Sierra Nevada Brewing Acquires Sufferfest Beer Co.

We’re only one month into the new year and Sierra Nevada is already making big moves. Today, the Chico, CA-based brewery announced the acquisition of Sufferest Beer Company marking the company’s first-ever acquisition. In their announcement, the two breweries stated that shared values, commitment to innovation, and common goals as the root of the new partnership. Needless to say, this is an exciting development for both companies.

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CANarchy & Brooklyn Brewing Begin NorCal Distro During SF Beer Week

As if San Francisco Beer Week (SFBW) wasn’t crazy enough with all of the Greater SF Bay Area breweries converging on Pier 35, three big-name breweries, Three Weavers out of LA, … Read More

San Francisco Beer Week | Can’t-Miss Events February 3-4

Hello darkness, my old friend…San Franciso Beer week is here again. This celebrated week that runs February 1 – 10 is a collection of curated events, spanning multiple days, that celebrate craft beer and the craft beer community. We’ve rounded a handful events you don’t want to miss today and tomorrow. Read More

San Francisco Beer Week 2019 | Opening Gala Preview

That’s right, San Francisco Beer Week is BACK! #SFBW2019 kicks off on Friday February 1 this year, a little earlier than in previous years, and ends on February 10. Our Pacific regional team is amped up and ready to conquer this beer week – RIP to their livers – and you can find below the list of all breweries that will be in attendance and the beers they will be pouring. Oh, and check out the 1st timers – breweries that are new to the Craft Beer Scene.

*All pour lists are subject to change.

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Will Travel For Beer | One Man’s Quest to Visit 100 Breweries Every Year

Do you plan your travel around beer? I do. In fact, I visited 100 breweries last year, and I plan on doing that every year.

In the past, when possible, I’ve always tried to include at least a few local brewery stops while on vacation. Four years ago I made a list of all the breweries I visited that year. Without knowing or even planning, I visited 99 different spots. The following years, I started to track more diligently, with the arbitrary goal of hitting 100 each year–that’s a lot of local beer. To be a little more precise, that’s 8.33 different spots each month, which may sound very do-able until you have a few hectic months and you hit zero new breweries.

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Lagunitas Adapts its Packaging to Evolve its IPA Portfolio

Lagunitas Brewing Co. is a massive brewery with a global reach. Yet, they still remain nimble enough to adapt to the changing drinking preferences of today’s craft beer consumers. From draft, to bottles, to cans, the preferred drinking vessel for many in America has changed over the past decade. Largely because beer became more intertwined with the unplanned outings and weekend activities of enthusiasts. With an eye on appealing to consumers on-the-go and in the midst of day-drinking activities, Lagunitas has decided to make two drastic updates to their canning portfolio. Their bellwether Lagunitas IPA arrives in 19.2oz stovepipes and sessionable DayTime IPA comes to 12oz cans. We asked Lagunitas’ Communications Director, Karen Hamilton, about the news.

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The Bruery | Weekday Stout Lineup

Exclusive…Brues? I love lists. With craft beer, it has never been any different. When I first started drinking craft, The Bruery’s Black Tuesday quickly came onto my radar. With its exclusive nature, only being available once a year on the final Tuesday in October, I made it a mission to get a hold of one. I quickly discovered that not only was there Black Tuesday, but The Bruery brewed arguably even more exclusive Stout releases for other days of the week, using Black Tuesday as the base beer and then adding different adjuncts to each other day. These other variants were available to Reserve Society Members only.

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Bootlegger’s Brewery | Black Phoenix

Bootlegger’s Brewery sold their first keg of beer in 2008. It was originally located in Fullerton, California in a small industrial building in an area that was a little rough around the edges. The brewery felt closer to a neighbor’s garage than it did a commercial brewery. Since then, they upsized the brewhouse from a 7 to a 30 barrel system. They moved the main brewing operations to a larger industrial area while staying in Fullerton. They also open their third tasting room location in Costa Mesa to go along with the Fullerton and Redlands locations. Read More

PorchDrinking’s Best in Beer 2018 | Pacific Region

2018 has been quite a year for California! Our Pacific team has been all over this lovely state to cover beer festivals, brewery openings, special releases and much more. We … Read More

What We’re Drinking | December 28, 2018

We are officially in the middle of the holiday week, and it’s probably time for a nice break from all the festivities. Here is what your favorite PorchDrinkers are enjoying this holiday season, it’s time for another installment of What We’re Drinking.

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Firestone Walker | Champs de Fraises (2017)

Firestone Walker is known for creating some awesome brews, from the Luponic Distortion IPA series to Velvet Merkin, at their Paso Robles brewery. I feel that their Barrelworks beers can be overlooked at times, like the Champs de Fraises. I will be the first to say it took me a while to get down with wild ales, always thinking they would turn out a funky “gym sock” Belgian nose. Obviously, I had a lot to learn! Nowadays, wild ales are my jam and I seek out the opportunity to try these beauties.

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Sierra Nevada | Beer for Drinking Hoppy Blonde Ale

As the craft beer industry continues to evolve and become more complex, Sierra Nevada switched gears and brewed an ale for a different beer lover. For the consumer who’s no connoisseur or who may not even care what the hell a hop even is, there’s Beer for Drinking.

It’s not barrel-aged, dry-hopped or infused. It’s beer. Plain and simple. And for many, that’s all they need.

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Russian River Brewing Company | Windsor Porter

Russian River Brewing Company is an iconic brewery, a brewery that started beer trends, even before we knew what beer trends were. They are also a company that methodically moves at their own speed, with their own vision.

Though there’s no question that Russian River could have expanded earlier, they completed their expansion on their own terms, in my mind further proving their dedication to, and love of, craft beer. The stunning new brewing facility is located in Windsor, CA, just about nine miles from their Santa Rose brewpub. The new location includes a multi-room restaurant and a bar, with both indoor and outdoor bar seating, along with separate tasting and gift shop areas.

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Bottle Logic Brewing | Darkstar November

Temperatures are dropping, costumes have been Instagrammed, worn, mangled and stashed away in the closet — out of sight, out of mind — once again. Having moved out of the U.S. seven months ago, it came as quite a shock to me this past week to learn that MOST COUNTRIES DON’T CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN. So forgive me if I want to hold on to it for just a little longer.

But the changing colors and declining thermometers also indicate another seasonal change is upon us: Stout Season. We have a glorious few months where high ABVs and barrel-aging take the spotlight as they encourage long talks by the fireplace and cap off fall festivities. In this humble writer’s opinion, Bottle Logic Brewing provides some of the finest dark brews around, and what beer is more appropriate to fully transition us into the season than the very appropriately named Darkstar November.

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Georgetown Brewing Company | Manny’s Pale Ale

Readers of PorchDrinking.com, I’d like to introduce you to Seattle’s pale ale. That’s right – in the city with the most craft breweries in the entire country, known for pioneering brewers and enthusiastic hopheads, I’m daring to single out one brew as Seattle’s illustrative pale. Please raise a glass and introduce yourself to Manny’s Pale Ale from Georgetown Brewing Company.  Read More

Firestone Walker’s Terroir Project: A Beer & Wine Hybrid Event Recap

Traditional beer festivals are fun and a great place to experience new breweries, but they also can be a bit predictable if familiar breweries choose to just pour core beers that you’ve tried over and over again. If you’ve been to one local beer festival, chances are the next local festival will be much of the same… not bad, but still predictable. Over the last few years, we’ve seen breweries branching out and creating their own, and often uniquely curated beer festivals. Firestone Walker is no rookie when it comes to this. Events like From the Barrel, Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival and most recently Pils and Love all offer something beyond the norm.

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Brewery Showcase | The Booth Brewery

The Booth Brewery, originally based in Korea, is taking it global.

The Booth Brewery has recently expanded to the U.S., with a brewery in Eureka, California. They purchased the 30-barrel brewing facility from Lost Coast Brewing, who recently expanded to a new location. The new facility is up and running, and The Booth has set a goal of producing 10,000 barrels in the next year. This will include both U.S. distribution and Korean exports.

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Moonraker Brewing | Holy Hermit

Located in the heart of California’s Gold Rush county, Moonraker Brewing Company sits in an unassuming business park in the City of Auburn, a mere 700′ from neighboring Knee Deep Brewing.

Walking in their front door, it seems like you might not be in the right spot. No bar, no taps anywhere to be found. However, as you make your way towards the back, the space opens up into a large indoor/outdoor area, that screams beer hall. It also has a few small rooms that give it a bit of a “loungey” feel.

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Event Recap | California Craft Beer Summit

Now that our Northern California team has waded out of their post-California Craft Beer Summit comas, we can bring you all the fun goodies from this year’s CCBA! To kick the Summit off right there was a State of the California Craft Beer Industry session. Here we were shown the cold, hard, data facts of our State’s Industry—how craft beer is doing compared to other alcohols (spirits, wine) and who is drinking more craft beer (age wise), and also popular styles. It was awesome to see it broken down in such a way that everyone had their phones out to get photos of the slides! We left there pumped for what’s next and what our State is doing. Read More

Firestone Walker Brewing | Leo v. Ursus – Doublus

If you’ve been following the beer scene for more than a minute, you’ve probably have been disappointed and had one of your favorite beers has been discontinued, reformulated or may be moved to a limited release. If you’re a fan of Firestone Walker Brewing, there is no doubt that this has happened more than once over the last few years. Walker’s Reserve, Wookey Jack, Opal and Double Jack. This is a lineup of beers that most breweries would kill to have on their tap list. For Firestone Walker… discontinued, or have they been? Read More