Beer | Cool Material

8 Christmas Ales Worth Drinking This Holiday Season

Christopher Osburn — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 15:45:57 +0000

Sure, the parties, gatherings, social engagements, and massive feasts are great. But they’re even better when you bring a six-pack of malty, sweet, festive Christmas beer to share with your friends and family. How else are you going to wash down all those peppermint fudge brownies and frosted sugar cookies? Lucky for you, there are […]

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The Best 10 Stouts To Drink on a Cold Day

Christopher Osburn — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:45:22 +0000

While there’s rarely a bad time for a good IPA, pilsner, or wheat beer, winter is the season of darker, maltier beers. Specifically, stouts. Dark (and sometimes pitch black) in appearance and loaded with flavors like roasted malts, dark chocolate, vanilla, and coffee, stouts are well-suited for cold weather. The most well-known style of stout […]

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10 Stouts To Prepare For The Cold Days To Come

Christopher Osburn — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 03:53:24 +0000

Whether you want to hear it or not, winter is on the way. And while we still enjoy lighter beers like IPAs, pilsners, and wheat beers from time to time, winter is the season of darker, maltier beers. Specifically, stouts. Dark (and sometimes pitch black) in appearance and loaded with flavors like roasted malts, dark […]

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Pairing Beer With Every Iconic Thanksgiving Food

Christopher Osburn — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:45:53 +0000

While many people will already start putting inflatable Santas and the Grinch on their front lawns the day after Halloween, the holidays don’t officially begin until late November when Thanksgiving arrives. This is the day when we “give thanks” to our friends and family by gorging on stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted turkey, and myriad other […]

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The 2023 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout For Each Type of Stout Lover

Nickolaus Hines — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:45:16 +0000

For many people around the United States, Black Friday means deals, deals, and more deals. For a large swath of beer lovers, the day after Thanksgiving means Goose Island’s annual Bourbon County Stout (BCS) release day has finally arrived. A little background: The series started in 1992 to celebrate Goose Island’s 1,000th batch of beer. […]

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10 Pumpkin Ales That Don’t Suck

Christopher Osburn — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 14:45:44 +0000

Sure, the IPA has its haters (especially bitterly hoppy West Coast IPAs), but there are few beer styles as divisive has the annual fall release of the pumpkin beer. Maybe it’s because many drinkers want a “beer that tastes like beer” and not one that tastes likes a pumpkin pie or a Starbucks drink. Perhaps […]

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The Best American Oktoberfest Beers To Drink This Fall

Christopher Osburn — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 14:45:12 +0000

Every year, citizens of Munich and travelers from all over the world descend on the massive fairgrounds in Munich known as “the Theresienwiese.” They drink giant liters of frosty beers; eat their weight in bratwurst, schnitzel, and sauerkraut; and don dirndls and lederhosen while they sing along to oom-pah music all in celebration of the […]

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How To Make Actually Good Homebrew Beer, According to Experts

Christopher Osburn — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 14:45:25 +0000

If you didn’t know it already, there are more than 9,000 breweries currently operating in the United States alone. That’s an awful lot of brewers crafting IPAs, lagers, pale ales, stouts, and other beer styles. They got to their positions in a variety of ways. Some went to one of the various college programs like […]

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The 10 Best Pilsners You Can Find Just About Anywhere

Christopher Osburn — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:45:01 +0000

Pilsners, a type of lager, get their name from the city of Plzeň (translated to Pilsen in English) in the Czech Republic. Here, Pilsner Urquell brewed the first pale lager back in 1842. The style, known for its refreshing, crisp, easy-drinking nature, can be broken up into several distinct types. You’re likely well acquainted with […]

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10 Beer Experts Tell Us The IPAs They Always Drink

Christopher Osburn — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:45:06 +0000

If you were on a desert island with no immediate hope of rescue and you could only have a few supplies, what would you hope that you had with you? Probably some type of first aid kit, matches, blankets, maybe some food and water and means to make a shelter, right? At the very least […]

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10 Beer Experts Tell Us The One Lager They Always Drink

Christopher Osburn — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 14:45:42 +0000

There are currently over 9,000 breweries in the United States cranking out seemingly countless IPAs, stouts, pale ales, wheat beers, lagers, and every other style under the sun. And that’s not to mention the many (many) incredible breweries in other countries. While each brewery typically has a specialty and flavor preferences vary depending on what […]

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The 8 Best Cities For Beer Lovers To Visit This Summer

Christopher Osburn — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 14:45:45 +0000

Summer is the perfect time for a classic American road trip. And while some may center their trips on the myriad amusement parks, beach towns, or roadside monuments that dot the United States, for beer lovers, a road trip is the perfect opportunity to try beers from breweries they’d never get to try otherwise. For […]

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6 Stouts and Porters That Are Made For Summer Drinking

Dillon McLaughlin — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:45:39 +0000

Stouts (and porters) are the victim of a psychosomatic epidemic. Before people ever have one, they’re told a single pint will sit in their stomach like a brick or a loaf of bread or a full meal, and that the beer won’t be as refreshing as a crisp lager or sessionable IPA. Then, since that’s […]

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The Best Session IPAs To Get You Through Summer

Dillon McLaughlin — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:45:10 +0000

The “session” label is the exact middle point between an actual beer style and a marketing gimmick, which means that it’s neither of those and turns into a helpful descriptor. Basically, “session” is supposed to mean the first beer leads to another and another, but without turning you into a nuisance or an embarrassment. It’s […]

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The Best Sour Beers To Drink This Summer

Andy Crump — Wed, 24 May 2023 14:45:46 +0000

Increasingly, craft beer brewers and patrons have turned toward lagers – pale, dark, Pilsners, Helles, bocks – as the breezy de facto alternative to the God Emperor of the craft industry, the IPA. People want options, and they want beer they can recognize immediately as “beer” as codified by America’s relationship with Big Beer dating […]

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These Arizona Wilderness Beers Will Introduce You To Your New Favorite Hop Variety

Andy Crump — Thu, 04 May 2023 14:44:35 +0000

A few meaningful details about Marquee Moon, the latest entry in Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co.’s Dirty Hop Water series, immediately stand out at first glance. One, the brewers dig the NYC rock legends Television—specifically their genre-defining debut album Marquee Moon. Two, they have a sense of humor: the beer clocks in at a hairy 10.4 […]

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