A Beer is Born! Wolf Pack Imperial IPA has been brewed!!

What a group!

For some valley beer bar owners and employee's, yesterday was a special day. A group gathered yesterday morning at Sleepy Dog's Tempe brewing facility. Their task for the day, brew their collaboration beer, Wolf Pack Imperial IPA that they talked about a few weeks back at Sleepy Dogs Gilbert Bistro location (I wrote about that previously, you can see that here....)
Representatives from Spokes on Southern, Whole Foods Chandler, Lucky Break, Ground Control, and World of Beer Tempe were on hand to help the crew of Sleepy Dog brew up their much anticipated (at least for me, and most on hand) beer.

Rob, from Spokes on Southern

The day stated with Rob, of Sleepy Dog, going over the brew plan with all present. The grain bill consists of 3 types of grains, two row, dextrin, biscuit, as well as the use of agave nectar! The plan is to have this beer be quite light in color, about 7-8 SRM's (Standard Reference Method, a unit of measure used for the color of beer, the lower the number, the lighter the beer). The hops used were Cascade, Centennial, Summit and Amarillo hops, for a target IBU of about 80 to 85. The beer should clock in at around 8.5, to 9% ABV.

Hana, from World of Beer

I know I can't speak for everyone there, but for me, this day was quite an education. I know I have a basic understanding of the brewing process, and how it works. However, what I learned was the amount of science (an MATH!!) and the amount of work that goes into brewing and bottling a beer. Especially on the scale that they brew at Sleepy Dog. It really makes you appropriate the amount of work that goes into every bottle of beer you drink! My hat is off to all you small batch brewery's out there. You certainly do it for the love of the craft!

Matt, checking the sugar levels

While I did post a few pic's on this post, you can check out the full album on The Beer Czar Facebook page here.... If you haven't liked my page yet, please do, and feel free to tag anyone in the album, or in any specific photos you see.
Wolf Pack Imperial IPA will be released, all at once, at all participating beer bars in the valley on National IPA Day, which is Aug 1st this year. I will have a list of all the bars that will be getting this beer, so that you can make arrangements to spend IPA Day  sipping on your very own glass of Wolf Pack Imperial IPA.

Dave, adding Agave

Kyle adding hops

Last, but certainly not least, I want to personally thank Rob Sizemore, and Matt Weber of Sleepy Dog, and their staff. Not only for agreeing to brew this beer, but for your time and patience you displayed with all of us, as I am sure we slowed you down a bit. You took time to educate, demonstrate and allow us all to participate in brewing this beer, and for that, I am sure I can speak for the rest of the group when I offer our sincere gratitude for all you've done for the entire group, and this beer.
If you haven't been to Sleepy Dog, I strongly recommend you do! They have two locations. Sleepy Dog's Brew House and tap room in Tempe (no food is served there) is on University, just east of Mclintock, on the north side of the street. Their restaurant and bistro is in Gilbert, on the SW corner of Williams Field Rd and Val Vista (in the Kohl's Plaza). Go check them out, and have a few beers, and tell them the Beer Czar sent you!

And there she sleeps...

Again, you can check out the complete photo album on The Beer Czar's Facebook Page here.....

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

Get ready for IPA Day in Arizona, its going to be AWESOME!

James Swann starts the discussion

There are a few commemorative "days" in the craft beer community that have become pretty popular lately. In recent years "Stout Day" and "IPA Day" have given us just a couple of reasons to celebrate our love of craft beer, and in turn, have become the most popular. Well, this year, IPA Day in Arizona, is going to be, in a word, spectacular!
This year, IPA Day is August 1st, and to commemorate the day for 2013, the valley beer bars are working up an epic collaboration to be released!

Why can't my meetings at work look like this?

                                                                         

A total of 16 bars are taking part in the this collaboration, the first step of which took place yesterday, Memorial Day, at Sleepy Dog Pub and Bistro in Gilbert. With representatives from World of Beer, Spokes on Southern, Ground Control,  Lucky Break and Whole Foods present, (the others were unable to make it, but are committed to the project), meeting at the Pub. To go ever the recipe with Rob and Matt from Sleepy Dog, who will be brewing the beer.

Rob, Sleepy Dogs Brewmaster, takling hops

The discussion, over a few beers (of coarse), went on for about an hour and half, on what they wanted to beer to look like, taste like, what aroma it would have, what hops would be used etc. I will tell you, for someone with (admittedly) limited experience in home brewing, and no experience brewing on a large scale, this was not only a fascinating discussion, but a hell of an education for me as well. I was very glad (and honored) that I was there!

I won't get into all the details of the beer just yet, but I will tell you, its going to be an Imperial IPA, light in color, fairly high in IBU's (around 80), with a decent amount of alcohol (about 8.5% is the target). The brew will be called "Wolf Pack Imperial IPA". They felt this best represents not only the collaborative effort of the beer, but also pays a bit of homage to Sleepy Dog's involvement as well.

The beer will be brewed on June 17th, at Sleepy Dogs brewing facility in Tempe. Art work will be done in the coming weeks as well. All this culminating in one massive, simultaneous release at all the valley beer bars on IPA Day, Aug 1st (specific times to come).
Stay tune, and keep an ear out for more news, as you will certainly be hearing a TON more about this beer in the days and weeks to come. To keep track of this beer, you can check it out not only here on The Beer Czar, but on Brew Bros, Chow Bella and Mouth by Southwest as well.

A hat tip to James Swann, as well as Rob and Matt from Sleepy Dog for their efforts in getting this project off the ground, and my thanks for including me in it as well!

Again, stay tunes, I will keep you all up to speed on this project.

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar