Who’s your Secret Santa this year? The holidays always bring thrilling and merry times with your loved ones, yet choosing the perfect gift can get anyone in a Christmas tizzy. The holidays are coming, and if you are anything like me, you still haven't found that perfect gift for your loved ones. Well, have no fear! Here are some beer related gifts for this holiday season! Funky Picnic Brewery and Cafe Follow @funkypicnicbrewery SHOP: https://www.toasttab.com/funkypicnic/giftcards In addition to our clothing, accessories, beer cans, and more, we have an excellent deal we would love to plug f ..read more

Beer is a beautiful thing. Storied, versatile, and delicious, beer is cemented into the human experience. What better way to exalt our favorite brew with a little culinary prowess. Today we bring you Beer Foods (foods with beer in ‘em). What does beer add to food? It depends on the dish, but overall beer adds flavor. Beer in itself has complex flavor profiles; a porter is malty and warm whereas an IPA is more bitter and floral.  Understanding how these flavors meld with the rest of your ingredients is key. A good tip is to use a beer you enjoy. A bitter beer will add bitterness to ..read more

Gose (pronounced GOHZ-uh) With the rise in the popularity of sour beers, you may see the style Gose on more of your taps and beer shelves. So in honor of International Happy Gose Day we ask, “What Gose into making this beer anyway?” Gose is a traditional German sour wheat ale that is very light and refreshing.  What makes it different from its very similar cousin, the Berliner Weiss, is the addition of salt and coriander.  The addition of salt actually enhances the perception of sweetness and brings out lemony notes of acidity in the beer, similar to adding a salt rim to a margarita ..read more

Hostess with the Most-ess Shalula Davenport sat down with the Funky Picnic interns for an interview. They took this opportunity to explore international drag culture. Shalula describes herself as “telenovela on acid” and feeds off the energy of her adoring crowd. Find out more about Shalula and drag. Who knows, you might learn something! Over the years drag has developed into an art form. The explosion of drag in culture in recent decades has allowed groups of performers and drag artists to develop their own regional flavor. Every culture is different, which means each culture's drag ..read more

When we think of American foods, one of the first that comes to mind is the hamburger. Nothing hits the spot quite like that scrumptious concoction of beef, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, pickles, and a nice bun. In honor of Burger Week, I will take you on a journey through the creation of the hamburger and its surprisingly storied origins. Although the creation of what we consider a modern hamburger is disputed, we can trace back a similar style of meat preparation all the way back to the Mongols under Genghis Khan in the 12th century. Because they were always traveling on horseback, they needed ..read more

Everyone’s calendar is filled with weird and random national holidays. National Zipper Day, really?  But does your calendar have beer holidays?  With each beer holiday, you will find a specific beer or type of beers where you can sit back and enjoy a unique and delicious pint.  So much better than celebrating National Zipper Day.  Below are some of the most famous (and some less famous) beer holidays that you should have on your calendar.  National IPA Day First Thursday in August | August 4th, 2022   National IPA Day c ..read more

We all know how to drink:  open mouth, insert beer.  But do we really enjoy all aspects of the beer as we drink it?  Do you notice the intricate details of the aroma or how the beer sits in your mouth?  With this quick guide, not only will you understand differences like orthonasal and retronasal olfaction, but other sensations that you should be aware of while fully enjoying your beer. “When drinking a flight or even sitting down to a multi-course beer dinner, you will want to start off with the lightest flavored and least intense beer first.” Before even getting to the ..read more

Drag has a wide, rich culture in LGBTQIA culture. The dancing queens in glamorous dresses and lip synching to current pop hits is a time honored tradition. Which asks the question, “What is drag?” “We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.” - RuPual Andre Charles The concept of gender-bending performance is nothing new. From ancient Greece to Shakespeare, cross-dressing has been a feature of theater. William Dorsey Swann pioneered the modern idea of drag, hosting shows that illuminated his own artful expression. It wasn’t until the next century that drag moved away from purely thea ..read more

Tequila.  The liquor usually conjures up images of white sand beaches in Mexico, or that one night in college where you swore you would never drink tequila again.  But here you are, coming back for more. Technically speaking, Tequila is a type of Mezcal.  Mezcal is any type of distilled beverage made from maguey (the more traditional Mexican name for the Agave plant).  It is only Tequila when it is made with 100% Blue Agave.  Per Mexican law, Tequila is only able to be produced in the state of Jalisco, as well as a few other small municipalities. Production for both M ..read more

You may have noticed certain beers are advertised as barrel-aged. Most barrel-aged beers are aged in various spirit barrels like whiskey or rum, or more adventurous spirits like Gin or Tequila. Some may also be aged wine barrels or even just plain wooden barrels, mostly oak.  But what does aging a beer in a barrel actually do?  To answer that, we need to go back a little bit in beer brewing history.  Before beer was packaged in the aluminum kegs of today, most finished beers were stored and transported in oak barrels.  Barrels were widely available as they were also used fo ..read more