Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales | Raven Rock

While styles like lambic and gueuze might conjure images of a farmhouse in the rolling countryside,  some of the best sour and funky beers in America are made by Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales right on South Broadway in Denver, CO. Their collab with Falling Rock Tap House, called Raven Rock, is no exception. While Raven Rock might not technically be a lambic, it’s about as damn close as you can get. 

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What We’re Drinking | August 21, 2020

Even with some good news sprinkled into the news nowadays, like getting closer to a vaccine, we here in California are getting updates on nearly 400 fires throughout our state, evacuation notices, and unhealthy air quality to boot. Our team is trying to keep our spirits up by supporting local businesses and craft breweries when we can. Check out What We’re Drinking.

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Last Wave Brewing | Dawn Patrol

Calm winds, the rising sun and a glass like ocean…this is the allure of being part of the Dawn Patrol. For surfers, the attraction is undeniable. They forego the extra sleep while others lay tucked in their beds knowing that getting the goods early is an opportunity too good to pass up. For these dedicated few, the day’s first waves are worth it. They’re exhilarating!

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Molly’s Spirits Collaboration Program Elevates Colorado Craft Beer

In a world where brewery collaborations are commonplace, Denver-area liquor store Molly’s Spirits has pioneered a new form of collaboration between their store and local craft breweries. The program helps raise the profile of newer, smaller local breweries while offering Molly’s customers a pipeline of unique and interesting beers.

Pairing Molly’s knowledge of consumer trends with local breweries’ expertise in crafting flavorful, enticing beers is a boon for the industry as a whole. Every couple of months, Molly’s connects with a Colorado brewery to develop a beer that is then packaged. Molly’s handles the exclusive distribution of the co-branded beer. Read More

Spice Trade Brewing | Sun Temple IPA

Spice Trade Brewing has undergone an incredible transformation since its unexpected beginnings as Yak and Yeti Brewpub, which grew as an extension of a Nepalese restaurant in Arvada, Colorado. The beer program, which opened in 2008, six years after the restaurant side, likely convinced many who came seeking authentic Nepalese fare to try a few delicious beers as well. This past spring the brewery opened its own location in the DTC, bringing much-needed variety to the area—and the tech nerds rejoiced! Read More

Ultimate 6er | Georgia Beers for Earning Your Green Thumb

To combat the amount of time spent at home lately, many people have started new hobbies, or found a DIY Project or two to do around the house. Have you redecorated the living room two or three times lately just for a change of scenery? We won’t blame you if so. Most of the furniture has stayed put around here, but a new hobby has sprouted nonetheless. Greenery! There has been an influx of new plants in our home, all interior for now, that have cycled from room to room and brought little buds of amazement and joy with them as we’re working on our green thumb.

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Blue Owl Brewing | Professor Black Sour Cherry Stout

They say that everything in Texas is bigger, and while true, here in Austin everything is more specialized. Austin is a city where folks aren’t afraid to deep-dive into their passions and drill down to create precisely what they love, be it music, food, art or beer. Professor Black is brewed by Blue Owl Brewing, one of the only breweries in the US to both Kettle Sour and sour-mash all of their beers. That’s right, all of them. The brainchild of Jeff Young, formerly of Austin’s Black Star Co-op Brewing, Blue Owl’s unique philosophy of sour-mashing any and every style of beer has made them local legends, especially because they are just so good at it. Read More

Distanced Yet Together: 12th Annual Denver Rare Beer Tasting Goes Virtual

While many beer festivals have been canceled due to the pandemic, the 12th annual Denver Rare Beer Tasting is taking a page out of Great American Beer Festival’s book and will be taking place virtually the weekend of September 25-27. It will feature a live, online event portion, remote brewery releases, and an auction to raise funds for the Pints for Prostates campaign. Over 70 leading craft breweries have already committed to participating in the event.

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WeldWerks Brewing Company | Pilsner UrqWeld

The progression of becoming a true craft beer snob is a subtle one but the path is marked by some key moments. You generally begin dabbling in IPAs, starting with a gateway local pale ale into becoming an expert on all things dank and/or hazy. Then you move onto Stouts—a bigger flavor profile, a bigger ABV and a bigger blow to your wallet. Most craft beer nerds will live in this Stout phase for a long time, perhaps expanding into Barley wines, maybe diverting over to Sours, but generally content to chase the whales and tip the scales between what is beer and what is actually just brownie batter. The mark of a true snob, though, is when you loop back around into the lightest and most overlooked styles that the industry has to offer: Pilsners.

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Chicago Beer Bars Struggle, Adapt to COVID

On the day that Chicago’s Beermiscuous found out it was approved for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, the owners had a huge sigh of relief. The city had changed the rules again to not allow taverns and bars that don’t serve food to have indoor dining, and the craft beer bar was nervous for its survival. And, even with the PPP loan, they aren’t out of the woods.

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Dragon’s Gate Brewery | The Arkenstone

Nestled amongst the sprawling vineyards of the Walla Walla Valley, down a single-lane dirt country road is Dragon’s Gate Brewery. Recently featured as a top brewery in Eastern Oregon, this 10-acre farm offers gorgeous views of the surrounding Blue Mountains and provides the perfect backdrop to enjoy these Farmhouse Ales. Owned and operated by Adam and Jennifer Gregory, this brewery is truly a family affair with beers brewed with passion and rooted in traditional Belgian brewing practices. Their tasting room is in a converted barn, and their brewhouse, barrel room and fermentation area are all on-site. Inspired by old-world stylings, this brewery takes you back in time, or to another world entirely.

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What We’re Drinking | August 14, 2020

Some days it feels like 2020 is getting a little better. Other days it somehow seems worse. We’re doing our best to take it one day at a time around here, and hope that you are making it through 2020 anyway that you can. There’s been no shortage of beer news lately, and some sports are coming back. Everything feels like a give-and-take right now. Around the country schools and businesses are still dealing with COVID-19. Even though there’s a lot going on, we still made time to drink some awesome beers. Here is What We’re Drinking.

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Lone Pine Brewing Company | Blueberry Sparkler

The state of Utah is fortunate to get the unforeseen variety of beer distribution that they do. Despite this crazy year, Lone Pine Brewing Company from Portland, Maine singled out the hive. Founded in 2016, Lone Pine was originally a small brew house, but grew their business with the opening of a production facility in 2019. So, with their distribution focused on the East Coast, the delivery of goods to the inland state and nowhere in between was a surprise. Read More

What We’re Cooking | Fried Beer-Battered Avocados

This week, we’re pulling a recipe out of the archives from our pal, former PorchDrinker Chelsea Mitchell. The batter, when combined with Upslope IPA, is full of flavorful hops and crisps up nicely, giving the avocados a nice crunch. Word to the wise: Frying avocados is no small feat, so proceed with plenty of patience and room for trial and error. In fact, you may want to check out Chelsea’s chronicle of her experience making these morsels of deliciousness before you get started!

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Capitol Creek Brewery is Colorado’s Best Kept Mountain Town Secret

Part of what makes the state of Colorado so special is that a short drive outside of the city can lead you on an adventure through altitude defying mountain ranges, desert-like sand dunes, lush rolling green plains, and arid rocky traverses. Such is the case with Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley, where a drive through its snaking canyons that have been carved out over time by a swift and serpentine river that shares the name, has created one of the state’s most picturesque regions.

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Sufferfest Beer Company | FKT Pale Ale

The Rocky Mountains have been in existence long before humans traveled the range’s treacherous trails for the newest camping spot or adventurous hike. They invite a sense of tranquility and appreciation, and provide a home to countless species such as bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and the yellow-bellied marmot. The Colorado cutthroat trout thrives in the cold rivers of the Rockies, while birds such as the White-tailed Ptarmigan, Mountain Chickadee, and Pygmy Nuthatch perch among the trees. Yes, this a a beer showcase, but it’s important to set the scene when discussing FTK Pale Ale from Chico, California-based Sufferfest Beer Company.
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Women Behind the Lens in Craft Beer Photography

While there has been a significant amount of discussion about how women should or should not be portrayed in advertising and social media, it’s refreshing to focus on women behind the lens. By browsing social media these days, it’s easy for a craft beer enthusiast to discover numerous examples of their work, and that’s great news for an industry that greatly struggles with equality. Women are involved in every aspect of the craft-beer business, and photography serves as an excellent demonstration of how their efforts have provided a boost to the entire industry.

The following highlights just a few of the professionals helping to advance the craft beer scene with their photography. Read More

Other Half Brewing to Open Taproom & Production Facility in Washington, DC

Other Half Brewing today announced the upcoming October opening of its new taproom and production facility in Washington, DC. The New York-based brewery has been long-rumored among beer lovers in the Nation’s Capital, so today’s news is a welcome addition to DC’s burgeoning craft beer scene. Other Half has been shipping beer weekly to Maryland’s Downtown Crown in nearby Gaithersburg for several months, but it is rarely found inside the District. The new brewery will be the 12th brewery located in the city limits.

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Planning the Perfect Craft Beer Day Trip to the Chicago Suburbs

The sheer number of breweries within Chicago limits would lead you to believe you would never need to leave the city to get your craft beer fix. While this is technically true, there are many Chicagoland suburbs that have great breweries that, unless they distribute to the city, Chicagoans will miss out on. Read More

Creature Comforts to Open Los Angeles Taproom & Production Facility

Creature Comforts, which has long garnered national attention from its humble roots located in an old tire shop in downtown Athens, Georgia is no stranger to making headlines.

Back in 2019, they made a superhero-sized splash as audiences around the world saw not one, but two of their fan-favorite year-round beers star on screen. This, of course, was in the highest-grossing movie of all time, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. Read More