It’s almost that time again – another round of the Six-Pack Project is coming your way at the end of this month. It’s a special batch that knocks off several more states in our beer-loving union (and beyond).
In the meantime, it’s worthwhile to look back at the last round and see what beers stick out. For those of you planning Labor Day vacations, now’s a good time to check out the Six-Pack Project archive and make a mental note of what brews to seek out wherever you may be traveling.
What looks most exciting from our last entry? Well, quite a bit. Here are the posts we’re looking at this time around:
- Delaware by Ed of Dogs of Beer
- Illinois Jeremy of SubBeerBia
- Massachusetts by Heather of HeatherVandy.com and Dig Boston’s Honest Pint
- Michigan by Mark (guest post)
- Western Pennsylvania by Bill from Pittsburgh Beer Snob
- Belgian 101 by Chris at I Think About Beer
Delaware
Along with providing a great selection of six beers to find in Delaware, Ed from The Dogs of Beer also offers up a short history of modern brewing in Delaware. He obviously knows his stuff and only included one Dogfish Head beer! (Because, you know, there are other breweries there). He also includes something you don’t see often in these lists – a pilsner.
What I’m most excited about trying: Fordham Brewery’s Rosie Parks Oyster Stout. While it seems Delaware offers plenty in terms of pale ales and IPAs, this malt-forward brew sounds delicious with notes of chocolate and roasted grains.
Illinois
The Six-Pack Project previously highlighted beers native to Chicago, so Jeremy of SubBeerBia was kind enough to fill out the rest of the state. He cheats a little by including Munster, Indiana-based Three Floyds, but has a great collection otherwise that includes a funky saison and witbier.
What I’m most excited about trying: 5 Rabbit Cerveceria’s 5 Lizard Witbier. A Latin-influenced American craft brew? Sure, why not. At a sessionable 4.3 percent ABV, this witbier has an added bonus of lime, coriander and passion fruit puree which sounds perfect for the waning days of summer.
Massachusetts
Heather – beer writer extraordinaire for Dig Boston – also maintains her own blog, where she highlighted an IPA-only list for her selections from Massachusetts. It seems like her picks run the gamut of what hop heads would want when visiting the Bay State, including Massachusetts’ “most underrated” IPA from Wormtown Brewery.
What I’m most excited about trying: Pretty Things Beer Meadowlark IPA. It includes Galaxy hops, a newfound love of mine, to pair with Bravo and Citra. As Heather points out, that means “tropical fruitiness, freshness and a good dose of bitterness without biting your head off.” That’s good, because I’ll need my head to enjoy this one.
Michigan
I was happy to host the first guest post for the Six-Pack Project from Mark Graves. Hailing from Michigan, he did his best to sort through the plethora of offerings from a state that lays claim to having Beer City, USA (Grand Rapids). Along with some amazing beertography, Mark picks a solid collection ranging from the fruity (Shorts Brew Soft Parade) to the classic (Founders Dirty Bastard).
What I’m most excited about trying: Shorts Brew Soft Parade. I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of good stuff about Shorts Brew lately and a rye beer infused with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries sounds pretty damned unique.
Pennsylvania
Whoa. Wait. Something’s wrong here.
How is it that Bill from Pittsburgh Beer Snob didn’t include a single IPA in his list? Guess he just balances out Heather’s choices. Witbier, hefeweizen, pilsner … he’s got it all. EVEN A LAGER. It’s nice to get some variety, after all.
This is one crazy guy with some pretty great choices.
What I’m most excited about trying: Poor Richard’s Tavern Spruce by Yards Brewing. I once made my own “Poor Richard’s” homebrew recipe – it’s a brew based on the idea of “What would Ben Franklin drink?” This beer uses spruce tips and molasses so why wouldn’t you want to try it?
Belgium
Are you ready to go to school? Chris from I Think About Beer is a Belgian beer savant, but he does an amazing job of making these world-renowned beers accessible and easy to understand with his Belgian 101. He’s picked Belgian beers that can be found here in the U.S. and will give you the ultimate intro, even if you know nothing about the brews from this beer-loving country. Even if you’ve never liked Belgian beers, his notes are worth reading his post alone.
What I’m most excited about trying: Westmalle Tripel by Abdij der Trappisten van Westmalle. Mostly because I love my consonants. But seriously, folks, my exposure to Trappist brews is limited and I think I should probably try the “mother of all modern tripels.”
Want to get involved in the Six-Pack Project? Contact me on Twitter.
Keep an eye on the blog as we offer up the next round of six packs on Aug. 28.
+Bryan Roth
“Don’t drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life.” — Jack Kerouac
This Is Why I'm Drunk 
It was fun to participate and to read all my fellow Six-Packers! Great concept!
Thanks again, Bryan for the chance to participate in this. It was a lot of fun. I look forward to reading the posts for next month’s Project.
Reblogged this on Proper_Pour and commented:
Really good deal!
Thanks for sharing! It’s been great fun to pull people together for this.
Always man. Keep up the good work. I need to blog soon, it’s been too long!
I’m still catching up with life after returning from Top Sail, NC a couple days ago so I haven’t had a chance to read through all of these just yet, but I wanted to let you know that you’re NC 6 Pack helped me out as well as your NC store locator piece. I plan on doing a NC beer post in a bit….just need to drink through all I bought first, haha.
Nice! I hope you enjoy/enjoyed what you picked up. I’ll be anxious to read about the experience.