Hazy IPA is available now and the DIPA is a year-round treat. Oskar Blues will also release a new Citrus IPA in September 2020.

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3 Floyds Brewing Co. | Robert the Bruce

As winter turns to spring, the weather can be pretty deceptive—particularly in the Midwest. Depending on what the weather has decided to do each day, it can go anywhere from warm and sunny to a bit chilly to downright cold. If you’re the type of beer drinker who enjoys matching the beer you’re drinking to the weather outside, what are you supposed to do? This is where a beer like Robert the Bruce from Munster, Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing comes in. A full-bodied Scottish-style ale with an IBU of 24 and an ABV of 6.5%, it’s warming and malty, yet just light enough to sip while lounging on the porch as the evening turns from warm to chilly.

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Devil Wind Brewing | Dankel Dunkel

Munich Dunkel might seem like an unusual style to lead a brewery’s portfolio in 2020, but Devil Wind Brewing Dankel Dunkel is thwarting expectations in Xenia, Ohio.

This small brewery was founded in 2018 and takes its name from a devastating F5 tornado that leveled much of the town in April 1974, killing 33 people. Xenia rebuilt, and Devil Wind carries on the town’s legacy of both heritage and progress.

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Yards Brewing Company | Jefferson’s Golden Ale

Philadelphia: The city of brotherly and sisterly love. Whether you live in Philadelphia, the surrounding area that wishes it was Philly, or are just visiting, the significance of the history of the eastern Pennsylvania city is undeniable. From statues of individuals such as William Penn, John Barry and George Washington, to the bricked neighborhood of Old City and an almost deity like appreciation of Benjamin Franklin, the 300+ years of history are sure to include beer as well. Yards Brewing Company, in the city’s Northern Liberties neighborhood, thrives off the old world tradition of beer styles with Jefferson’s Golden Ale, formerly called Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale.

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Side Project Brewing | O.W.K.

It’s been almost (exactly) two years since this extremely limited release from Side Project came out. While many who are familiar with O.W.K still consider it to be the best beer ever produced, perhaps even a larger percentage of people still don’t even know of its existence.

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The Brewing Projekt | Dare Mighty Things IPA Series

The Brewing Projekt Dare Mighty Things Single Hop IPA and Double IPA are something to be grateful for during the monotonous hours of being at home. This brewery located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is almost five years young and truly making pieces of liquid art. They absolutely crush this experimental Hazy IPA series, and their fruited beers are out of this world. Don’t pass if you have an opportunity to open one of these beers. Even here in the Pacific Northwest, we’re fortunate enough to be getting a few drops every couple of weeks and the beer community couldn’t be happier. These are challenging times and this beer is a reminder that we can persevere this pandemic and all enjoy a great craft beer for some sanity.

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Edge City Brewery | #squadgoals Berliner Weisse

Opening a new brewery in Charlotte, North Carolina, is already a risky business move. In a city with more than 30 breweries, it’s hard to stand out and generate the revenue and clientele necessary to survive. But opening a new brewery during a global pandemic in any city is an even riskier business move. Edge City Brewery tossed both of those fears to the wind and opened in Charlotte on April 16, 2020. Read More

Creature Comforts Brewing Co | Automatic

Pure excitement. That’s one of the many emotions that Athens, Georgia, beer lovers are feeling as Creature Comforts announced Automatic, their seasonal Pale Ale, was finally joining the ranks of their year-round offerings. Creature Comforts chose Automatic as their sixth year-round beer as part of their six-year anniversary celebration. 

Automatic has been a staple of summer since its first splash onto the Georgia craft beer scene more than four years ago. Now, summer never has to stop. Read More

Dutchess Ales | GB

On paper, Dutchess Ales GB doesn’t scream traditional English Ale. This Pale Ale includes a variety of hops like Centennial and Amarillo, and ferments with a hybrid yeast containing three different strains, none of them English in origin. However, this is a beer that works well in the pub (remember those?), several pints at a time. In that sense, it’s 100 percent spot on. Read More

Loveland Aleworks | Death Wobble Imperial Coffee Porter

When the calendar turns to April, Colorado inevitably experiences lovely 70-plus degree days followed by the occasional two-day blizzard. This year followed that pattern, only to be accompanied with myriad COVID-19 issues. Thankfully, many breweries throughout the state of Colorado kept brewing beer, offering take-out and delivery options, all while continuing to release new beers. Loveland Aleworks is one such brewery. 

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Baxter Brewing Co | Muddy Boots

Amid this pandemic, the inequalities that hold up the structure of our society are more evident than ever, the reality that the American culture as we know it simply does not work without this inequitable foundation is no longer deniable. As our nation begins the endeavor of reopening our economy, we are forced to reconcile this realization with our desire to return to normal. But is that “normal” what we are truly craving? We are at a precipitous where as a society we have the time to reflect on realities of our system if we so choose this is our moment to reopen our country a new, different, better; will we take this chance or will we let it pass us by?
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