Copper State Beer Festival, Mesa AZ | Jan 13th 2024

Sweaters are being stripped off, sleeves are being rolled up, and hats are perched on heads as the sparkling winter sun permeates Mesa, AZ’s Riverview Park. Copper State Beer Festival is in full swing, and the weather is offering up its desert best for the 5,000 visitors the event has attracted. This is the third year the festival has taken place, drawing beer lovers from across Arizona and further afield to one of Phoenix’s hippest suburbs for an afternoon of imbibement. As Arizona’s craft beer scene blooms like a cactus flower, consumers are catching on, creating space for this frankly huge event featuring 72 breweries, plus a range of cideries, wineries, meaderies, distilleries, seltzer makers, bars and bottle shops. While the focus is firmly on beer, this is an event with something for everyone and an opportunity for local businesses to showcase their offerings alongside high-profile national names. There’s even a skating rink and axe throwing, which beats the heck out of the usual spin-the-wheel attractions beer festivals offer (FYI there was also spin-the-wheel).

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Top Finds from Snallygaster 2023

We went. We drank. We got very wet. Snallygaster 2023 is in the soggy books and lived up to its hype as a massive beer festival serving some of the best breweries and their rarest beers. While the picturesque view in front of the US Capitol building was marred by persistent rain throughout the day, spirits were not overly dampened. Great beer and great conversations with the people making the beer define what Snallygaster is all about.

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2023 Denver Rare Beer Tasting Pour List

Do you find yourself craving some exciting and rare beer? Do you struggle to find those specialties on your local dusty liquor store shelves? Have no fear because the Denver Rare Beer Tasting is (almost) here! The festival has announced its pour list, and there are many treats to entice you to attend.

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Real Wild & Woodsy Festival | Flagstaff, Arizona

For lovers of mixed culture, foeder-conditioned, funky and barrel-aged beers, the Real Wild & Woodsy Festival really is the Teddy Bears’ (or should that be Teddy Beers’?) Picnic of festivals. Held just outside the center of Flagstaff at the Arizona Historical Society’s Pioneer Museum for the first time this year, the festival feels like a secret garden party.

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Top Finds from the 2023 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

Another wildly successful Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival is in the books, and PorchDrinking has lived to write about it. Over 65 breweries from across the U.S. and various international locations descended on Paso Robles, California, with their best beers to delight thousands of beer fans. While it’s primarily a beer festival, it would be a disservice to not mention the incredible lineup of local food vendors who slang their wares as well, providing some much-needed sustenance to soak up the suds being poured. 

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The ROI of the Great American Beer Festival

The 40th anniversary of the Great American Beer Festival marks the first time the event has been held in person and open to the public since 2019. To say that brewers and craft beer fans are excited is an extreme understatement. While participation and attendance were limited this year due to renovations to the Colorado Convention Center, the exhibitor floor was still packed with over 200 suppliers and drew over 10,000 fans to the event.

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Event Recap | Welcome: A Farmhouse & Lager Festival

Eschewing the typical Barrel-Aged Stout and Hazy IPA hype beers of most festivals these days, Welcome – A Farmhouse & Lager Festival takes a gentler approach in beer styles, highlighting some of Colorado’s best Farmhouse Ales and Lagers being produced. Subtlety and nuance are the defining characteristics of these styles, and it takes a discerning brewer to properly craft them and make something greater than the sum of its often simplistic parts.

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Event Recap | Barrel & Flow Fest 2022

On Saturday August 13, Barrel & Flow Fest lined the streets of Pittsburgh with some of the best Black arts and craft beer from across the country. Barrel & Flow, which started as Fresh Fest in 2018, celebrates and showcases the Black community. It brings together Black artists, chefs, business owners, musicians and more during the annual event. Overall, it was resounding success for yet another year.

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Event Preview | Barrel & Flow Fest 2022

Barrel & Flow Fest is returning to Pittsburgh for its 5th annual celebration. Voted the second best beer festival in the country by USA TODAY, Barrel & Flow has expanded this year. The event now features a new location and over 30 Black-owned breweries, 55 unique collaboration beers made exclusively for the festival. 150 food, arts, crafts and brew vendors, seven bands, five deejays and two live art stages will line the streets of the Strip District site.

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Event Preview | Georgia Craft Brewers Festival

The Georgia Craft Brewers Guild invites you out to the first ever Georgia Craft Brewers Festival happening April 1-2. April 1 will be a VIP preview event from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. This VIP experience will allow attendees to taste 20+ special collaboration beers from brewery participants, as well as hear from brewers about the beers, their process, ingredients and inspiration. A panel of 15 experienced Beer Judge Certification Program-certified judges will award gold, silver and bronze to the top three winners of the collaboration contest.

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Event Recap | Texas Craft Brewers Festival 2021

The Texas Craft Brewers Guild hosted its annual festival at Austin’s Fiesta Gardens on Saturday, October 23. After the festival pivoted to an online event last November, brewers and consumers were eager to return in person to this tremendously popular celebration of all things Texas beer, with over 85 breweries from across the state serving up over 200 beers to thirsty visitors. Both VIP and General Admission tickets sold out in advance, signaling the excitement for the first major Texas beer festival since Covid restrictions lifted.

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Event Recap | Barrel Culture Invitational

Barrel Culture Brewing and Blending hosted their annual Invitational this weekend on Saturday, October 16, at their Durham, NC taproom. The fest included 35 breweries and more than 80 beers including special bottle and magnum pours.

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Barrel Culture Invitational 2021 Preview

Barrel Culture Brewing and Blending is hosting their Barrel Culture Invitational October 16 in Durham, North Carolina. After a forced hiatus in 2020 due to COVID-19 they are excited for the return of their annual festival. They will also be hosting a Preparty and a Hangover Party to make the weekend even more exciting! Read More

2021 WeldWerks Invitational Announces Return for In-Person Festival

It’s time to dust off your favorite esoteric brewery t-shirt and find a pair of jeans that still fit: you officially have a beer festival to attend this year.

Since … Read More

Cheers, Yinz! A Beer Fest That Gives Back to Breweries

The culture of craft beer has always had a strong connection to the communities in which it thrives. For many of us, our neighborhood brewery is far more than merely a place that produces the things we enjoy drinking–it is a community center, a gathering place, and an intrinsic part of our daily lives, not to mention a foundational element for hobbies, relationships, and fostering a sense of place. Enter Cheers, Yinz!, a beer festival built to help beloved local breweries weather the economic (and emotional) effects of decreased sales and temporary closures.

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Event Preview | Detroit Beer Experiment at the Detroit Fall Beer Festival

The Michigan Brewers’ Guild 11th Annual Detroit Fall Beer festival is coming up this week (Friday and Saturday, October 25-26), which means Detroit beer fans (and writers) get the privilege of having some of the best breweries in the state in their backyard. It also means the return of the Detroit Beer Experiment.  Last year, the festival provided fans with the enjoyable Faygo-infused (and inspired) beers, so what’s in store for this year?  We asked Dave Cicotte of Brew Detroit, who was able to provide a sneak preview.

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Preview | Poland’s One More Beer Festival Features Heavy Hitters

One More Beer Festival. The rallying cry I often tell my aching liver is actually the name of one of the coolest international beer festivals out there. Starting September 20, beautiful Krakow, Poland, will host two days and three sessions of incredible brews, with more than 180 beers from over 30 to taste.

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Odell Brewing Co. Small Batch 2019 | Pour List Preview

Odell Brewing Co. is back with their annual Small Batch Festival, one of the more laid-back and downright pleasant beer festivals you could hope to attend this spring. Despite their recent expansion to Denver’s RiNo district, the festival is staying true to its roots and will occur at their original Fort Collins site. (It’s hard to argue with that logic, since the back patio at their Fort Collins brewery is routinely touted as the best place to enjoy a beer in the entire city.) On Saturday, May 25^th, festival-goers will get to enjoy over 40 different Odell beers, live music on two stages, and a round-up of local food trucks. Tickets cost $40 and get you four 6-oz pours of a wide variety of Odell classics, rarities, and special firkin tappings. Read More

Event Preview | Juicy Brews WestFest

On April 20, 2019, Hop Culture Magazine will return to Oakland for the second year in a row to host Juicy Brews WestFest Craft Beer Festival. Hosted in partnership with Drake’s Brewing Company at Drake’s Dealership ( 2325 Broadway, Oakland, CA), the crew has put together an impressive lineup. 

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10 of the Best International Beer Festivals You Can’t Miss in 2019

We’ve all woken up a little groggy on the first of the new year with grand plans for how we’re going to make our lives better during this next lap … Read More