Colorado Breweries Who Won Big at the 2023 GABF Competition

For the second consecutive year, the state of Colorado improved on its total medal count at the Great American Beer Festival and this year took a massive jump. This year, … Read More

2023 Great American Beer Fest Day 1 Recap | Standouts & Hidden Gems

Day one of the 41st Great American Beer Festival has officially wrapped and there was quite a bit to unravel. If we’re being completely honest the two biggest noticeable takeaways were that this year’s festival was significantly scaled back both in brewery AND festival-goer attendance, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that there was still INCREDIBLE beer.

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The PorchCast Ep. 108 | Primitive Beer + Cohesion + GABF Preview

Happy kickoff to GABF! Last night, we recorded a very special PorchCast with our friends, Brandon & Lisa Boldt, co-founders of Primitive Beer in Longmont, as well as Eric and … Read More

2023 GABF Guided Routes | Spontaneous / Wild / Sour / Saisons to Try at GABF

The Great American Beer Festival is finally back! With the insane multitude of beers being served on the festival floor, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. So PorchDrinking is once again here to help you navigate that lineup and help with planning your route at the fest. As part of that research, we’ve sifted through every beer pouring at this year’s fest to curate a series of themed routes to help you plan for your GABF based on various styles and flavors.

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2023 GABF Guided Routes | Best Barrel-Aged & High ABV Beers to Try at GABF

The Great American Beer Festival is finally back! With the insane multitude of beers being served on the festival floor, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. So PorchDrinking is … Read More

2023 GABF Guided Routes | Best Lagers to Try at GABF

The Great American Beer Festival is finally back! With the insane multitude of beers being served on the festival floor, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. So PorchDrinking is once again here to help you navigate that lineup and help with planning your route at the fest. As part of that research, we’ve sifted through every beer pouring at this year’s fest to curate a series of themed routes to help you plan for your GABF based on various styles and flavors.

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2023 GABF Guided Routes | Hoppy Beers to Try at GABF

The Great American Beer Festival is finally back! With the insane multitude of beers being served on the festival floor, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. So PorchDrinking is once again here to help you navigate that lineup and help with planning your route at the fest. As part of that research, we’ve sifted through every beer pouring at this year’s fest to curate a series of themed routes to help you plan for your GABF based on various styles and flavors.

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The Complete PorchDrinking 2023 GABF Week Events Guide

The return of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) each year serves as one of the greatest spectacles in American craft beer. And while the festival, which kicks off this week on Thursday, September 21, is a feat in and of itself, what happens outside of the Convention Center is equally as exciting. External beer events built around the return of GABF have already begun kicking off, and they offer beer fans a unique opportunity to explore rare and exciting new beers from breweries not typically available in the state of Colorado but also serve to showcase some of the best that the state of Colorado can offer. Read More

Colorado Beer Beat | Bi-Weekly Beer Release Guide 9/14

Welcome to the Colorado Beer Beat, a bi-weekly roundup of all of the new can releases around the state. From Denver to Grand Junction and everywhere in between, we have you covered. Be sure to check back on Thursdays (usually!) to find out what’s new in the Colorado beer scene.

Now that college football has returned, there are a lot of new Colorado fans all of a sudden… That can’t be everyone jumping on the Deion bandwagon, can it? Oh, it definitely can! But, while you’re here trying to find out more ways to make yourself seem like you’ve been a fan for years, take a look at what you’ve been missing out on in the Colorado beer industry.

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Amalgam Brewing’s GABF Week Releases Mark New Chapter with Bierstadt Lagerhaus

After a slew of brewery closures, Anheuser-Busch’s recent sell-off of several “High End” brands, and the Brewers Association’s recent reports detailing diminished craft beer sales within the industry, it has become evident that the momentum of craft beer has slowed over the last two years. However, great craft breweries always find ways to adapt, and the best are able to do so while still remaining true to the ideals that made this industry so successful over the last decade. Next week’s release of Welcome to the Here and Now, a West Coast Pilsner from Denver’s Amalgam Brewing may appear on the surface to be just another exciting entry from one of the state’s most highly regarded, yet under-the-radar breweries, but this newest release is also representative of Amalgam’s next evolutionary phase.
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Denver Food + Wine Festival Showcases Denver’s Best

There’s been a lot of talk about the Denver culinary scene lately — from Michelin Stars to one of our favorite pink-painted restaurants being reopened by television show creators. But one would be remiss to forget that one of the biggest weeks for the Denver culinary scene, Denver Food + Wine Festival, is back September 6 – 9, 2023. This year marks a landmark week of exciting events, so Denver foodies rejoice! 

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Cerebral Brewing | Triple Mash Pappy Van Winkle Here Be Monsters

There are certain spirits in the world of barrel aged beer that elicit perked up ears, and then there are those brands that generate whiplash causing sore necks and desperate trips to the chiropractor. Pappy Van Winkle (PVW) falls squarely in the latter category, a mythical wheated bourbon whose popularity and even legend has skyrocketed in the past decade causing bottles to sell on secondary markets for 20-30x their retail prices of $120-$300. Even the used barrels from these 15-23 year aged whiskeys sell for exorbitant prices as breweries clamor to get their hands on them. Cerebral Brewing was lucky enough to land two Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year barrels, and they chose to rest a triple mash version of their Here Be Monsters Imperial Stout in those barrels. This particular single barrel expression aged for 39 months, an incredibly long time yielding an incredible creation.

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Vail Oktoberfest Brings the Best Traditions of Munich to the Mountains

After a sweltering summer season, the Colorado heat is beginning to show signs of relenting. Luckily that first hint of a morning chill perfectly aligns with the return of Oktoberfest season. And while a jet-setting retreat to Munich would be a dream for any beer fan during the middle of September, the next best thing is a weekend getaway to the Bavarian-inspired mountain destination of Vail Village.

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2023 Guide to Colorado’s Oktoberfest Releases & Celebrations

The 2023 Oktoberfest season is here! Polka season is here! Dirndls and lederhosen season is here! Hopefully, you’ve been working out those arms as stein-holding competition season is here! From this Friday, August 25 to Sunday, October 1, there are a ton of Oktoberfest releases and events. You can find events and beer releases across Colorado and many breweries are offering exciting steins to take home. Festbiers and märzens all around! Prost!

Check out the list below, in chronological order, for all of the 2023 Oktoberfest beer releases and celebrations across Colorado.

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Colorado Beer Beat | Bi-Weekly Beer Release Guide 8/24

Welcome to the Colorado Beer Beat, a bi-weekly roundup of all of the new can releases around the state. From Denver to Grand Junction and everywhere in between, we have you covered. Be sure to check back on Thursdays (usually!) to find out what’s new in the Colorado beer scene.

We are officially less than a month away from the start of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) 2023. Don your finest costume and pretzel necklace and join the fun at GABF September 21-23 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Tickets are still available for each of the four sessions, but don’t wait or you’ll miss out on the premier beer festival of the year!

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Collective Vail Offers Ultimate Glamping & Beer Poking Experience

For the better part of the last decade, the craft beer world has been fascinated with developing the most innovative trends, finding the most unique and bizarre ingredients, and employing the newest techniques that would further push the boundaries of beer. From Pastry Stouts, to Cold IPAs, cryo hops to hop thiols, the obsession over that “new new” has been a driving force behind the resurgence in beer fanaticism.

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Celebrating Nine Years With Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co.

This weekend, Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. located in Lafayette, CO will celebrate its 9th Anniversary. A conversation with CEO Davin Helden over a couple of their award winning Mexican Lagers – Cerveza Mechanica – proves it’s no accident they are still thriving nearly a decade after first opening. A thoughtful commitment to what Helden calls the 3 S’s “Suds, Space, and Service” has been the simple yet powerful motto fueling the brewery since day one. Read More

Burns Family Artisan Ales | Genie Logical

Rarely does a name so perfectly capture the essence of a beer as Burns Family Artisan Ales’ Genie Logical. The mixed-culture wild sour actually represents a series of beers that began with a wedding beer and proceeded down a series of 16 generations to the current one. Each generation is an outgrowth of the previous, but unique in its own way. Read More

Copper Kettle Brewing Announces Rebranded, Greener Cans

In what’s hopefully the start of a trend for small craft breweries, Denver’s Copper Kettle Brewing announced a switch to environmentally friendly printed cans for its flagship beers. Earlier this year we talked with head brewer Greg Moore about barriers to greener packaging. Since then, Copper Kettle has worked diligently to find a option that’s easily recyclable, cost-effective and actually easier on the production line. Read More

More Than a Patio | Breweries Expand Outdoor Activities

While virtually every craft brewery has a patio where patrons spend afternoons knocking back sessionable summer brews, several Denver-area breweries have taken the concept to a whole new level with a multitude of outdoor activities. These  taprooms offer more than just the patio experience, giving beer-lovers entertainment options like golf, games, dogs and mountain biking. Read More