He's a Lumberjack and he's IPA: Flagstaff, Arizona

Sorry for the title.  I recently aquired "He's Not the Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy," and I'm afraid the image of an elderly Michael Palin performing the lumberjack song will both haunt  and amuse me for some time.

And it is related to this week's post.... because Flagstaff is a lumber town...  And there's kind of a lumber mill theme at Beaver Street Brewery... which I will be talking about soon...

Look I'm sorry about the pun, okay?  I just couldn't help myself.

Okay?

Okay.

Beer?

This is the last stop on the oddyessy that was my trip through the Southwest, and when it comes to the brewpub, we're getting back to basics.

Well, basics, but upped a notch all the way around.

The food is your basic pub fare... except well more so.  I went with their basic 'Beaver Street Burger' and I've got to say they push the limits of the awesome you can achieve with ground beef and a bun.
There was something, I dunno, quinteccential about their beer selection as well.  I can't pinpoint it and maybe it's a product of a mind that's spent entirely too much time watching little yellow dots go by, but they have two IPA, a couple wild cards and nothing even remotely resembling Budweiser.   That's a brewpub.  Or, at least, it's the kind of brewpub a city like Flagstaff should have.

Lumberyard Amber: This seasonal selection had a nice citrusy, earthy aroma to it.  The flavor packs a lot more hops then one traditionally finds in a amber but it's not right there in front ready to give you an alpha acid punch to the palate, it's sorta sneaks up on you.  It's like biting into a chile pepper.  There's a slow build-up of floral citrus hops until that's all you taste and you become afraid that it is all you will ever taste again.

Lumberjack Red: I didn't pick up an aroma on this beer as much.  The flavor was of light, roasted, earthy flavor.  It was very drinkable, but was flirting dangerously close to 'watery' in character.

Red Rock Rasberry: Some day I'm going to put all the rasberry beers I have tasted into two catagories.  One catagory for your typlical light, sweet, fruity, dare I say... 'chick' beers and another catagory for people who Don't Like Fruit Beers!  Then I will make those two groups fight.   Anyway this beer would be fighting for the latter group in this case.  The rasberry aroma is there and in force, but the melds into some dry grassy flavors.

Balgian Tripple: This Belgian comes with all the associated belgian flavors and aromas; clove trpolical fruit, bananna and the like.  They are not overpowering, as can so often happen when these kind of esters get heavily involved, and it remains highly drinkable.  One thing that I did notice was a dry, warm alcohol flavor dancing around in there informing the drinker of the punch that is hidden within the malt.  I think a few of these would put me on the floor before I knew what happened.

R&R Oatmeal Stout: Lost of rich coffee and mocha on the aroma with just a hint of either wood or leather... I couldn't really place it at the moment. The beer is very drinkable and contains dark chocolate and earthy notes and finishes just slightly dry.

Cascading IPA: This is an American-style IPA that gets close to 'hop bomb' territory.  The citrus, floral hops are intense at first, but they mellow considerably as it moves through the palate.  By the end, the hops linger just slightly and some light roasted malt peaks through.

Lumberjack IPA: This would be Cascading's smaller, quieter brother.  It shares a lot of the same qualities without the intense hop kick-to-the-teeth.

A quick AZ moment.

So here's the thing.  The last week or so I've embarked on a pretty major tour through the West.  Specifically Denver, Santa Fe and Phoenix.  During that week there's been some minor sampling of beer.  And by minor, I mean I've been enough places I think I can keep this blog regularly updated during the off-season.

Trouble is, I'm still in the middle of it.  So just a quick entry today where I say high to and old friend.  

Four Peaks Brewing was featured in post número uno of this blog.  I stopped by there a couple years ago, drank some beer, and it felt like a good time to check up with them.

Short Hop Session IPA:  This was their seasonal beer this time around.    Light citrus hop aroma here.  Built as a lighter beer for summer with a little extra kick.  Lots of hop flavor here but it remains very drinkable.

Hefeweizen:  Very pale cloudy beer.  Slight lemon tropical fruit aroma.  The combination of tropical fruit and lemon is a bit odd, but not unpleasant.  The citrus adds a refreshing touch.

Kilt Lifter: Light aroma.  Heavy malty beer with burbon oak cherry flavors.  No hops to speak of.  A malt bomb, but pretty good, though I can't see myself having more then a few of these.

Like I said, lots to get through over the next few weeks.  Until then, cheers!

Short Hop IPA

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.

Blood into Wine: Arizona Wine Country.

While driving into Phoenix, I got a chance to talk briefly over the phone with the head of the Arizona wine growers association.  She gave me a little lay of the land, where to go to find the wineries, information, etc.  Then she said, "Did you know, the lead singer of Tool has a winery out in Jerome?"  

I did not know that.  Then again, I haven't kept up with Tool for the last few years... or ever for that matter.  The woman continued:

"Oh yes.  He moved out here a few years ago and he's been doing a lot for Arizona wines!"

I've said it before and I will say it again, you find weird stuff in the desert.

Since I opened with Maynard James Kennan, I'm going to come right out and confess that I was not able to make it out to his winery in Jerome.   I'll have to save that for my next visit.  His partner in crime, Eric Glomski, is the wine maker out at Page Springs and I was able to stop there.  While I was working my way through their 'Big Red' wine list I happened to see the movie poster for  the documentary, Blood Into Wine.  The film stars Kennan and Glomski and talks about Arizona wines, the wine industry in general, Kennan's transition from a rock star to wine grower in the high desert and the rag-tag group's fight to prove they can produce wine that's just as good as that produced by the Evil Empire of Napa Valley, (Complete with evil music!)   I watched the film when I got back from Phoenix and it is pretty excellent.  It's available on Netflix and I found it on several Internet sites, and it's well worth checking out.   On a side note, if someone has access to a welder, they need to give me a call.  Apparently those brass knuckles / corkscrew that Kennan is wearing in that poster don't actually exist.  We could make a fortune. 

Page Springs Cellars

I think this was my favorite of the three wineries I made it out to.  That's saying something because Arizona's primary wine styles are all heavy, dry red wines.  Those that know me, will also know that I am a fan of the Merlots, Syrahs and similar styles.  At Page Springs, the clear stand out was a red table wine called Vino De La Familia.     It had some slight pepper flavor balanced with some dark fruit.     A close second was their Vino del Barrio which was a blend of... well everything as near as I can figure.   I also had the chance to taste one of Kennan's creations, the Cupacabra.  It's a blend of several different varieties like the Vino del Barrio.  It was good, but I didn't like it as much as the other two.

Oak Creek Winery

In stark contrast to their neighbor, Oak Creek does very little blending in their wines.  The only blend I tried was their 'Fire' and their other offerings were much better.  Their stand out was their Syrah, a full bodied wine with a slightly spicy, smoky flavor that made me want to go out and barbecue some ribs.   They also had a port that I really enjoyed.  It was lighter than most ports and didn't have that thick, syrupy consistency that many others have.   They have a cream sherry that I didn't get to try myself but another group that had come in before me were describing it as damn near a sexual experience, so it might be worth a taste next time.

Javelina Leap Winery

This was my final stop on my trip.   The flagship wine here was their zinfandel, a word that congers up images of a sweet, pink wine that is a favorite of my fiance mostly because of it's two primary characteristics, being both sweet and pink.  Here it's a completely different animal.  It was still fairly sweet to a point, but had a lot more body, a little spice and some dryness to help its balance.  They had a Merlot that was pretty good as well, but the zinfandel was a clear stand-out.

That's all from the state of Arizona for now.  But I would like to end today's post with a thought.  Most of you know when I lived in Idaho I was a fan of the local wineries.  But, much like the wineries in Arizona, they were known only by a select few.  But if Arizona taught me anything it's that they need to find an Idaho celebrity to start making wine.  Me, I vote for Bruce Willis.   For one, I don't think he is doing anything at the moment.  Secondly, seriously, who is going to turn their nose up at the Yipee ki-chardonnay (mother fucker)?  I'll leave you with that thought.  

Cheers!

 

A Few Beers in the Valley of the Sun

Hello and welcome all.  Pull up a bar stool and pour yourself a glass of fine brew.  We are hitting the road and finding the best craft beer, wine and spirits this country has to offer.  Feel free to add any comments, questions, etc.  
  For the first post, we are starting in the Southwest in Phoenix, AZ.... well not Phoenix exactly.  Just down a bit.... down a little more... okay now just a bit to your right... a bit more... there you are.
We start in Chandler and Tempe, AZ.

 One of the things I want to accomplish with this blog is to introduce friends to great craft beers in places that they never would imagine.  In that way it's somewhat fitting that I start this project in Phoenix, Arizona.   A year ago, I was looking for some craft beer in the area.  Long story short, after searching for quite a while, I ended with the address of a brewery that either never existed, or had closed down long ago.  Flash forward to today it took me a few minutes looking in the right place to discover that I had several microbreweries just a few blocks from where I was staying.  My point is, there are great beers out there.  It might take a little searching, but they are there.
I stopped by two breweries during my trip, SanTan in Chandler, AZ and Four Peaks in Tempe.

SanTan Brewing Co.

 SanTan Brewing is located in the restaurant and bar district of downtown Chandler, AZ.  Nice location if you happen to be in the Southeast Phoenix area near Tempe and Scottsdale.   If your more towards downtown Phoenix, than this is probably a bit of a drive to get to.   But if you do make it down, stop in.  There are some fine beers on tap at this location.

I stopped by during the last game of the NBA finals, and so had everyone else in the greater Phoenix area.  On a related note, it sounds like Dallas has a lot of supporters in the Phoenix area.  Either that, or Miami has some detractors here.  
It took a bit of effort to find myself a seat at the bar and a little bit of patience to finally get a beer.   Given the conditions, I probably can't fault them for taking a while.   When I finally did get the bartender's attention he was nice enough to spend a little time talking about the beers they had on tap, so they get points there.  Once the game was over and the place quieted down a little, it became a nice place to hang out.  They have a really nice outdoor seating area where you can still belly-up to the bar.  It's a nice place to sit on a warm evening in Southern Arizona with a cool pint.  This also strikes me as a place that takes the art of craft brew seriously.  All their beer comes in that rounded glass shape made famous by the Sam Adams brewery.  They also have three taps especially for their cask-aged beers.  If you haven't had a cask-aged beer, try them.   They are delicious.

They have a good selection of beers.  I had a taste of most of them.  Among them they have a niro-stout named the Gordo Stout.  It was good, like a Guiness with more roasted grain.  They also have a couple of Hefeweizen beers that they brew using that Belgian wheat beer yeast that brewers insist adds a 'bannana flavor' to the beer.  I have had a banana or two and I have had those beers.  I don't know what that flavor is, but it sure as hell ain't banana.  Some folks like it, I find it horrific.  It wasn't as bad at this particular brewery, but I still am not a fan, so I will leave that to those that enjoy it.   There were a couple of really good stand outs:

Epicenter Amber

This is SanTan's flagship American Amber ale.  It's available on tap at the brewery and also in cans around Arizona.  Sun Tan describes this beer thusly, "Deep garnet amber hue with a firm toasted malt character, lightly sweet with a crisp, dry finish."
 Fair enough, this beer is pretty much as advertised.  There are some light malts in the aroma.  The taste is slightly malty off the top and it ends with just a touch of bitterness.   All in all a nice, balanced amber ale.  




SanTan IWA and Hopshock IPA

 SanTan's seasonal addition during my visit was an Indian Wheat Ale.  I had their Hopshock IPA right after this beer and there wasn't a lot of difference.  The Hopshock had more malt flavor than this beer, but both were very approachable IPA style beers.  Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled on beers from the Pacific Northwest where the addition of Cascade hops is almost a competitive sport, but both of these surprised me.  Both had a lot of citrus hops in the aroma, but there was a lot of malt sweetness in the flavor.  If pressed, I am not sure I could tell the IWA and IPA apart, although I think the IWA had quite a bit less malt flavor.  Both good beers and very approachable.  Those who don't like those hop bombs that normally characterize an IPA may enjoy these.

 Sunspot Gold
On my trip, I spent some time listening to a podcast called 'Expert Drinking' with Steven and Dr. Bill.  One of them remarked that the skill of a brewer is not measured in their Imperial Stouts or Barleywines.  Instead  the mark of a great brewer lies in their ability to make a pilsner.  You can hide a lot of mistakes in the fullness of an imperial stout, but in a beer such as this you've got nowhere to hide.




Four Peaks Brewing Company

 Driving to the brewery I started looking suspiciously at my GPS device.  It apparently wanted me to turn off the main road and drive into, what looked like, a residential area.   Historically, my GPS has proven itself much smarter than myself so I heeded its advice.  Sure enough I soon found a line of parked cars by the side of the road that extended almost a quarter mile away from the brewery.
Again, the place was packed but it was a Saturday night afterall.  I found myself a spot to sit down and was greeted by Heather who was tending bar.  She immediately told me about their seasonal brew, a malt liquor.  In my mind the words 'malt liquor' are filed under the heading 'masochistic,' but we will get to that later.
The bar itself was pretty cool.  It was built into an old creamery at the edge of town, so they had plenty of space to work with.  The fermenters sit towards the back of the bar and apparently are subjected to the oppressive desert heat as the bar is temperature controlled with a swamp cooler alone.  I asked one of the other bartenders how hot it got in there and  if this had any effect on the beer in mid-summer.   He shrugged and said it gets in the upper 90's in the building, but as far as he knew, it didn't effect the beer at all.  
Nor did I taste any off flavors in the beer, so I figure we can go with that.  They had a good selection of some really wonderful beers, including the aforementioned malt liquor.  Most of the beers described to me as 'hoppy' really weren't.  Again this may be my experience with the hopheads in the Pacific Northwest.   Their flagship beer is a scottish ale they call the 'Kiltlifter.' It was a fantastic ale with hints of fruit and bourbon.  I didn't sit down and write a nice long review because I ended up talking to one of the locals sitting next to me.  But trust, me it's worth a taste.  Here are some other stand outs:
Four Peaks Malt Liquor

Like I said earlier, the term malt liquor usually reminds me of skunky tasting, urine colored swill that I ended up sucking down at college parties to stave of that retched, retched sobriety.   I also seem to recall a friend of mine at the University of Oregon claiming that he would rather be sodomized with a large, irregularly shaped vegetable than drink a 40 of Ol' English.  The Four Peaks Malt Liquor, on the other hand is surprisingly, even dangerously drinkable.  The aroma and taste are a nice combination of sweet malts and citrus hops.  The overall profile is very similar to an American pale ale.  Watch out, however; it does a good job of hiding it's 9% alcohol content and one could easily drink three or four of them before they realize that they have lost the ability to stand under their own power.

Raj IPA

This is a rare example of a true English style IPA.  I had a small taste of their Hop Knot American IPA right after this just to compare and contrast.  The difference is rather striking.  Whereas American IPAs are loaded down with citrus and floral hops for maximum hop flavor, this was much more subtle.   The English IPAs were brewed, not so much for the hop flavor, but to help the beer keep on the long trip to India.  It had a sweet, fruity nose of orange or maybe peach.  The taste had medium body with a mildly sweet start that finished with a dry bitterness you could feel in the back of your throat.  Probably not a beer for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.



Sunbru Kolsch

  Traditional German style ale.  It's a very light ale with some light malty sweetness in the aroma.   It has a light body with mild carbonation.  The light malts and low hop bitterness make this an exceptionally drinkable beer.  Very refreshing in the desert heat.  




Well that's it for this week.  I'll try to get a post up once a week and see how it goes.  Next week I'll talk about my trip back through Arizona wine country.  This is the place to go if, like myself, you are a fan of dry red wines.  We will also talk about the lead singer of Tool, Maynard James Keenan and what, if anything, heavy metal alternative rock has to do with the art of wine making.


Cheers!