The antithesis: Phoenix, AZ

I want to talk this week about what makes a good brewery... or at least what I think makes a good brewery.  See, a couple weeks ago I stumbled in to Los Gatos in San Jose and... well I think I made it kinda clear that I just wasn't a fan.  It wasn't a terrible place by any means, but it was just lacking.  Small selection of rather ordinary beer, a sterile upscale atmosphere and all for a lot more then some much better places charge.

This week I'm talking about a place that is almost the opposite of that.  Papago Brewing in the suburbs of Phoenix might be a little hard to find.  It's nesled into a strip mall a few miles from Sky Harbor airport.  But find the address, plug it into a GPS and find your way there, because it's worth a visit.
First of all, I just dug the atmosphere.  Nothing special, per se, just a nice relaxed nieghborhood bar feel.  The kind of place that just puts one at ease immediately.  Besides a fine selection of their own beers, they actually have a fairly large amount of beers on tap from all sorts of breweries.  While I was there, they actually had four years of Stone's Vertical Epics on tap.  I think they were left over from a tasting earlier that week, but still.

This is a place to relax and have a beer.

The other cool thing is that the food is good and swings from 'fairly normal pub fare' to 'okay that's different...'
I had a Belgian pizza which is pizza with carmelized onions, ham, sour cream and swiss cheese.  I'll give you a moment to react to that combination in your own way.

 It was one of those things that had to be really, really good because otherwise a combination like that just means someone's drunk in the kitchen again.  And it was really good.  Unusual, but good.

So let's talk beer.

Orange Blossom:  I think this is the only time the lightest beer in the bar became my favorite, but I enjoyed the hell out of this.   The aroma... well the only thing I can describe it as is, it has a creamcicle aroma.  The texture is very smooth and creamy.  It's on the sweeter side as far as flavor goes, but it has some citrus a flavor more like a light lager. 

Oude Zuipers: A belgian strong ale with a very light bannana aroma.  The flavor is much, much stronger and pretty simplistic.  It's basically just a burst of esters.  There is a little bitterness in the back, but otherwise those that are not fans of that fruity Belgian yeast are not going to find anything redemeable in this beer.

Elsie's Stout: One of the two coffee stouts available.  Not just two stouts, but two coffee stouts.  That's commitment to a flavor profile, that is.  This one has a coffee and cream aroma.  After a taste, I tried to tell the difference between this beer an a cup of coffee.  1. Temperature.  2. Type of serving vessel.  3. My coffee is never carbonated and fairly rarely alcoholic.  That's about it.

Coconut Joe: The other coffee stout.  This one falls on the bitter side of the equasion, but otherwise it's exactly the same.

El Robusto: A dark lager.  Also has kind of a chocolate coffee aroma.  Thankfully this isn't the coffee in a pint glass from earlier.  The flavor is smoother, sweeter with some caramel and chocolate sweetness and a lighter flavor.

Stories Told: Ariziona Wine Country

I'm kind of retracing some old steps this week.  The second post in this blog featured a trip to Arizona wine country.  Since I happened to be in the area, I thought I would take a minute to restock my dwindling wine cellar and add another location to the list.

Well, it was meant to be a quick trip.  It turned out to be a lot more fun then I had planned.  I pulled up to the winery just as the owner, Barbara Predmore just happened to be walking by.  She greeted me enthusiastically and showed me to the tasting room where three other women were have a glass or two themselves.

It's always fun when the vintner happens to be available to talk wine during the tasting.  For obvious reasons the tend to be very passionate about their trade and their business.  I've learned so much about wine from these sessions it's one of the main reasons that going out to the wineries for a taste is such a worthwhile endeavour.

This was different.  Barb sat behind the counter and held court about any number of subjects.  Everything from caesar salad dressing to supermarkets, the State of Arizona and, of course her winery.  "This is my Shangri-la.  We work very hard, but it's our dream and we're living it."

Alcantara winery is the largest winery in the Northern Arizona wine region.  That being said, in terms of output, Alcantara is still a small, intimate operation, a fact that Barb almost relishes.  "It's still a small winery.  It might be the only thing about me that is small."  Then she laughed.  Barb has a laugh makes it almost physically impossible not to laugh along with her.

So the four of us sat down and laughed as wine was poured and Barb talked about the finer points of the wine world like how the movie Sideways boosted the quality of Two-buck Chuck Merlot, the difference between red and white wine as far as image and the evils of the supermarket wine rack.

(Sideways caused people to gravitate to pinot noir grapes leaving high-quality merlot on the vine; apparently people perceive red wine as a more sophisticated drink; the harsh lights of supermarkets degrades the quality of wine.)

So let's talk wine.  Of the sixteen wines they had available, I was able to sample seven.  It should also be noted that, with the exception of the Sangiovese, all of the grapes for these wines were grown at the winery itself.  Also, it should be noted that, yes, I focused on the reds.  It's a matter of personal preference, although they had a fairly large selection of lighter whites as well.

Mesa Blanca: This was the one white I had during my visit because I'm much more a dry red fan and Arizona wine country is the Mecca of dry reds.  This was kind of a nice blend with a pear, peach aroma.  It was fairly tart with grapefruit and pear flavors.

Syrah: I picked up some raspberry and strawberry on the nose.  The flavor was peppery and fruity and quite tart, but it was mentioned that this wine was a little young.

Confluence IV: This blend turned out to be my favorite.  It has a very subtle berry and pepper aroma.  The flavor was exceptionally smooth with raspberry, cherry and peppery notes.  It finishes just slightly dry.

Merlot: Aroma is earthy and peppery with a little dark fruit.  The fruit is more pronounced in the flavor with some added leather flavor and finishes very dry.

NV Grand Rouge- Zabibu A Amani: Another quality blend of six grape varietals.  I picked up some plum and a little pepper on the aroma.  It was a very smooth wine with cherry, leather and pepper flavors coming and going through the palate.  Very good, complex wine.

Zinfandel: I'd like to stress, not a white zinfandel.  As Barb said, "friends don't let friends drink white zin."  Here a zinfandel pours dark red with a light pepper aroma.  It's just slightly dry with some dark cherry, leather, and floral flavors.

Sangiovese: The aroma had some cherry and some vanilla flavors as well as lots of peppery notes.  The flavor is a wonderful mixture of cherry, leather and vanilla.

Bottle Beer Tour 3: The Fermented Menace.

Okay, taking a short break from the road to empty out the beer fridge a little, (And yes, I have a refrigerator just for beer.  That's not weird, is it?)  Today is the day daylight savings time hits and to commemorate that fact we got about six inches of snow.  In typical midwest fashion, winter is going keep an icy hold as long as possible.

Tis the season of indecision, so we've got some winter beers, some summer beers and some nasty weather to drink away.

Abita Brewery, Marti Gras Bock:  Seasonal selection available only January through about mid February or something.   Pours clear and copper colored, with a very light herbal aroma.  Has a bit of a spicy, herbal bite to it.  Lots of caramel malts there as well, with a nice full body. 

Choc Brewery, Winter Stout: A winter stout with a wonderful chocolate, raisin coffee aroma.  The flavor has a lot of bitter coffee with some unsweetened chocolate. I also get just a hint of fruit somewhere in there, but I can't quite place it. 

 



Breckenridge Brewery, Agave Wheat:
Something a little different from a brewery halfway up a mountain.  This beer pours a cloudy golden color.  Slightly lemony and herbal. It has a kind of sour-sweet flavor.  Not like the sour of an infected beer, but more like green apple.  It has some slight herbal qualities on the back.  Lighter body, smooth mouthfeel.  Nothing all that astounding, but a nice summer beer anyway.

Huisbrouwerij Klein Duimpje, Erik De Noorman Dutch Barley Wine:  Okay stepping a little out of the United States a bit for the first time.  Pours cloudy and copper colored.  It has a raisin and plum aroma.  Full bodied with a slightly fizzy mouthfeel.  Sweet and malty with dark fruit flavors off the top with a slight bitter back and a dry finish.




This last one... I don't know if it even still qualifies as a microbrew.  I guess it is in the sense that Sam Adams is considered a micro brew by some.  Still, because I happen to have a bottle here, here's a midwest staple: Leinenkugles, Berry Wiess:  And it's pretty much as advertised.  Strong, fruity nose.  Very sweet raspberry flavor to the point of being a sparkling cider.