Collaborating for a Cause | New Image Brewing

It’s honestly baffling to come to the realization that it has been 17 and a half months since Alex Kidd’s shocking announcement that he had been diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic colon cancer. The beer community immediately rose to the occasion, raising over $400,000 for Alex and his family to help with his medical bills. Even after all this time, PorchDrinking still has yet to feature all of the breweries and their beers and/or releases dedicated to the man behind Don’t Drink Beer. That said, we started this journey back in June of last year with Horus Aged Ales’ Stay Strong Alex, and this is now the 23rd installment of Collaborating for a Cause. For this spotlight we zoom northwest of Denver, CO, and set our sights to New Image Brewing.

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Small Things In Big Countries | Alternate Endings & Queue Beer Collaboration

In a city of over 8 million people, in the top ten most diverse cities in the world, and with close to 50 craft breweries, it might come as a surprise to learn that there are just two Asian-Indian-owned craft beer bars in New York City. Carmine Street Beers in Greenwich Village, and Brooklyn’s Queue Beer are both owned by the Monteiro family. Dad Brian opened Carmine Street back in 2013, with sons Shane and Dean later joining the business. Inspired by hours spent working at Carmine Street between college classes, Shane launched Queue in hip Park Slope in 2023, with 24 taps, 80+ cans and seating for 46 guests. Committed to showcasing the best of local, national and international craft beer, the Monterios are also keen to highlight their Indian heritage and the endless possibilities Indian flavors offer to the craft beer market, to which end Queue operations manager Shane Monteiro has collaborated with Alternate Ending Beer Co. across the water in New Jersey to launch Small Things In Big Countries — a beer to celebrate Indian culture and cuisine.

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Firestone Walker Brewing | ParabaNoche

Oftentimes when the old school meets the new, a natural clash occurs. The old knows what they want and is set in their ways, while the new is non-traditional and experimenting with modern trends. When it comes to old school beer in the barrel-aged space, it doesn’t get much older than Firestone Walker Brewing Parabola, a legendary barrel aged Stout that has been in existence for over 15 years. On the newer side of the spectrum, there is WeldWerks Brewing Medianoche, a beer that helped launch — and is one of the most recognizable faces of — the Pastry Stout revolution. Firestone Walker (FW) and WeldWerks chose not to clash over these beers and instead combined forces to create a hybrid called ParabaNoche. Classical yet modern, this collaboration encapsulates the ethos of both beers while creating something wholly new.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Relentless Perseverance

On July 9th, 2024, Odd Breed Wild Ales announced the impossible decision to close their doors at the end of the month. The logistics fueling brewery ownership have become increasingly difficult worldwide, and it’s seen some truly talented programs shut down as a result. Odd Breed owner and head brewer Matt Manthe is a true gem in the industry, emphasized by his incredible gratitude to all the support from loyal customers both near and far. In an effort to pay that generosity forward, he announced that the final bottle release that Odd Breed would conduct would be Relentless Perseverance, a massive barrel-aged barleywine created in collaboration with The Hallway Tap & Brew, in support of Alex Kidd and his family.

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Voodoo Brewing | ManBearPig South Park Anniversary Showcase

It may only be diehards who know this, but today marks the 27th anniversary of South Park. The show, which chronicles the misadventures of Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny, has divided viewers with its controversial takes on political, religious and social issues since its first episode in 1997. It has had a lasting impact on popular culture through its boundary-pushing comedy, unique animation and rapid-fire turnaround time allowing for quick responses to real-time world events. It’s even made its way into craft beer. The team at Voodoo Brewing are long-time fans of the influential series, and we thought who better to celebrate another year of South Park with than the crew that brought us ManBearPig.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Narragansett Life Barleywine

It’s been nearly three months since the last installment of Collaborating for a Cause. This newest collaboration with Narragansett Brewing and their Life barleywine is the perfect place to pick the series back up, highlighting a very special beer that had two iterations bottled exclusively for PorchDrinking.

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Colorado’s Primitive Beer & Cellar West Brewery Team Up for Special Sunday Release

The nature of a beer collaboration is working together with (hopefully somewhat) like-minded people to create a harmonious product that reflects the ethos of both breweries. For Primitive Beer, a brewery only making spontaneous barrel-aged sour beer, this process often involves guest blenders tasting through different barrels to determine “what works together and how they want to emphasize different ingredients,” explains Brandon Boldt, half of the duo running the brewery alongside his wife Lisa Boldt. Creating a collab is a journey that involves drinking and finding the right mix, and a frequent co-conspirator in this process is Zach Nichols of Cellar West Brewery. Together they have made many a beer, and today we will highlight one old and one new collaboration of theirs: SuperMoon SuperFriends and Meager Portmanteau (Blend 2) respectively available this Sunday.

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Sneak Peek: Pulpit Rock | Barrel-Aged $ticker $hock Imperial Stout

It’s alarming at how quickly time has passed since highlighting Pulpit Rock Brewing Co.’s EIGHT Imperial Stout, one of a handful of beers released as part of its eighth anniversary celebration last August. Year nine for the small Iowa brewery has mirrored this fast pace, as it has continued to grow in popularity and also increased its barrel-aged production. On April 16, the brewery announced a save-the-date for its highly sought after $ticker $hock barrel-aged Imperial Stout. $ticker $hock hasn’t seen a new vintage since 2020, and we’ve collaborated with head brewer Justin Teff and the team in Decorah to provide PorchDrinking readers an exclusive sneak peek at the 2024 iteration ahead of its July 13 public release.

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Lua Brewing | Lua’s Birthday Blend Barleywine

A curious question that arises frequently at brewery bars is “How’d you decide on the name?” Sometimes there’s quirky, meaningful backstories, sometimes it’s a spin on the founder’s names, sometimes it’s inspired by their geographic location, or it’s one of a million other possibilities. For Lua Brewing, owners Scott and Whitney Selix found no better namesake for their passion project than their beloved pup. Lua turned 13 years old on March 14th of this year, and a month later the team in Iowa released a very special birthday blend in her honor.
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Anchorage Brewing | Sister, Mother, Daughter Barleywine

For many, craft beer and brewing provides a creative outlet—a unique method of expression. Every day, a different brewery releases a new and exciting beer to share with their consumers, hoping that the quality of their ingredients, brewing expertise and distinct marketing can lead to a successful, conversation-worthy beer. But sometimes, a beer represents so much more. The story and blend of Sister, Mother, Daughter and its inspiration needs to be shared.

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Barrique Brewing | Static Between Worlds Vienna Wine

Those who have extensively followed Barrique Brewing and Blending know that they’re in for a treat whenever a new “wax top” release is announced. While often high gravity and brewed in small batches, one thing that always holds true is that these releases are particularly special to the team in Nashville. Static Between Worlds was no different. A collaboration with former Orpheus Brewmaster—and current owner and Head Brewer of The Hollows in Amsterdam, Netherlands—this massive Vienna Wine sought to capture the essence of the past and promise of what’s to come through a complex tapestry of flavors.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Alex’s Life

Our showcase for the Alex’s Life installment of this series has been a long time coming. A collaboration of six of the biggest names in today’s craft scene, this joint effort was an undoubtedly pure testament to the magnitude of togetherness exhibited toward Alex Kidd and his family as he endures this fight with Stage IV cancer. With additional thanks owed to craft beer marketplace Tavour as the outlet used to maximize the release’s scope, this Veil-headlined benefit still remains the largest fundraiser to-date for the Kidds.

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Horus Aged Ales | Year Nine Spotlight

It has been over a year now since collaborating with Kyle Harrop and Horus Aged Ales on a spotlight of his unique and formidable barrel program. Now, Horus finds itself preparing to open year seven of the Convocation membership. We reconnected with Harrop for a brand new feature, highlighting some of his recent projects as well as digging deeper into what we can hope to expect from this sought after program in 2024.

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Collaborating for a Cause | For Alex

At the end of May 2023, Wax Wings Brewing pledged their support for Alex Kidd with a dedicated bottle release. This series has always looked to highlight breweries and the benefits they’ve conducted to help support Alex and his family as he continues to fight for his life. As we approach 20 installments to this series from breweries and meaderies all over the country – and even Norway! – we find ourselves back in Michigan to take a deep dive into Wax Wing’s For Alex release.

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Roughhouse Brewing | New Day Navroz Mango Lassi Sour Ale

Across the world, over 300 million people, not far off the population of the U.S., celebrate the spring vernal equinox festival of Navroz, also known as Nowruz, Novruz, Nowrouz, Nooruz, Navruz, Nauroz or Nevruz, all of which mean “new day” and signify the first day of spring. The festival is embraced in multiple countries across South and Central Asia and the Middle East, with roots that trace back over 3,000 years to the Zoroastrian religion in ancient Persia, and is usually celebrated on or around March 21^st.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Wren House Life Barleywine

As this series continues to surge through the spring months of 2024, it’s amazing to note just how many of these recent installments were announced during just the first few months after Alex Kidd’s cancer diagnosis. As we continue to see outpouring of support for DDB and his family, it’s also important to continue to reflect back on some of the first breweries to release dedicated beers in an effort to raise money for the cause. This week we take a deeper look at Wren House Brewing and their Life Barleywine.

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Hair of the Dog | Don Barleywine: A Vertical for Alex

Every now and then, when speaking with—or collaborating with—brewery staff, a truly organic opportunity blossoms. Those who have followed Don’t Drink Beer for a long time know that not only has Alex Kidd always championed Barleywine, but he also took opportunities to highlight the beers and breweries that were years ahead of their time as industry trends evolved. One brewery in particular that has cemented its impact on craft beer history is Hair of the Dog in Portland, Oregon. In a tribute to Kidd as he continues to fight his ass off to beat cancer, we collaborated with Hair of the Dog owner and founder Alan Sprints on a special vertical tasting.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Cerebral Brewing

For this week’s installment of Collaborating for a Cause, we head to one of the Mountain states for the first time in this series. Cerebral Brewing, based out of Denver, Colorado, was quick to show their support for Alex Kidd, the person behind Don’t Drink Beer, and his family following his devastating cancer diagnosis. For Cerebral’s fundraiser, they re-released two high-gravity beers, donating 100% of proceeds from all bottles and draft pour sales to the Kidd family GoFundMe.

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Casks & Camaraderie | Oak & Steel

In an unintended continuation from the last installment, Casks & Camaraderie is again headed to Missouri. Previously exploring Cape Girardeau’s Cask Craft Spirits and Beer Lounge, we focused on their elevation of barrel picks to expand exclusively from whiskey distillers into the realm of private picks with local brewery barrel stocks. This iteration picks up in the same barrel room it left off in, with Cory King and Side Project Brewing. His newest collaboration in the Silent Barrel series was with Kyle Howard, owner of Oak & Steel craft drinkery out of Kansas City. We took a deeper dive into his experience, the barrel, and the impact it’s had on the ever-changing beer scene in northwestern MO.

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Collaborating for a Cause | Strawberry Arabesque

Like many of the other fundraising efforts conducted for Alex Kidd and his family following the announcement of his cancer diagnosis, this benefit from Phase Three Brewing took place during the summer of 2023. On June 22 the brewery announced their newest Ambassador-exclusive release, Strawberry Arabesque. However in an unexpected move, they also stated that they would be donating a portion of all the proceeds from bottle sales, draft pours and an in-person raffle to the GoFundMe set up for the Kidds.

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