Festival Recap | Denver Bacon and Beer Festival 2014

Building upon the vibrant culinary and brew-scene in Denver, Eat Boston and Denver Off the Wagon have brought back THE festival to elevate craft beer to the next level by pairing it with the culinary excellence and prowess of every carnivore’s favorite ingredient, BACON. The Denver Bacon and Beer Festival 2014 was hosted by the Curtis Hotel downtown and was scheduled on a Sunday from 2:30pm to 5:00pm. Our Denver PorchDrinking staffers strolled up in the Curtis with smiles from ear-to-ear to imbibe and nosh at the festival’s third iteration; it’s first time at this location. What was our favorite dish? Favorite brew? Follow along to see . . .

Read More

Wells and Young’s Brewery | McEwan’s Scotch Ale

Photo credit: McEwan’s.

ABV: 8.0%

IBU: Unknown

If I had to give you the pivotal year that launched my love of beer, it would have to be 2007. Despite my initial enjoyment of cask ales and the Guinnesses I had had in England a few years before that, I had not yet expanded my beer repertoire back in the United States. This beer expansion seven years ago had a lot to do with what I had found at a local bar here in Ohio, which had (and still has) a World Beer Tour with rotating beers from the United States and also across the world. That is where I found McEwan’s Scotch Ale, and that is when I knew that I had found one of my favorite beers and beer styles out there. With its import hiatus to the United States from approximately 2009 to 2013, I did not have the privilege of enjoying occasional pints of what I considered to be the nectar of the gods. However, after stumbling across a discussion board post online last year, I found out that Wells and Young’s had bought the McEwan’s label and decided to begin distributing this particular scotch ale across our great nation once more.  Read More

South Durham | Beer Stores & Bottle Shops

Durhamites of North Carolina, you asked for it, and here it is: the skinny on South Durham’s burgeoning beer store and bottle shop scene. Let’s start our journey near Southpoint mall on the corner of highways 54 and 751. There are at least 5 bottle shops or growler fill-stations all within a few short miles so you can visit them all in quick succession. Read More

Brasserie Trois Dames | Sour Framboise

7% ABV

First, let me preface this post with informing my readers that the proper pronunciation of the word “framboise” (raspberry) is fram-bwaz. The French language teaches us … Read More

Event Preview| Denver Bacon and Beer Chef and Brewer Dinner 2014

What: Denver Bacon and Beer Chef & Brewer Dinner 2014
Where: The Lobby – 2191 Arapahoe St, Denver, CO 80205
When: Saturday, November 15, 2014 – 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Ticket link: http://www.wheretoeat.in/2014-denver-bacon-and-beer-festival/

On November 15th, Denver Off The Wagon and EatBoston will kick off a weekend of Denver bacon and Beer with the second annual Denver Bacon and Beer Chef & Brewer Dinner at The Lobby (2191 Arapahoe St. Denver CO 80205) from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. This is a sit down event to prime folks for the Denver Bacon and Beer Festival on Sunday, November 16th.

Read More

Urban Family Brewing | Baby Cakes Pale Ale

6.4% ABV

Craft beer enthusiasts have many ways of finding and choosing new beers to try. Sometimes we get a buzz about a new release from a favorite brewery and … Read More

Wine for Beer Lovers | Fall Edition

PorchDrinking.com gave you the right wine for your summer brews back in June. Now that the leaves are changing and the beers are darkening, we give you the best wine choices based on what beers you love.

Pairings are thanks to Michelle Lim Warner, the co-owner of DCanter, a wine and beer shop on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Read More

Local Love: DC Region’s Brewers Name Their Favs

Photo courtesy of atlasbrewworks.com.

As the breweries in DC, Maryland and Virginia further expand their reach (thank goodness!) and more people taste these great local beers (hooray!), there is a … Read More

Middle Brow Beer Co. | Keep It Copacetic

ABV: 4.7%

Keep It Copacetic is an elote-inspired cream ale made by Middle Brow Beer Co. in conjunction with the folks over at ManBQue, an organization that got its start in Chicago, but now has chapters worldwide. Read More

Dogfish Head | Palo Santo Marron

ABV: 12%

IBU: 50

I never really was a big fall guy. Tons of my friends are all about it. I just love summer, and I wail and moan when the first frost hits. What I do enjoy, however, about this time of year has to be the smells, specifically the hint of bite to the air as the temperature lowers and the winds pick up. Particularly, when the nights get really cold, the bonfires in backyards become commonplace, and the smell of firewood catches in the air and on one’s clothes. To go along with the welcome-to-fall fires, I have a Dogfish Head beer that I have, strangely enough, just stumbled upon: the Palo Santo Marron, a brown ale that packs a mighty punch. Read More

Event Preview| Denver Bacon and Beer Festival 2014

What: Denver Bacon and Beer Festival
Where: the Curtis – 1405 Curtis Street Denver, Colorado 80202
When: Sunday, November 16, 2014 – 2:30pm to 5:00pm
Ticket link: http://www.wheretoeat.in/2014-denver-bacon-and-beer-festival/

BACON AND BEER! Do not sleep on buying tickets! This event sells out in just a few weeks time!

In past years (we were there both years y’all!), this event has boasted some amazin’ bacon bites and the tastiest quaffs of local craft and this year is no different! For the ticket price, this is my favorite event of the year!  Here are some reasons you should get in on this bacon escape and let the waves of ale take you out to sea!

Read More

The Ballard Brews Cruise

Craft beer thrives on a few key factors. High quality, small batches, unique beers, and local breweries act as the natural foil to the big bad macro-brewery where distribution, the … Read More

Ultimate 6er | Märzen Madness

With the end of September comes the wrapping up of the Oktoberfest season, or what I would coin as Märzen Madness. Fairs across the U.S. have had their seasonal stein-raising festivals full of oom-pa-pa music, some of the more widely known tipples with German names and an array of food that may cause indigestion for most. In Munich, those millions lucky enough in attendance have a few more days before the nonstop imbibing ends and a cleanup of epic proportions begins.

To emulate this spectacular party still taking place abroad, to profess my love for the seemingly simple but still complex Märzen and to give one last hurrah to the summer, which is why this party takes place, I have provided you with the quintessential collection of some of the better Oktoberfests around. Read More

Moonlight Brewing Company | Reality Czeck

ABV 4.8%

Since everyone has already hopped on (pun intended) the pumpkin train, I thought I would instead giddy up on the often forgotten Pilsner train because we hardly get autumn in Southern California. And few perform better in the Pilsner department than Moonlight Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, Ca.

Read More

Welcome to the InterNEAT! Volume 56

What’s cookin’, you guys? I had a notion for a new InterNEAT theme.

Read More

Wasatch Brewery | Provo Girl Pilsner

4% ABV

Wasatch Brewery’s Provo Girl Pilsner is a beer showcase that I do not want to write. Why? Because I just spent the day shooting grouse with my good buddy Charlie, who moved to Utah a year before I did to fight fires and occasionally dress up as Smokey the Bear at rodeos. We had some wild nights together as members of Northern Michigan University’s Moosemen Rugby Football Club, and we just spent a day shooting birds and wandering around the Ashley National Forest in Utah’s Uinta Mountains (we didn’t get lost —we just didn’t quite know how to get back to camp). Sitting here by the campfire under some amazing stars with our tired pooches at our feet, writing in a notebook might ruin it. Read More

Tallgrass Brewing Co. |8-Bit Pale Ale

Tallgrass Brewing Co. | 8-Bit Pale Ale

ABV: 5.2%

IBU: 40

Okay, I’ll admit it. I was initially drawn to this beer by its awesome retro can design, as I imagine many children of the late 70s and early 80s would be. The word “Galaxy” also caught my eye, as this relatively recently available Australian hop variety is complex in flavor, and adds a tropical element to many beers. Made in Manhattan, Kansas, by Tallgrass Brewing, the 8-Bit Pale Ale is fairly easy to find here in the midwest, and it has become one of my go-to picks over the last few months. Read More

Roundtable Discussion | Relocating for the Beer

As extreme beer enthusiasts, our PorchDrinking team knows their beer and they also know where to find it and be completely content for the rest of their lives. In this week’s Roundtable Discussion, I asked the team where they would relocate if their only criteria was excellent beer. Many are already living in their beer heaven. Others knew exactly where they’d rather be if beer’s the sole decider.

If you find yourself getting the itch to try on a new hometown, you may want to take note of their answers.

Read More

Alaskan Brewing Company | Freeride APA

ABV: 5.3%

IBU: 40

I recently started my very first bucket list, which, as a mid-20-something, likely stems from a mix of quarter-life crisis and the awareness of a wonderful, travel-filled summer coming to a close. In any case, so far the list has proved to be an exciting excuse to plan out my vacations for the next five years. In fact, the very first item on the list is “hiking/snowboarding in Alaska,” so this week I decided to showcase a beer from Alaskan Brewing Company, headquartered in Juneau. Their Freeride APA perfectly complemented my newfound bucket list aspirations – its label explains, “Freeride is a mountain biking and snowboarding term that can be applied to most any adventure.” And since I have a list of about 14 adventures sitting in front of me, why not open up a bottle? Read More

DryHop Brewers Berliner Weiss Release

The Berliner Weiss is an old German style whose origins are somewhat mysterious. Some say it is a derivative of an old wheat and barley ale brewed in Halberstadt, while others say it was brought to Berlin by the Protestant French Huguenots in the late 17^th century. Still others cite relics that prove it was first invented in Berlin in 1572. Whatever the story, Berliner Weisse beers are delicious. They are tart, sour, and bright, with champagne-like carbonation, and are generally offered with a choice of fruit flavorings.

Read More