Kettlehead Brewing Co. | Duck Traffic New England IPA

Sometimes you have to just stop and smell the roses, as the age-old saying goes. Or perhaps you have to stop and let the ducks go by. That’s what happened to Sam Morrissette, co-owner and co-founder of Kettlehead Brewing Company.

What happened to Sam to give him the idea to name a beer after passing ducks? Let’s find out!

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Transient Artisan Ales | The Juice Is Loose

Nobody wants to get labeled as a bandwagoner, pandering to whatever’s in vogue for the sake of staying trendy. When the New England IPA movement started gaining steam, brewers were quick to call out posers in a street cred battle that bordered on ridiculous. Well, the style is obviously here to stay, and with years of popularity under its belt, it’s fun to look back at some classics. 

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Arvon Brewing Co. | The Grand NE Style IPA

Arvon Brewing Co. didn’t have much chance to bask in the afterglow of opening a brewery. Before even a month had passed at their new taproom in Grand Rapids, Michigan, quarantine hit, forcing them to close off the space they’d worked so hard to prepare. But instead of letting the pandemic rain on their parade, they improvised. 

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Lone Pine Brewing Company | Chaos Emeralds

Lone Pine Brewing Company is a not-to-be-missed brewery that quickly grew from a small hole in the wall spot to a major player in the New England craft beer scene. Lone Pine opened in Portland, ME’s East Bayside neighborhood in 2016; by 2019, they grew enough to warrant a major expansion in Gorham, ME. Lone Pine is known for its vibrant hop-forward American ales and, over the course of two years, Lone Pine has worked to create what they call the “quintessential NEIPA with boutique hops.” The offspring of that labor of love is their award-winning Chaos Emeralds Double IPA featuring Galaxy and Mosaic hops.
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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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Why I’m Giving up Hazy IPAs in 2019

In 2019 I’m giving up the haze crazy, hop bombs, and juice boxes. I’m doing this not to rebel or revolt against the New England IPA. It’s a matter of self-control and I just didn’t do a good job of that this past year. It’s a fine style of beer that has taken this industry by storm and helped launch some of the most well-known breweries today, but personally, in 2018 I just gravitated towards them too often. Read More

Platform Beer Co. | Haze Jude

The New England IPA (NEIPA) was once only available via bottle trades or to those willing to wait in long lines. But that has slowly started to change because larger breweries are making this style and distributing them in much larger volumes. That’s good news to those that previously couldn’t get their hands on these beers. However, it is worth asking if the large scale production can mimic what made this style so unique and special. Cleveland’s Platform Beer Haze Jude helped answer that question.

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Odd13 Brewing | n00b

I’m that guy. I’ve been him for a long time now. I’ve known it for a long time, but didn’t care. I went with it. I’m the guy who no matter what always just wants to try the NEW beer. It’ll be sitting right next to a beer that I know I love and have even ranted and raved about to my friends. And yet, I can’t help myself; I grab the shiny new beer next to it on the shelf. I’ve never really had a go-to beer.

That has finally changed.

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National IPA Day | Southwest Regional Roundup

From the lush green landscape of eastern Texas, through the dusty Llano Estacado in the Texas Panhandles and New Mexico and into the deserts of Arizona, there’s plenty of craft beer, including an abundance of floral, aromatic, tasty IPAs. One would expect the beer to reflect a region so vast, and so diverse — and it does. Here’s a sample of what’s good in the Southwest. Happy National IPA Day!

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Fiction Beer Company | Logic is Relative

ABV: 7.9% | IBU: 85

If you like beer then you must have heard about the newest “trend” in the craft beer world — the hazy IPA. Craft brewing is an ever-evolving industry that has witnessed numerous trends, but this trend isn’t really a trend because it’s nothing new and it is definitely here to stay. More than a decade ago, The Alchemist brewed the infamous Heady Topper whose rare and unique flavor profile created a buzz around the country that quickly led to it being one of the most sought after beers in America.

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