Late Summer 2019 Roundup | Can’t Miss Colorado Beer Festivals

Summer: The season of drinking beer and exploring the outdoors, which both happen to be very popular activities in Colorado. If the mid-summer heat has you itching to get out of town and sample some new brews, we’ve rounded up some of the can’t miss beer festivals taking place across Colorado until the Great American Beer Festival in October.

Keep in mind we know Oktoberfest has become a big deal in Colorado, so don’t worry we’ll have a full round-up on Oktoberfest celebrations taking place throughout the state shortly.

This post is brought to you by our friends at OnTap Credit Union, who have been crafting banking solutions for breweries, brewery employees and beer lovers for the past 64 years in Golden and Arvada.

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Event Recap | 5th Annual The Shelton Brothers Festival

There are typically two responses when the Shelton Brothers are mentioned, either a person has never heard of them, or—if you’re like me—you thank the beer gods they exist. This specific festival has been around five years, and I dare to say, ATL probably hosted the best one yet.

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Discussing Chicago’s Beer Culture & FoBAB with Werk Force Brewing

Chicago’s brewing culture is as diverse as its population, but one genre of brewing resonates strongly with Windy City beer enthusiasts — barrel-aged brewing. In 1993, Greg Hall at Goose Island experimented with beer in bourbon barrels and, as they say, the rest is history (see this movie about that story). The legacy of his idea manifests itself every November with Goose Island’s Black Friday Bourbon County release and numerous barrel-aged beer festivals, notably the Festival of Barrel Aged Brewing (FoBAB). Brandon Wright, of Chicago Brew Werks/Werk Force Brewing, shares his unique perspective on Chicago’s love of barrel-aged beer.

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Event Preview | Music Tastes Good

Photo courtesy of Music Tastes Good. 

Festival season may be winding down, but it’s not going quietly. With prices soaring and tickets selling out for mega-fests like Coachella and Bonnaroo, niche festivals have been popping up all over the Los Angeles area. The new kid in town is making its debut on the streets of Long Beach this weekend, September 23rd through the 25th, with a lineup as diverse as the LBC. Read More

Ultimate 6er | Beer Festival Pro Tips

We are well into the festival season and you’re out there floundering around like a fish at a beer festival. Don’t worry, I am here to help. Okay, well, I am sure you’ve got a better handle on this whole festival thing than that. You may actually be more like a wolf at a sheep sheering contest. That’s really not that much better though; really, just as bad but in the other direction. Wow, this digressed quickly… without further ado, we are leaving the beer behind in this week’s Ultimate 6er to give you six tips for your next festival!

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Event Preview | Quad Cities Craft Beer Fest

For craft beer drinkers, the arrival of summer means one thing: beer festival season.

It seems no matter where you go across the country on any given weekend, in … Read More

The PorchCast | Episode 16 – Nick Nunns TRVE Brewing

For Episode 16 of the PorchCast, we visited Nick Nunns, founder of TRVE Brewing at their Acid Templed production facility and barrel house. On this episode we touched on the … Read More

How to One Up that Pretzel Necklace

The age old debate on whether to wear a pretzel necklace to a beer festival dates back to Baron Marzen Dortmunder Zwickel Weizendoppelbock III’s attendance at the very first Oktoberfest in 1810, the tradition continued when Benjamin Franklin donned his own braided treat to Thomas Jefferson’s collaboration fest with fellow founding father Samuel Adams. And now we celebrate these pioneers by donning our own tasty carb-tastic accessories. However, as the times change and fashion evolves we’ve learned to upgrade our necklaces to hold much more than mere pretzels. While some have tricked out their gear with beef jerky, cookies, doughnuts and more, we thought we’d take it to the next level by asking Xzibit to… Read More

Event Preview | Rocky Mountain Folks Festival

If it’s your dream to weep quietly in a field in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains as Sufjan Stevens plays in the distance, you’re in luck! The Rocky … Read More

Have Beer Festivals Jumped the Shark?

I used to relish summers. As a child, we lived for those three fleeting months of freedom from homework, exams and responsibility. Summer was the stuff of legend, building towering forts in the woods, cannonballs, s’mores, catching fireflies, shagging fly balls and bolting recklessly into streets at the flat echoes of an ice cream truck jingle. Sure, things have changed a bit as an adult, but I haven’t entirely allowed myself to lose summer’s sense wonderment, instead trading t-ball for 14er hikes, neighborhood flashlight tag for booze-y sessions of jazz in the park and weekends getting burnt crisp at the pool for weekends getting burnt crisp a beer festivals.

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Event Recap | Hops + Handrails

Last weekend, Left Hand Brewing Company brought back one of their main events of the spring season, Hops + Handrails. While it was only in its third year in … Read More

Festival Recap | Fermentation Festival 2014

Fermentation is defined as “the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms, typically involving effervescence and the giving off of heat.” Sure, that might sound a little bit unappealing, but without the process of fermentation, we wouldn’t have beer, wine, spirits, cheese, vinegar, pickles, chocolate, and so many other foods and drinks we love dearly. As a fan of nearly all fermented treasures – I’m still trying to cultivate a taste for Natto – I was very excited to attend the second annual Fermentation Festival held last weekend.

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Festival Recap | Big Eat 2014

Last Thursday, the Denver Performing Arts Complex hosted Eat Denver‘s fifth annual Big Eat, a glorious gustatory celebration of Denver’s independent restaurants. The event featured bites from dozens of the city’s best restaurants along with samples of craft beer, wine, and spirits. Fellow Porchdrinker Chelsea Mitchell and I braved this sea of food and drink to bring you a recap of the night’s festivities.

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Jungle Jim’s 9th Annual International Beer Festival

Over 350 beers and 100 breweries. This bold statement rang true the weekend of June 13-14 as Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati) delivered another phenomenal beer festival.

Jungle Jim’s International Market specializes in bringing in a large and diverse selection of, well, everything. From produce, to seafood, to deli, to foreign land’s cultural foods. Jungle Jim’s has a lot of everything and their beer festivals are no exception.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Bonnaroo Edition

Even if you won’t be joining us in Manchester, TN this weekend, you can still enjoy the amazing lineup via our Bonnaroo playlist. We’ve pulled together the best of the best from this years lineup. Enjoy, and let us know what you’re looking forward to most this weekend in the comments!

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Milwaukee’s Stein & Dine | A Peek into the City of Festivals

For much of the nation, I imagine Milwaukee brings to mind Schlitz, Miller, Milwaukee’s Best – all of the staple beers that glare menacingly from neon signs above shady bars. As a Madison, Wisconsin resident and Milwaukee skeptic, I’d like to descend from my high horse and paint a different picture of this vibrant lakeside city, fondly referred to as the City of Festivals, through a Festival of (what else?) Beer.

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Tales of Snallygaster

Saturday wasn’t one of those brilliant, orange-and-red autumn days. It was windy, threatened rain and was one of the first chilly days Washington, D.C. has experienced this fall.

It was … Read More