Best Autumn Beers of 2016 Without Pumpkin

Although the first official day of autumn was September 22, shelves and taps have already been filling up for weeks with spicy, malty fall beers. And while we love the sessions, fruit farmhouse, and juicy IPAs of summer, we’re excited to usher in the new season of heavier, stick-to-your-ribs kinds of beverages. These are the best autumn beers of 2016 that don’t include the use pumpkin (don’t worry, pumpkin fans, we’ve got a list for you coming as well).

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Craft Beer Cellar Fort Collins Offers GABF Week Gems

This is a sponsored post

Heading into town for GABF? There’s a ton to consider, special tappings, beer dinners, mini-festivals, meet the brewer opportunities, and of course the festival itself. But one thing you WON’T want to miss out on is the opportunity to stock your beer cellar with two empty suitcases worth of specialty bottles and cans.

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2016 GABF Route Preview | Big Beers 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 through that list of beers to bring you a series of themed routes to help you plan for your GABF based on various styles and flavors.

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LIVE DRAFT | 2016 GABF Fantasy Brewery Draft

We here at PorchDrinking believe beer should be fun. So three years ago we set out to add a different take on the Great American Beer Festival by inviting a mix of national and local writers to participate in our GABF Fantasy Brewery Draft. Each year we draft breweries based on how we believe they’ll finish during GABF awards ceremony and earn points based on those finishes.

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PorchDrinking Visits Iceland, the Land of Fire & Ice

This summer, I realized a decade-long dream: visiting Iceland. My wife and I spent two weeks exploring and experiencing waterfalls, glaciers, geysers, craters, lava fields, tiny towns with tiny restaurants, cracks in the earth, puffins, whales, lots and lots of blonde people, wide-open vistas, and, most importantly, Icelandic beer. (All of which has been chronicled here.) Read More

What We’re Drinking | September 16th, 2016

September brings us another week in transition. Some Porchdrinkers are grasping on to the last days of summer and others are diving head-first into autumn. We even had one intrepid soul who not-so-successfully tried to emulate the Queen of Beer Selfies by replicating the #Bovapose (Trademark pending… probably). No matter what is in our glass, you can be certain that our writers are having a ton of malty, hoppy fun. Here’s What We’re Drinking. Read More

The Weekly Buzz | September 9th – September 15th

Unfortunately, we had to take last week off due to an unexpected emergency, but we’re back and more buzzed than ever! This week, social media has been chock full of job opportunities, beer event announcements, giveaways, and even bad touches. Fasten your seat belts, pour a beer into the appropriate glassware, and prepare yourself for The Weekly Buzz!
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Women in Brewing | Bess Dougherty

Despite her recent announcement that she’ll be leaving Wynkoop, rest assured, “Bess’s Barrel-Aged Beer Babies” will live on! Back in June, PorchDrinking spoke with brewer Bess Dougherty, recording a PorchCast episode in her “happy place,” Wynkoop Brewing Company’s barrel room. Little did we know a mere 12 hours later Bess and the rest of the Wynkoop family would learn that the brewery would begin scaling back operations to eliminate external distribution AND Bess would soon decide to leave her brewing position at Wynkoop for another opportunity. In light of the latest happenings, we sat down to talk women and beer with her and hear about the latest landmarks in her career path.

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Colorado Beer Release Radar | September 2016

Sharing is caring, and the beer radar is back for another month of sharing news of the best craft beer releases coming to the Denver market in September. Remember, we will update this list throughout the month as new releases are announced. Read More

What We’re Drinking | September 9th, 2016

Did you wake up this morning, look at the calendar and wonder if it is actually Friday today? Luckily, you’re not alone. One of the many rewards of a Monday holiday is a shorter work week. Some PorchDrinkers traveled over the holiday weekend, some stayed home, and unfortunately some had to work. Despite these differences, we all had one thing in common this week: we enjoyed a delicious brew. Check out what we imbibed in this week’s edition of What We’re Drinking!

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Colorado Brewery Openings for September 2016

Before the craziness of determining which beers to try at the Great American Beer Festival in October, you should go to these brewery openings throughout September and taste some new brews.
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Walt Dickinson Discusses Wicked Weed’s Colorado Expansion

Header Photo Provided by Wicked Weed Brewing

Over the past five years, Colorado has become fertile ground for cultivating a thriving craft beer culture, both locally and nationally. As such, a wealth of the country’s best and brightest brands expand distribution to include the Centennial State. The most recent of which, Wicked Weed Brewing, which focuses on hoppy and wild/funky styles, who dropped close to 20 different brands throughout the Front Range earlier this week.

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#GoldStarToast Embodies Honor Brewing’s Mission

Nearly every brewery will say that their beer carries a story and that their mission is to do something more for their community. But Honor Brewing Company takes that rhetoric a … Read More

Ultimate 6er | Rio de Janeiro Beers

With the Olympics in full swing, I thought I’d take a few minutes to share some of the amazing beers I was lucky enough to try during our Christmas vacation to Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is one the most culturally diverse countries on the planet with huge influences from Africa, Europe and Asia. Brazil’s Portuguese ties are obvious, but as I was learning more about the country before our trip I was really surprised to find out that Germans are the fifth largest nationality to immigrate to Brazil*. The German population rooted themselves in the southern region of the country and have made their mark nationwide on Brazilian beer. Read More

Updated | 2016 Complete List of Breweries Attending GABF

*Be sure to check back often as we’ll be bringing complete GABF coverage leading up to, during and after the festival*

Approximately 830 Breweries. 4 Sessions. 3 Days. Nearly 4000 beers. 60,000 attendees. This year’s Great American Beer Festival is back and ready to celebrate its 35th Anniversary. The field has finally been set, and we now know which breweries will be part of the world’s largest beer festival. As we do each year, we’ve got the full 2016 GABF Brewery list. We will also break down the breweries who are new to the festival, as well as those breweries who are notably missing – with that update coming in a few moments. Read More

Olympic Beer Culture

Last Friday began the 2016 Olympic Games from Rio. During the opening ceremonies we were entertained by a show of Brazilian culture, Olympic spirit, and women were able to drool over that overly oiled half naked guy from Tonga. For the next couple weeks we will cheer on athletes such as Gabby Douglas, Shalane Flanagan, and Michael Phelps. We will learn about sports we have never watched before and root for athletes we only hear about every four years. Read More

Colorado Beer Release Radar | August 2016

Keeping up with the latest and greatest craft beers hitting the market can be a full time job. So to help you keep track of some of the best new releases on the market, we’ve started a monthly feature to help you track the best new beers that will be hitting the Colorado market or have recently been garnering local acclaim. Stay tuned as we’ll be updating this list throughout the month as new releases are announced. Read More

Denver Flea Drinking Game

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This weekend, Denver Flea returns to City Park showcasing some of the best local artisans and makers as well as the crafted goods they produce for sale. In addition to the wide array of jewelry, Colorado’ed out merch, and random hand crafted snack foods, we thought we’d spice up your Flea experience with a 2016 Summer Flea Drinking Game.

So toss back a few sips of delicious New Belgium Beers if you happen to spot one of these predictably prevalent Denver Flea finds during Saturday and Sunday’s shop-a-thon event. Read More

Women in Brewing | Julia Herz – Brewers Association

As we approach Julia Herz at the CraftBeer.com booth at the Vail Big Beers fest, she’s standing with Executive Chef Adam Dulye, purveying toffee and craft beer samples. Enthusiastically, she encourages us to give the pairing a try and we do so willingly. The confection is a 70% dark chocolate with almonds, toffee and a sweetness level calculated to complement the malt bill of the beer, Baere Brewing Company’s Big Hoppy Brown. It’s a pairing tastier than we even imagined — the delicious hop character of the brown ale comes forward as the rich, malty, nutty sweetness takes a backseat. As we wash down the last of the toffee, we chat with Julia on her long history in the brewing community.

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2016 Summer Olympics | Beer from Around the World

It’s Summer Olympics time. Sure, a flight to Rio is expensive. So, stay home, turn on the T.V. and have a flight you can afford — an international beer flight. Anthony Norkus, who specializes in imported beer for the 127-year-old Chicago-based Louis Glunz Beer explained, “The international/import beer market is aggressively trying to stay relevant as much as the American craft breweries. Due to this we are seeing a lot of innovation coming out of breweries that are hundreds of years old.” Read More