Welcome to Porters and Palettes!

Welcome to Porters and Palettes, a blog where we review what's in the beer bottle and what's on it! Who are we? We're Jeff and Haley, a husband and wife team who love good beer and good design work.

Let's explain how this blog works. Every week on Thirsty Thursday we'll publish a new review of a beer. Each review will include product pictures, our thoughts on the product, and an overall grading from 0-5 stars, five being the best. Jeff's reviews will go first. He will talk about the beer itself. Haley will go next, and she will discuss the design of the label. Each will then make their own grade based on their individual grading criteria.

At the beginning of each review will be a box that looks like this:

Style refers to the type of beer it is: ale, lager, porter, etc. By reading this you can kind of get an idea as to what it's going to taste like. ABV is alcohol by volume. A higher ABV means a stronger brew. Next up is brewery and location. This is pretty self explanatory. We want to make sure every brewer is given proper credit and also we want to make sure that if you want to find the beer we sample to purchase yourself, it's just a google search away.

Finally is price. We decided to simplify how we discuss the cost since prices can vary from place to place. Therefore, price is represented by dollar signs. One dollar sign is the cheap stuff. Think prices akin to Budweiser or Miller light. Two dollar signs are the mid-range beers, which will cover a lot of what we test. These will include brands like Sierra Nevada, Fat Tire, and many local brewers like Oskar Blues. The three dollar signs are reserved for the pricey stuff- small batch, individually sold bottles, or just products that are uncommonly expensive.

Also, look for the occasional splash of info in the bottom right corner of this graphic to see if the beer has an IBU rating of interest. This is the standard International Bittering Units scale that we will use to tell you if a beer has a noticeable bitterness level. This will be most relevant to beers such as IPAs.

After you read the review, feel free to leave comments. You can also recommend other beers for us to try! Check out the "Contact" link on the side menu to send us tips, or send them to us on Twitter: @PortersPalettes.

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And now, a little bit about Haley and Jeff.

Recent transplants to Colorado, we love everything about our new state. Jeff loves the incredibly diverse and robust craft beer scene and Haley is getting inspiration from the beauty of nature and the appreciation for the arts that is evident around here.

We decided to start this blog to bring those two sets of interests together. Jeff is covering the "Porters" side of the blog because he is a lifelong beer drinker and appreciator who has even brewed his own beer once or twice. He will be rating a wide variety of beers, many local to our new area.

 Jeff says "I'm looking for beers that represent their categories well and that have complex flavors that are natural tasting. Beers made by local breweries are my favorite- expect to see a lot of regional choices. Integrity is important to me when it comes to the beer game so know that I always will point out when a craft beer isn't really a craft beer (huge beer companies love to sneak out their so-called craft lines these days). I also care about the environment so I will be sure to point out companies that are environmentally conscious. Mostly though, what I really care about is just having some great brews!"

Haley is covering the "Palettes" side of the blog. With a lifelong artistic background and an interest in graphic design Haley says "I've been an artist for over twenty years, but I've been a consumer for just as long. I know what strong design is because I know what catches my eye. My criteria will be based on things such as does the label design accurately tell me what's in the bottle or can, and also does it make me want to buy the product? Ultimately, cool designs with well thought out art and font usage make people want to purchase a product, and a strong design can even help make that final push that marks the difference between purchasing something and not purchasing something. However, in addition to the marketing standpoint, I also just hope to see some beautiful design work that doesn't just belong on a label, but in an art museum as well."

We hope that you will enjoy this blog and that it will be both informative and entertaining. Look to this Thursday (6/8) for our first review.

Thanks for reading!