Old Nation Brewing Company | Boss Tweed

I realize I always go on about how hard it is for breweries to stand out in Michigan because there are so many of them. But Michigan is fifth in the nation with more than 300 breweries, so it’s not hard to imagine how easy it is for a brewery to fall through the cracks. In 2015, this was likely on the minds of Travis Fritts and Nate Rykse when they founded Old Nation Brewing Company in Williamston, Michigan. As it turns out, they had absolutely nothing to worry about, even after a bit of a slow start.

Read More

Libertine Brewing Company | Pacific Ocean Blue Gose

A beer is only as good as its water: It is the starting point and foundation from which all else grows and changes. Libertine Brewing Company wanted one of their staple beers to evoke the essence of the place they call home—the central coast of California—so they decided to use local, Pacific Coast salty sea waters to add the traditional brininess in a Gose.

Read More

Karl Strauss & Pure Project Brewing | Murky Poetry

When it comes to beer collaborations, Karl Strauss Brewing has been killing it in the past year. With collaborations like Russian River and Alesmith, not to mention the many others, Pure Project was a welcome addition to their Collaboration Line up with Murky Poetry, a Hazy IPA.

Read More

Box of Chocolates Beer Collaboration | Four Chicago-Area Breweries Celebrate Valentine’s Day

Move over Cupid. Oswego Brewing, Riverlands Brewing, Skeleton Key Brewing and Wolfden Brewing have concocted the perfect method for which to achieve romantic bliss: the Box of Chocolates Beer Collaboration. The multi-brewery Valentine’s Day beer package is more than just a treat, though, because the beers also serve as beautiful demonstrations of the versatility of stouts (or stout-like ales), which is fitting for February (a.k.a. Stout Month).

Read More

Cerebral Brewing | Character Reference Foeder Vienna Lager

It’s a chilly Friday afternoon in Denver, in the Bluebird District 2.5 miles directly east of the State Capitol, and the Cerebral Brewing taproom is buzzing. Not that this is unusual, of course. The four-year-old brewery frequently draws a big crowd to its bright taproom, one side of which uses academic papers as wallpaper. After all, the brewery’s motto is “An Academic Pursuit,” an honorable principle that guides these innovative brewers to offer beers that run the gamut. One of those is Character Reference, a foeder Vienna Lager.

Read More

Seedstock Brewery | Bohemian Dunkel

“Brewing is really in our blood,” says Ron Abbott, founder and brewer at Denver’s Seedstock Brewery. His brewery offers classic Czech-style lagers and periodically revives obscure historical styles rarely brewed on these shores, keeping his familial traditions alive.

Read More

Springdale Beer Co | Springdale IPA

What does adventure mean to you? Is it the adrenaline rush of accomplishing something huge? Is it physically exploring a new region? Is it the urge to leave your comfort zone? To Joe Connolly, director of Springdale Beer Co., it’s that last one. He also believes in the same notion for IPAs. “We believe that real activity deserves real beer,” Connolly notes. “To us, this is what IPA signifies: an urge to push the envelope, leave our comfort zone and simply put, get out there.”

And that’s what Springdale is all about. As the experimental offshoot of Jack’s Abby, Springdale has been in pursuit of adventure since its inception. By delving into sours, wild ales, barrel-aged beers and more, they have numerous successful experiments under their belt. They released their flagship IPA, Springdale IPA, in January 2020.

Read More

Olde Hickory Brewery | Flanders Red

Beer hunting is most fun when digging up long-forgotten, buried treasure. Recently, I had the pleasure of discovering Olde Hickory’s Flanders Red Ale. This beauty was aged for 30 months—a full two-and-a-half years!—in bourbon barrels before bottling on Halloween 2016. I found it in late 2019, hiding in plain sight on the shelf at Carrboro Beverage Company. That means this Bad Larry was aging for more than five years before I picked it up. Today, I have the pleasure of sharing it with you, our lovely PorchDrinking readers. Read More

Wooden Hill Brewing Co. | Code 3 Juicy IPA

We hear and see them every day. Maybe you’re on your way home from work, and they come into your rearview mirror. Perhaps you’re lying in bed at night, and you hear their faint sound in the distance.

Read More

Land-Grant Brewing | Stargazer Black IPA

Land-Grant Brewing Company in Columbus, Ohio, has launched a new beer celebrating the career of astronaut and Columbus resident Dr. Katharine D. Sullivan. 

While Dr. Sullivan had been to the Land-Grant taproom before this partnership, she’s not normally a big beer drinker, says Land-Grant co-founder and Creative Director Walt Keys. He points out though that the accomplished astronaut is “always up for trying new things.”

Read More

Against the Grain | Brown Note Brown Ale

I tend to be the type of beer drinker who plays favorites. For several years, I fell into a rut of good-beer-drinking. I knew what I liked and that’s mostly what I drank. But my eyes have been opened to the massive range of variety in today’s craft beer scene. In my home state of Kentucky, craft brewing was a little slow to take off but has really hit its stride over the past few years. Lately, I’ve been on a mission to seek out new Kentucky-brewed beers. On a recent visit to Liquor Barn in Lexington, I was perusing the aisles, trying not to get taken in by the label gimmickry that has become prevalent in craft brewing.

I failed. My eyes were immediately drawn to one particular beer, mostly because the label was, well…rather disgusting. I’m all for humor in beer labeling, but, really? Then I noticed the brewery: Louisville-based Against the Grain.

Read More

Cleophus Quealy Beer Company | Frambozenbier

Barrel-aged, sour and fruited beers seem to intimidate people. And Cleophus Quealy Beer Company conjured up a magical elixir of all three: Frambozenbier.

Read More

Wild Mind Artisan Ales | Electric Factory

One of the Twin Cities’ best-kept craft beer secrets sits in the middle of a South Minneapolis industrial district. Where I-35 meets Highway 62, amid concrete contractors and industrial steel fabricators, you’ll come across Wild Mind Artisan Ales.

Read More

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery | Apple Brandy MEGA GBS Imperial Milk Stout

Around this time every year, as the temperature starts to dip and the days shorten, it’s all too common to hear people complaining about the winter. Alas, these poor misguided souls must not be craft beer fans. You won’t hear any grumblings about it being winter around my house. When winter hits that means it’s Hardywood Gingerbread Stout (aka GBS) season! It’ll make you reminiscent of the holiday season.

Read More

Bootleggers Brewery | Train To Nowhere

Just when you think all IPAs have gone hazy, fluffy and double, along comes Bootlegger’s Brewery Train To Nowhere. Read More

Columbia Kettle Works | Kettleface Imperial Red Ale

Words can’t even begin to describe the amount of excitement that surges over my body when Columbia Kettle Works and St. Boniface Craft Brewing Company collaborate to release their annual Imperial Red Ale, Kettleface.

Columbia Kettle Works is located in Columbia, PA; it’s an old-style river town that borders the 464-mile Susquehanna River. Columbia Kettle Works, or CKW as it’s referred to by its regulars, was established in 2014 and has created some fantastic beers. Particularly known for their Christmas Ale, Grinch Feet, and their Belgian Tripel, Tricky Fingers, CKW usually has 10-12 different beers on tap at any given time. As a brewery that prides itself in experimenting with new styles and chooses to constantly rotate their beers, Kettle Works never seems to disappoint its audience.

Read More

Dogfish Head | 120 Minute IPA

120 Minute IPA has been on my white whale beer list for a while, up there with Utopias and Pliny the Younger. So when I happened to find a bottle at random in a liquor store near my house, I was extremely surprised and needless to say I bought it immediately. Being I’m on the opposite side of the country from where its made, it’s a rare find for me at least.

Read More

Bohemian Brewery | Sir-Veza

Sir-Veza, a Mexican-style light Lager brewed by Utah’s preeminent Lager brewery, is a beer for all seasons. The crisp Lager is the perfect refresher—or so I’ve heard—after a day spent carving turns on the ski slopes. For Utahns like me who don’t ski or snowboard, this is the time of year we’re dreaming of soft sandy beaches and warm summer breezes. And a sip of Sir-Veza, coupled with an active imagination, transports us to a sun-soaked oasis.

Read More

Rhinegeist Brewery | Calfé

This Calfé Milk Stout will lift your spirits and warm your bones. Brought to you by Rhinegeist Brewery, this brew is everything a milk stout should be: dark, roasty and creamy.

Read More

Allagash Brewing Company | Barrel & Bean

When you bookend your day with drinks, it’s important to have quality ones. Coffee in the morning? Grind up something fresh to kick-start a productive day. Beer at night? That first crack open that has your taste buds thanking you after that productive day. Rinse and repeat.

Barrel & Bean from Allagash Brewing Company combines the best of both of the coffee and beer worlds. And when one thinks of a coffee beer, it’s common to think of a stout. That’s my first thought. But Barrel & Bean takes a different approach to a coffee-blended beer: the result is a combination of a Belgian-style golden ale aged in bourbon barrels with cold-brewed coffee from a local coffee roaster, Speckled Ax.

Read More