Event Preview | San Diego Beer Week

There is nothing better for the local community of beer lovers in San Diego than San Diego Beer week! Although advertised as a “week,” this year it will take place over the course of 10 days, November 1-10, all throughout San Diego. For the most comprehensive list of events, pairings, beer releases and dinners, go to the SDBW website, but here we’re going to be talking about some of the cool events happening, where they will be and then you can decide which ones you are going to try and make! Be sure to check if events are ticketed, shown by 🎫 Read More

Chapman Crafted Beer | Hazy Like Sunday Morning

Chapman Crafted Beer is located in Old Towne in Orange, California. It’s a family-owned brewery that’s, in their own words, “community focused.” This includes brewing beers honoring the local university’s homecoming and the city’s festival. Read More

Learn to Homebrew Day is November 2

In 1999, Learn To Homebrew Day was established by the American Homebrewers Association to promote the most rewarding, and delicious activity of all time — homebrewing. This is what is written on the AHA’s website about this event. It is a day that many homebrewers the world around have come to their local homebrew stores or friends or even the internet to learn the hobby that you can literally drink to! 

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Beer Event | Collabapalooza Recap

This past weekend was one of the most highly rated beer festivals in Southern California: Collabapalooza. The ethos of the beer festival is a sense of community within the beer industry–in most cases, all of the breweries involved were friends with each other and the brewers were all trying each other’s beer while talking shop. As we got to talk to several breweries in the preview article on the beers they were bringing, we got to experience the selection of a ridiculous tap list contributed by all the breweries. Here are some standouts.

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Comrade Brewing Company | Superpower IPA Wins Big at GABF

Denver’s Comrade Brewing Company showed its true superpower at this year’s Great American Beer Festival: winning medals. Comrade took home golds for SuperPower IPA and More Dodge Less RAM and was also named Small Brewing Company of the Year.

Superpower IPA beat out 130 other entries to win the American-Style Strong Pale Ale category to prove why it has been a taproom staple since Comrade opened five years ago. Read More

MadTree Brewing Co. | El Dorado High Imperial IPA

If you’re as much of a beer person as I am, you know that as soon as your friend mentions they’re going out of town, you’re asking them to bring you back some beer! That’s exactly what happened when I heard of an impending Ohio trip. I absolutely had to get my hands on some MadTree beer, and I was so pleased! You’re going to have to read below to learn more about El Dorado High.

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Saint Arnold Brewing Company | Art Car IPA

The phenomenon of the art car has intrigued me for some time. Have you ever seen these things? Cars covered from bumper to bumper with colorful paint jobs and anything from mosaic tile to plastic figurines. Sure, some look like a hoarder hoarked on a hooptie, but there are certainly some examples that truly are mobile art. The layers of detail and creativity are impressive, and it’s that creative spirit that inspired Saint Arnold’s Art Car IPA.

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Summit Brewing Company | Slugfest Juicy IPA

Bombasota. The Land of 10,000 rakes. These represent a couple of examples to describe what’s taking place on the baseball field this season in Minnesota.

The nicknames are warranted. The Minnesota Twins are mashing the baseball this season, hitting home runs at a historic pace. At the beginning of the month, the Twins set a new MLB record hitting their 269th home run of the season. Yes, they broke the record with a full month of games to go.

And they’re not slowing down. The Twins keep slugging with currently 289 home runs as I’m typing. But that’s not all. While building on their record-setting season, the Twins broke another MLB milestone. They became the first team in league history with five players to hit at least 30 long balls in a season.

It’s safe to say it’s been a slugfest in Minnesota this summer.

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The World Lupulin Challenge | A New Hop-Forward Beer Competition Calls for Entries

The World Lupulin Challenge is a new competition born out of the desire to identify and recognize the best commercially brewed IPAs and Pale Ales. The Challenge will award gold, … Read More

New Glory Craft Brewery | Hopaway Beach

There are not many breweries in the Sacramento, CA area that have a better track record of brewing IPAs than New Glory Craft Brewery. When you check the “about us” section of their website, the first sentence reads: “We reject the mainstream concept of ‘flagship’ or core beers.” A quick look at their current tap list includes 24 beers; 15 of them are either a Pale Ale, IPA, Double IPA or Milkshake IPA. I’m not sure how many different IPAs and hop-forward beers they’ve turned out since 2014, but it’s safe to say they’ve worked every angle of the style.

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Mikerphone Brewing | Ging and Juice

Over the past few years Mikerphone Brewing, out of Elk Grove Village, Illinois has become one of Chicagoland’s most popular and sought-after breweries. From their impressive list of hazy IPAs, to Stouts, to even beer slushies (yes, please!!), they have proven time and again that they can make any style.

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Karl Strauss Brewing Co. | Aurora Hoppyalis

Once in a while, some news story comes out talking about how the Northern Lights are visible from not-too-far away. This excites us sky geeks. For most of us in the U.S., unfortunately, the caveats are extreme (e.g. hiking three miles into un-mapped forest in the hopes that the sky is clear enough during the five-minute window when the Aurora Borealis can actually be seen). Finding a good location that’s dim enough to see this spectacle of nature is a challenge if you live in the lower 48.

On the other hand, if you live in a hot craft beer city like San Diego, it’s real easy to find quality beer. So save the skywatching for your bucket list vacation to Iceland, or if you have to lay low for a while and need to move to Alaska. We’re not here to judge; what you do in the privacy of your own back-alley gambling hall is your own business. Beer though…that’s our business. And business is booming, dammit.

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Ultimate 6er | Six Beers to Celebrate Labor Day

Labor Day is unfortunately overlooked as a day most people are just happy to be off work. The irony of it is that the first Monday of September represents those same hardworking Americans. All of the social and economic achievements of American workers deserve acknowledgment, and Labor Day is a humble way of thanking and serving tribute to a history of hard work and positive contribution towards a stronger, more prosperous nation.

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Beer Tree Brew Co. | Pineapple Creamsicle IPA

Brew Tree Brew Co. may be new to the craft beer scene, but they are doing all the right things. Having opened their doors October 2017, they’ve already cultivated a … Read More

Stemma Brewing Co. | Chateau de Stemadia Brut IPA

One of the greatest pleasures in writing for PorchDrinking is the opportunity to introduce new breweries to PorchDrinking.com readers across the country. Today, we’re honored to introduce you to Stemma Brewing Co., a new brewery out of Bellingham, WA and their collaboration with Vancouver, WA-based Brothers Cascadia Brewing. This result, Chateau de Stemadia Brut IPA, weighs in with a 6.5% ABV and 15 IBUs.
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Windmill Brewing | Mema Colada

In 1979, Rupert Holmes released his defining hit and lyrical earworm “Escape.” The song was an immediate hit, rising to prominence and becoming the last U.S. No. 1 song of the 1970s. While Homes would go on to win two Tony Awards, the defining song of his career is better known by its alternate name the Pina Colada song.

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Dayton Breweries Come Through Strong for Community

On the night of May 27, a powerful line of storms ripped across Indiana and Ohio. Numerous tornadoes caused considerable damage. The Miami Valley region of southwest Ohio, centered around the city of Dayton, was hit especially hard. Multiple tornadoes left parts of the city and surrounding communities in shambles. Lives were disrupted and families were displaced.

In the wake of the storms, countless area businesses and individuals came together to help those affected by the disaster. Dayton’s breweries were no exception.

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Ska Brewing | Modus Hoperandi + Modus Mandarina IPA

With so much good beer coming out of Colorado, it’s easy to take for granted one of the early upstarts in the state’s brewing history. Ska Brewing has been around since 1995. The brewery has stood the test of time thanks to their commitment to rigorous brewing standards and bold flavors. A perfect example of this is their stalwart IPA, Modus Hoperandi, which is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this summer.

Modus Hoperandi was a trendsetter when it was released a decade ago and it still stands up against today’s wide swath of IPAs. The IPA was one of the first to come in cans and has won numerous awards thanks to a delicately-hopped combination of citrus and pine. Still, every brewery needs to innovate to stay competitive, which led to the release of its citrusy-variant, Modus Mandarina, in 2015. Both IPAs stand strong alone but work even better together. I got a chance to review both on a warm summer evening recently.

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Brewery First Look: Chicago’s Midwest Coast Brewing

The crowded Chicago brewery scene can soon add one more new operation to its list: Midwest Coast Brewing, located in West Town at 2137 W Walnut Street. Brewer and founder Cameron Compton is excited for all of the challenges and opportunities that opening a new brewery presents. Much like their name, which came after Compton decided to balance equal parts West and East Coast IPA styles when brewing their flagship CHI.P.A., Compton is looking to take a balanced, measured approach to growth once Midwest Coast hopefully opens to the public. PorchDrinking was lucky enough to get a preview of the space and the beer soon to be available at the newest West Town brewery.

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Ardent Craft Ales | Brett IPA

Richmond, VA is known to some as a mecca for craft beer in the state for lovers. Ardent Craft Ales was originally started as a cooperative of homebrewers who wanted to get out of their kitchen and brew a little more seriously. To do so, they rented out a garage with a half-barrel system and started brewing every Sunday in said garage located in the Churchill region in the eastern side of the city.

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