Strong BA Series | Four Saints Impending Grace

Without question, 2020 has been one of the wildest years in human memory. With world-shaping events happening (it seems) almost every day, and the constant, grating drip of catastrophe from the news, one is always on the lookout for reprieve, for some sort of grace.

Read More

Brewery Vivant celebrates 10-year anniversary with release of J’aison Ale

Sunday, December 20, marks the 10-year anniversary for one of Grand Rapids, Michigan’s most celebrated breweries: Brewery Vivant. The brewery is the world’s first LEED certified commercial microbrewery and a Certified B Corporation. It is beloved among Michigan’s beer loving community for their Belgium-style brews, as well as their commitment to the local community. To celebrate 10 years, on December 17 the brewery released J’aison, a Petite Saison brewed with orange peel and Tellicherry black peppercorns. It is currently available on draft and in cans for sale at the brewpub.
Read More

What We’re Drinking | December 18, 2020

Two things set in as a harsh reality this week. First off, we’re right in the heavy of the holiday season. Secondly, 2020 is over in two weeks and we’re still dealing with COVID. Thankfully the vaccine has started to get distributed. Hopefully in the near future we can all get together at a beer festival or a brewery and share some beers and make some memories. A heartfelt cheers and happy holidays to all of our readers. This is What We’re Drinking.

Read More

Shmaltz & Moustache Light Up the Holidays with ‘Golden Jelly Doughnut Pastry Ale’ & ‘She’brew #RBG IPA’

Shmaltz Brewing Company’s favorite beer-drinking season of the year is here: Hanukkah! Shmaltz Brewing officially turns 24 this Hanukkah and celebrates with the national release of a brand new Golden Jelly Doughnut Pastry Ale brewed with 600 pounds per batch of real purees of raspberry and cherry with a generous slathering of pure vanilla. This Hanukkah Beer, a glorious homage to the beloved Sufganiyot dessert, is all new for 2020 and is now available in 12-ounce can 4-Packs, limited draft through their East Coast wholesalers, and through Brew Pipeline nationally.

Read More

Strong BA Series | Epic Brewing Sextuple Barrel Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout

Some people call this magical time of year the holiday season. People who read this website probably know it more as Stout Season. But at Epic Brewing, it’s Baptist Season. And this year, they went big.

Epic Brewing, originating in Utah, is famous for being the state’s first brewery since prohibition to solely brew beer with a “high” alcohol content. Now, in Utah, that means something different than you’re probably thinking: Back in 2009 when Epic was founded, the Beehive State considered any beer above 4.0% ABV to be a “strong brew” and restricted those sales to state-run liquor stores (they’ve now increased that maximum up to 5.0%, those daredevils). But Epic Brewing didn’t just make strong beer by Utah standards; like most kids with strict parents, they rebelled and started making strong beer. Thus, in 2011, their Big Bad Baptist series was born: A Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with coffee that was such a hit, the brewery turned it into an annual tradition and introduces new variants each year during Baptist Season.

Read More

Voodoo Brewery Sells Franchising Arm & Plans Denver & Las Vegas Locations

Pennsylvania’s Voodoo Brewery has, since its inception, followed a relatively non-traditional path. Despite growing in recent years to become one of the East Coast’s most buzz-worthy breweries, garnering attention for Good Vibes, their West Coast-style IPA, an assortment of Hazy IPAs, and one of the country’s most well-regarded barrel-aging programs, at one point early in their 15-year history, the Meadville, PA-based brewery nearly faced bankruptcy.

Read More

Sycamore Brewing | F*CK 2020 BUBS Hard Seltzer

We’re all sick of 2020, but Sycamore Brewing is shouting it loud and proud with their newest release. F*CK 2020 BUBS is a 9.2% ABV Hard Seltzer coming in hot to finish 2020 off right.

Read More

Strong BA Series | Foothills Brewing Coffee Infused BA Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout

In an industry which has been largely built around the search for the new and exciting, it can be refreshing to revisit some of the beers and breweries which blazed the trails for the modern day. Foothills Brewing, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a perfect example not only of one of these foundational companies, but also of one which has done an amazing job of staying relevant and responsive to the modern craft beer drinker. Perhaps none of their brews illustrates this better than their Coffee Infused Bourbon Barrel-Aged Sexual Chocolate, one of the state’s most anticipated yearly releases.

Read More

3 Floyds Permanently Closes Munster, IN Brewpub

3 Floyds Brewing first announced an indefinite closing of their Munster, IN facility back in May, and it now seem as if that closure has become permanent. In a letter … Read More

Ultimate 6er | Beers To Drink While Reading Dune In Preparation For The Movie

Denis Villeneuve-directed movies are not for the light-hearted. I’ll bet you never heard anyone say, “Tough day at the button factory, honey, let’s relax and watch Sicario,” or “My boss is such a jerk, I need to clear my head by watching Arrival.” Complex storylines, heavy themes, experimental and ambient scores, and ominous cinematography, are not just common, they are the rule. Put simply, you have to be in the right headspace to get the most out of his movies.

Read More

Breweries to Create Missouri Brewers Guild’s First Collaboration Brew

Twenty-two members of the Missouri Brewers Guild teamed up this fall to brew the Guild’s first-ever collaboration brew, aptly named “Missouri Loves Company”. The breweries met via video conference to discuss logistics, ingredients, and unite during a time when social distancing rules tend to keep people apart.

Read More

Strong BA Series | Bottle Logic Fundamental Observation

We all remember the first time we waited in an exceptionally long line for an exceptionally small pour of a notable beer. On a sunny SoCal day in May 2015, at The Bruery’s 7th Anniversary party, a beer from local upstart Bottle Logic Brewing named Fundamental Observation showed up like Lindsay Lohan as the new queen bee of The Plastics. An explosion of vanilla followed by the soft cuddle of high-end bourbon barrels, this beer was a delicious needle in the four hours of unlimited tastings haystack. With the next public release of this beer came a block-spanning line, providing a delicious 8oz reward for an hour of your time, and the first memory of waiting in extended anticipation for a single draught of excellence. Read More

The State of Barrel-Aged Beers in 2020

Barrel-aged beers are known for big ABVs, bold flavors and brisk ingenuity. The near-constant release of Barleywines, Bourbon Barrel-aged Stouts and everything in-between draw consistent buzz and big purchases from beer lovers every fall and winter due to that warm, fuzzy feeling they can bring. That said, the current landscape of barrel-aged beers is daunting, challenging brewers to create new and bold beers that meet the ever-changing demands of their audience–what’s popular this season might be dull the next year. The current state of the barrel-aged beer industry in the United States is equal parts complex, curious and creative. To learn more, I polled more than 10 breweries known for their barrel-aged beer programs to get their perspective on the state of the industry and their likes and dislikes when it comes to barrel-aged beer. 

(READ: Ask the Brewers: BBA Beers They’re Most Excited About)

Read More

21st Amendment Brewery Celebrates 20 Years

How many breweries have taken this route? Start as a San Francisco brewpub in 2000; add contract brewing in Minnesota to the mix in 2008; in 2015, when the time is right, build the first production facility in San Leandro. Read More

Barn Town Brewing | Barrel-Aged Yer Killin’ Me S’mores!

The 2020 version of West Des Moines, IA-based Barn Town Brewing’s Yer Killin’ Me S’mores! offers a nostalgic and supportive approach to Stout Season.

This Milk Stout debuted last year as a nod to “The Sandlot.” Founder Pete Faber and his team knew they wanted to create a s’mores stout and they eventually decided to reference an iconic scene from their childhood. Like all beers at Barn Town, the concept, branding and execution balance eccentricity and thoughtfulness in a purposeful way.
Read More

PorchDrinking’s 12 Beers of Christmas 2020

The holidays are a season for revelry and joy. Few things do more to bring those qualities out than good beer, and few things express them more beautifully than song. So this year, plan your good tidings and cheer by taking inspiration from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” We may not have much need for seven actual swans a-swimming, but here are some great beers that call to mind the song’s lyrics and will have you as jolly as ol’ Saint Nick himself.

Read More

Brewery Showcase | Waypost Brewing Company

One of the most wonderful things about Michigan, given its vicinity to the Great Lakes, is the multitude of mini climates that make the state ideal for growing grapes, hops, wheat and, of course, cherries. However, despite a great deal of hullaballoo over Michigan cherries, it is far from the only fruit grown in the Mitten State. Mirabelle plums, apples, pears and quince are also grown throughout Michigan’s western fruit belt, as well as the luscious and lovely blueberry. It stands to reason, then, that breweries throughout the fruit belt region embrace the blueberry and other fruits as a way to make authentically-Michigan, fruit-based beers from locally grown fruit. Few are more locally grown than Waypost Brewing Company, a farm brewery that prides itself on its ties to the land.

“We define Waypost as a farmhouse brewery, and our beers are created to reflect the place and the people who make it what it is. Whether that’s the water, the fruit or the feeling on the farm the day the beer was brewed, we want our product to be a reflection of this truly unique place,” said Waypost’s co-owner and brewer, Hannah Lee.

Read More

Strong BA Series | Warped Wing Whiskey Rebellion

Warped Wing Brewing Company’s taproom on an uneven brick side street in downtown Dayton, Ohio, is pretty quiet for early December. The hulking, 80-year-old concrete building that once housed the Buckeye Iron & Brassworks foundry is normally humming with beer drinkers, and on the early December Saturday when the brewery’s beloved Whiskey Rebellion bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout is released, the cavernous facility is always packed with celebratory fans. A line begins early that morning waiting for bottle allotments and extends through the cracked cement of the parking lot, past the building, and around the corner of the block.

This year’s release, of course, is different, though the enthusiasm for it is as vibrant as ever.

Read More

What We’re Drinking | December 11, 2020

December took decades to get here this year, but now it’s speeding by at an ungodly rate. The next few weeks are going to continue this trend I fear. I think I need a beer now in preparation and probably a few when the end of the year does come. The 2021-22 NBA season is right around the corner. Cyberpunk 2077 dropped yesterday. The Mandalorian is every Friday, and Season 4 of Netflix’s Big Mouth is only a week old. There’s plenty of content to fill your time off, so fill a mug with some cider or a spiked eggnog and let’s get the holiday celebrations started. While you get those cocktails going, here is What We’re Drinking.

Read More

FINNEGANS Brew Co. | Rescue + Recharge American Lager

For many, the holidays are about giving back. It’s a time to support those less fortunate or to further a charitable cause. The holidays are also about connecting with your family and sharing your favorite beer. So, what if you could do both? What if you could drink an amazing craft beer and give back? Rescue + Recharge American Lager, a limited release for the holiday season, is this perfect kind of synergy — a partnership between FINNEGANS Brew Co. and Firefighters for Healing to create a great beer and support a wonderful cause.
Read More