Allagash Brewing Company | North Sky Stout

A chill flows through the air as crisp autumn season approaches. With that chill comes the desire for warm flannels, fire pits, and dark beers. Allagash Brewing Company’s newest addition to their year-round lineup, North Sky stout, is precisely the beer for your stargazing, s’ more making fall night.
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Hopewell Brewing Co. | Cold Brew Lemonade

Sometimes you see a beer; read the description and have no idea what to expect but you know you want to try that beer. That was the case with Hopewell Brewing Company’s Cold Brew Lemonade beer that recently hit the market.

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Goodwood Brewing | Sting Like a Beer

Kentucky’s Goodwood Brewing has a habit of brewing beers that are touched with wood at some point during the process. Sting Like a Beer spends quite a bit of time lingering in a brandy barrel before we get a chance to taste it. And boy is it worth the wait.

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First Street Brewing Company | Popular Blonde

First Street Brewing Company of Hastings, Nebraska opened its doors in 2016. One of their most popular beers is named, rightfully so, “Popular Blonde.” Brewer and Owner Nathan wanted to make a beer to be served at his friend’s coffee shop. The Art Bar is located a couple blocks from the First Street taproom.

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Maplewood Brewing & Distilling | Festbier & Fest Whiskey

Maplewood Brewing & Distilling in Chicago, IL offered a dual homage to Bavaria this year with Festbier and Fest Whiskey, demonstrating its prowess in both realms of the imbibe world. Though Maplewood may have added distilling to its repertoire after opening its lauded brewery, creating spirits has always been part of the plan. Indeed, in 2016, Ari Megalis, co-founder and distiller, commented to PorchDrinking.com: “When we started, we almost considered only distilling, but it obviously takes some time before you can get your product on the market. But we love beer, and we ended up doing that, too. It worked out great because now we can do a lot of things with it.”

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Urban South Brewery | Coastal Harmony Double IPA

In the madness of 2020, you’d be forgiven for forgetting the Category 4 Hurricane Laura that decimated the Gulf Coast on August 27. The town of Lake Charles, LA was especially hard-hit, with at least 28 fatalities in the small city. The hurricane hit Lake Charles at a greater strength than Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. (And as of this writing, Hurricane Delta is making a bee-line for Lake Charles.) Almost a month has passed since Laura’s 150 miles-per-hour winds and 15-foot storm surge; yet, nearly 45,000 residents still do not have power. Between huge storms, historic wildfires, and the pandemic, many residents are worried that the world has forgotten about them.

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Resolute Brewing Company | Ode to San Diego

San Diego, CA, aka “The Finest City,” “Silicon Beach” and “A whale’s…” (at least, according to Ron Burgundy) is also known for an amazing beer scene, beautiful beaches, not having a professional football team and as the former home of Colorado-based Resolute Brewing Company‘s head brewer, Justin Burnsed. Burnsed spent more than eight years here while pursuing his interest in brewing (i.e. taking brewing classes, interning at local breweries and writing for Brew Your Own Magazine), forging his own path in the then-emerging beer scene of this laid-back beach city. As Slightly Stoopid, a native San Diego band and one of Burnsed’s favorites at the time, sang, “But he’s that one, He’s just a manly ese loco, With a plan.” Read More

New Belgium’s Fan-Favorite Tart Lychee Returns for Limited Release

Sometimes a beer can be so memorable, so unique and so remarkable that even after being discontinued, it continues to reverberate in the memories of its fans for years on end. New Belgium Brewing’s Tart Lychee first appeared as a taproom-only release as far back as 2009, was more widely released in 2011 as part of the brewery’s Lips of Faith series and was revived in 2016. Now, the popular wood-aged Golden Sour with pureed lychee fruit and cinnamon is finally back once again.

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Flying Dog Brewery | Great Job!

Flying Dog Brewery is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a new Double IPA called Great Job!, tongue-in-cheek self-congratulation for 30 years of, as its own press release puts it, “Good Beer, No Shit.”

The Maryland brewery is the 35th largest in the country by volume and continues to be the biggest player in the state. Flying Dog’s 20th-anniversary beer, Raging Bitch, quickly became the best-selling beer for the brewery where it remained for nearly a decade.

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Cascade Brewing | Framboise Northwest

Cascade Brewing’s latest Sour release — Framboise Northwest — is an ode to raspberries, incorporating 3000 pounds of red raspberries grown locally in the Northwest into their base Blonde Ale. “In this beer, just the flavor of the raspberries is so true to the fruit, it really captured the super-fresh raspberry flavor and we didn’t want to manipulate it in anyway,” shared Kevin Martin, Director of Brewery Operations at Cascade Brewing in Portland, Oregon. Read More

Sycamore Brewing | Rising Hope IPA

Sycamore Brewing out of Charlotte, North Carolina, is partnering with Brewing Funds the Cure to release Rising Hope IPA on Friday, October 2. One hundred percent of proceeds from the sale of this beer will be donated to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

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Wasatch Brewery | Landbier Swiss-Style Lager

In modern-day American craft beer terms, a brewery founded in the mid-1980s is an industry pioneer. For Nils Imboden, head brewer at Wasatch Brewery, a trip to Europe puts that in perspective.

“The last time I was back there, ‘Oh, you work at a brewery?‘ he said. “Yeah. ‘How long you been around? 1986. ‘That’s cute, kid.“

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Epic Brewing | Señor Pepino Cucumber Lime Lager

A quick calendar check might suggest that now isn’t the ideal time to sip a Señor Pepino Cucumber Lime Lager from Epic Brewing. As days get gobbled up by night and swimsuits give way to sweatshirts, craft beer drinkers tend to move away from beachy summer refreshers.

Of course, another look at the calendar provides proof that this is still 2020. And if there’s one thing the year’s made clear, it’s to expect the unexpected.

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Good People Brewing Company | Snake Handler

There is no mistaking the connection many of us feel with beer. You can likely recall memories of can art or flavor notes of memorable beers you’ve enjoyed. Sometimes this is due to rarity or place and company of consumption. Sometimes it’s just for the experience. Good People Brewing Company Snake Handler Double IPA will create those feelings and more as the memory of this beer will surely stay with you.
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Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Town Brewing Rathaus Festbier Lager

Oktoberfest season is upon us and the PorchDrinking team is working their way through various Marzens, Oktoberfests, Pumpkin Beers, and anything fall themed you can imagine! Today we’re highlighting Rathaus Festbier Lager, a unique spin on the traditional malt-forward beers of the season.

Read: PorchDrinking Oktoberfest Guide & Beer Showcase Series Read More

Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Victory Brewing Company Festbier

Fall is steeped in tradition. It brings the change of another season, a reminder of the passage of time. The flannel shirts come out and the apples are ripe for picking. Along with that, the beer you’ll find on shelves at your local stores will replace the light, refreshingly tart and citrus flavors of the summer with the malty and more full-bodied offerings that are also a reminder of the changing of the calendar. Read More

Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Great Lakes Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest started as a wedding celebration in Bavaria in 1810. Two centuries later in 2009, Great Lakes Brewing Company brewmaster Mark Hunger tied the knot and poured his brewery’s Oktoberfest lager at his own autumn wedding reception.

“Picking the beer for the wedding was a no-brainer. From what I can remember, it was a hit,” he says with a laugh. “We went through a keg.”

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Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier

The tradition of Hofbräu Munchen began on September 27, 1580, when Duke Wilhelm V founded the brewhouse in Munich. A little less three hundred years later on October 12, 1810, at the wedding of the Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, the “first” Oktoberfest was celebrated. Two years later the Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier was brewed.

In 2003, the Hofbräu concept crossed the Atlantic Ocean opening a mini-brewery and restaurant in the style of the original Hofbräuhaus in Newport, KY, bringing the German beer to America.

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Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Port City Brewing Oktoberfest

For many German beer fans, late September doesn’t just mark the onset of autumn or the beginning of a new school year. It’s the only time of year for eating too many brats, listening to polka music of questionable quality and drinking delicious beer. It’s Oktoberfest! During any other year, many would be dusting off their lederhosen and making pretzel necklaces, while visions of frothy overflowing beer steins danced in their heads.

Yet, even though COVID-19 is, sadly, torpedoing our hopes of having in-person Oktoberfest events this year, never fear. There’s still plenty of first-rate Oktoberfest beers to be had. Here in the Washington, D.C., Beltway area, those mourning the cancellation of this year’s festivities are finding solace in Port City Brewing’s exceptional take on the classic Oktoberfest Märzen Lager. Despite only being distributed in D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and some select areas of New York and North Carolina, this beer has gained international renown. It took home the gold medal at the 2014 World Beer Championships, silver at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival and is currently ranked the 27th best Oktoberfest/Märzen style beer in the world by reviewers on Beer Advocate.

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Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Hochzeitsbier von 1810 Brauerei Hofstetten

The concept of an Oktoberfest style beer conjures up whimsical stories similar to those about the creation of IPA and Saison. Cute stories, but not quite accurate. Read More