Big Announcment from the Great American BBQ and Beer Festival!

This state has a lot of awesome festivals, and I am not just talking beer festivals. We have a lot of great food festivals as well. Well, one of my favorites is a combo of both, that being The Great American BBQ and Beer Festival, hosted by SanTan Brewery! While more a food festival then a beer festival, there is still great beer to be had (all SanTan brews, nothing wrong with that), AMAZING BBQ to sample, and in the past, some pretty decent live entertainment. Well, this year, to go with the great beer and amazing food, they landed a pretty awesome (at least in my eyes) live act to enjoy as well. This years headliner of the festival will be none other then John Popper and the boys of Blues Traveler!! These guys have long been one of my all time favorite bands. I first heard them about my Sr. year of High School, saw them live for the first time about my Jr. year of college, and have been a faithful fan ever since. You can imagine my excitement at the news about them headlining. So, I will for sure be there, and I hope to see you there as well!!

Check out below for all the info, and links you will need!

I wish this was scratch and sniff!

This years festival will be March 22nd, in beautiful downtown Chandler.
Gates open at noon.

Tickets are available for just $8 presale at all Bashas' locations. Tickets will be $10 at the door.
Or order your tickets ahead of time now by clicking here......







This years list of activities include....
Bashas’ Backyard Throwdown Competition
Porkopolis Battle of the Bands
Can’t Stop Smokin’ BBQ Rib Eating Contest
Tastebuds Pie Eating Contest
Hungry Monk Wing Eating Contest
Von Hanson’s Brat Eating Contest

There will be various "zones" set up through out, those zones include....
SanTan Brewing Tailgaters’ Lawn
Ultra Star March Madness Lounge
Chester’s Harley Davidson Pavilion
Porkopolis VIP Quarters
Dickel Hoedown Rodeo Zone
Bulleit Bourbon BBQ Pit Row
Kid Zone
DC Farmers Market

Besides Blues Traveler, other act's preforming will include...

Craig Campbell
Laura Walsh
Georgia Chrome

So, I mean really, there is really no excuse for you not to come to this festival. Unless you hate great beer, your a vegetarian that also hates awesome music.....



I will see you there!

Until then....
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

Craft Beer Interactive Map....

Screen shot of the interactive map

I stumbled across this map this morning while cruising Facebook (see, there is some helpful stuff on there). Its an interactive map of the Craft Beer industry in the United States. Kind of fun if you are into numbers, and pretty interesting. You can search, by state a number of categories included
total number of breweries, annual production, fastest growing breweries, and a few more.

Like I said, its pretty cool, and even kind of fun. Check it out, and see how your state ranks among the 50.

New Yorker Craft Beer Map

Let me know what you think of it. I'm having a lot of fun with it this morning! (to give a local shout out, our own beloved San Tan Brewery ranks among the 50 fastest growing breweries in the country!)

Until next time

Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

A look at "The AmeriCAN Canned Beer Festival"

OK, I am going to try and keep this as brief as I can. However, given my penchant to ramble on and on when I get excited, this might be tough! Anyone that attended the 3rd Annual AmeriCAn Canned Beer Festival this passed weekend, will now why I am excited. In a word, it was awesome! OK, I've been to festivals that had a bigger selection of beers, and breweries, maybe a wider array of beers sure. This festival however, had an awful lot of things that most others do not! Where do I begin???

OK, lets start from the beginning  My wife and it got there right about noon, when the gates opened. We grabbed our tickets, and waited in the line to get in. I have to say, I got a little nervous right off the bat when I saw the line to get in. It was long! As soon as we got in line, we started hearing people complaining about the line. Much to our relief, the line moved rather quickly, and we were standing in it for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, so, not bad at all. Besides, as my experiences with beer festivals, I figured waiting in line was something we should probably be ready to do a lot of this afternoon. Well, I was soon to learn, that the short, 10 minute wait to get it, was by far, the low point of the afternoon!

The stage

Upon walking in, we were handed our little (maybe) 4 oz topless tasting can, and "passport" with a map of the festival. There was a rather large crowd mingling right at the entrance, so we made our way through, walking down the sidewalk a couple of dozen yards, where the festival opened up into a large, grassy area with a little hill, circled by brewery and vendor tents, with a nice sort of pond/water feature in the middle of it, with a good size stage placed half over the water, where various bands played throughout the afternoon.
One of the first thing I said to my wife upon seeing this was "what a PERFECT spot for a beer festival!" It was green, and opened, with a ring of tree's circling it, provided a pretty decent amount of shade

for the brewer's and volunteers pouring samples for the thirsty masses. The weather didn't hurt matters either. Calling for a high of 92 that day, it couldn't have been much warmer then the high 80's when we got there, with a nice breeze blowing to help keep you cool(er). Really, you couldn't have designed a much nicer day for an outdoor festival.

We started making our way around to the various breweries, and were happy to find (or rather not find) any real lines at any of the tents. I never had to wait for more then 2 or 3 people to get my sample, and even got to stop and chat with a few of the brewer's and reps pouring as well. Everyone seemed to happy, and excited to be there, and were gracious, and accommodating to everyone that I saw. I was able to get about a dozen or so samples, all of beer I had never tried before, and in a few cases, never even heard of. All the beer was nice and cold when served. In a few cases, I walked around and let it warm a bit before drinking, but with the weather, and the sun, this only took a minute or so in those cases.

Beer for Brains

Me with James Swann

My wife and I were able to walk around, take in the sights, sounds and smells of the festival. Taking our time to chat with some friends and acquaintances we saw there. Got a chance to catch up with Louis from Beer for Brains. We ran into Brett Dettler of Arizona Wilderness Brewing. Of coarse, got to say a quick hello to James Swann as well, pouring beer for Mudshark, and as normal, he had a line of enthusiasts waiting to chat with Arizona's always friendly beer guru.

Santa Fe Brewing

Cigar City

We were lucky enough to meet some other folks there I had yet to meet. I finally got a chance to meet and chat with John "Hoppymoto" Alvarado, owner of Arizona Brewery Tours, someone I have been wanting to meet for a while now. If you get a chance, please check out his business, it looks awesome, and hope to join a tour here very soon, so I can give you a first hand account of it.

Marble Brewing, NM

Also, had a chance to meet and chat with the fine folks at Santa Fa Brewing, and Cigar City (FINALLY got a chance to try Jia Alai, fantastic!), and Marble Brewing.  I will add, I think the best beer I had on this great afternoon of great beer, was Golden Road's Wolf Among Weeds, a spectacular Imperial IPA that made me almost double take on my first sip!

What I love about beer festivals like this, is getting to chat with folks that make the beer, they obviously love it, and are passionate about it. Which is one of the reasons I love drinking local beer. You learn so much more from someone that got their hands dirty making the very beer you are drinking. I love this part of festival's like this the most!

I will say this again, this was a great festival! I still think maybe Arizona Strong Beer Festival might be the

The Beer Czar

best beer festival in Arizona. However, I can see the AmeriCAN Festival taking its place in the years to come. With the popularity and acceptance of canned beer in the craft beer community, and more and more breweries opening up each year, and canning their beers, there is no reason to believe that this festival can't continue to grow, and improve in the years to come. Let me also ad, while hard core beer folks love this festival,  I think this festival would be a great experience for anyone new to the beer community, or looking to get into it. Or even just those casual beer fans that like beer, like to try different beers and aren't afraid to branch out out a bit.

A hat tip to San Tan Brewery, and HDE Agency for putting on just a phenomenal festival. I am looking forward to next year already!!!

Well done, and thank you for giving Arizona one more reason to take pride in our beer community!

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

Save the Date...3rd Annual Ameri-CAN Canned Craft Beer Festival!!!!

OK, its still a ways away, but I want to give you guys plenty of heads up on this one. One of the best beer festivals in the state of Arizona (I feel), this year, the 3rd Annual Ameri-Can Canned Craft Beer Festival is coming to Scottsdale on May 18th, noon to 6 pm! Held at the Scottsdale Civic Center, this year more the 60 breweries, from over 20 states, will be serving up over 150 beers, some never before seen in the state! Pre-sale tickets are $25, VIP tickets for $100. Day of tickets are $35.

Purchase tickets here...


There will be judging, and an awards ceremony, live music (I'll post a list as soon as its available) , food truck court, VIP tent, Beer Science Garden, and even some Beer Olympic games! Oh, and just an FYI, this is a 21 and over event (no exceptions), so don't plan on bringing the kiddos.

Some of the brewers listed, not normally seen in Arizona are Cigar City, from FL, Hop City  and Two Brothers from IL, Blue Mountain Barrel House from VA, Nola from LA and many many others! (complete (so far) list here).

So, if you are one of those folks that believes beer just isn't as good in a can (like I wrote about here), well, do yourself a favor, attend this festival, and have your mind changed!!!! I really hope to see you there!

A portion of the proceeds for this event will go to benefit the Scottsdale Cultural Council. To learn more about them, visit www.sccarts.org.

I will update you all when I have more info, so check back!

Festival Website here
Facebook Site here

Event Location

Scottsdale Civic Center
3939 N Drinkwater Blvd
Scottsdale, AZ 85251


Until next time,
Bottoms up my friends!
The Beer Czar

Time to play a little catch up.....this passed weeks events.

First off, let me start by apologizing to my readers. Nothing makes you realize how many people enjoy reading your blog then when you fail to update it for over a week! I thank you all that reached out to me to make sure all was "OK". Have no fear, I am just fine, albeit a tad busy. Between various beer events, my oldest daughters basketball schedule, and a job that seems to be expanding weekly, I have found myself with  very little time to write any updates, till now!!! So, here we go...

Great American BBQ and Beer Festival...

So good!!!

Let me start with the Great American BBQ and Beer Festival. Held back on March 23 in Historic Downtown Chandler. This event, put on by San Tan Brewery, was, shall I say, fairly awesome. To be clear, it was much more a BBQ festival then a beer festival, but that really isn't an issue here at all. San Tan was providing the beer, and just a TON of BBQ vendors took part in providing the food. My wife, and my oldest daughter and I made our way down there, had some AWESOME brisket from Up in Smoke BBQ. Enjoyed a Mr Pineapple and Sex Panther, and walked around, enjoyed the beautiful weather, checking out the sites and sounds and smells,

The weather was perfect!

 and even got to say hello to my friends from Craft Brewed Clothing!! We went early, soon after the gates opened, so it wasn't too busy, but from some of the pictures I saw, it was packed later that evening, and for good reason. The sights, and smells of this festival were just amazing. Everyone was having fun, and were friendly, and polite. There was plenty to eat and drink (even for the kids) and lots to learn, and even some free swag to collect (I scored 3 free t-shirts!) A hat tip to San Tan Brewery and HDE Agency for putting on a spectacular event! Can't wait till next year!



Pitcher of Nectar Distributors Rare Beer Festival

Up next, was the Pitcher of Nectar Distributors Rare Beer Festival, held at Whole Foods. This festival, although small, had an amazing line up of beers! I got 15 tickets, and used each one on a beer I had never tried before, and in many cases, never even heard of! We spent a good 3+ hours making our way through the crowd, visiting with friends, making some new ones, and just having a great time doing it. Now, if I had one knock on this festival, is that it was a little starved for space.

Lots of beer lovers!

If you have ever been to The Watering Hole at Whole Foods, you know its not a huge place, and it seemed every beer lover in the east valley was filling the place up for this event. That being said, it didn't really detract from the event at all. I normally hate tight crowds. I get grumpy, and short tempered normally. Not this time. Maybe it was because of all the amazing beers to be had, or all the friendly beer lovers enjoying themselves, or our gracious host King James Swann, making the rounds making sure everyone was happy. Maybe it was all these things. It was a great event, and hope next year, you can procure a little more floor space (maybe even in the parking lot?), as I am sure there will be an even larger crowd next year.

Play Ball!!!!
This brings me to one of my favorite days of the year, Opening Day! As is my tradition, I attended the D-backs Opening Day with my mother, and her friend Andrea, and her husband Rich, as we have done for the last half dozen years or so.Growing up a huge fan of the sport, watching my beloved Red Sox every chance I could get, or playing in as many leagues as our short Maine summers would allowed, I have always loved the game of baseball. The fact that beer and baseball go hand in hand is just a glorious coincidence. Now, craft beer and baseball, well that is still a young relationship, but one that is maturing with each passing season. Currently, a majority of the beer available at most ballparks is comprised mainly of macro American lagers. However, if you know where to look, Chase Field, and other ballparks do offer a few tasty brews. A few Sam Adams seasonal are available, as is a few of Phoenix Ale Brewery's offerings. I enjoyed an $11 Cambleback IPA, while I watched as the D-backs raked up 15 hits, and 6 runs to win their 5th (?) straight opening day, this time against the Cardinals of St Louis.
On a side note, I was just reading that our beloved local brewery Four Peaks is in discussion with the D-Backs currently to provide their brews at Chase Field for next season, which would be WONDERFUL news if you ask me! I can see myself enjoying a Hop Knot while taking in a ball game!!!



OK, I promise, I will not take so long before I post again, as I have a list of things I want to write about, or share with you. Again, I appreciate those that showed concern in my absences, nice to know I have some faithful readers out there!

Thanks again, and until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

San Tan's Mr Pineapple, is it the perfect summer beer?

a tad warm

OK, I am sitting here, its March 14th, 10 am, all the windows and doors open, and sun is already warming up to a comfortable 71, on its way to around 93 today. Yup, this is what we call "spring" in Arizona. In just a few short months, the temp will be climbing an additional 20 degrees or so from today's forecasted high (last summer, we hit 118 I believe, officially, my car thermometer read 122!). So, while most of the country is still butt deep in the chilly white stuff, longing for temps that don't start with "minus", we here in Arizona are already in shorts and flip flops, and contemplating turning on the A/C. This is exactly why I moved here!

Bells Oberon

This brings about thoughts of beers for summer, at least it does for me. Now, for the last 5 years, my standard, go to summer beer has been Bell's Oberon Ale, from Kalamazoo, MI (I first had it at my wedding reception, where we had a keg of it). Well, I may have found a beer that will compete for my fridge space this summer! Who could possible take the place of that golden beer with the smiling sun on the label? Well, Mr Pineapple, that's who! The best part, its brewed less then 10 miles from my house!!

I was lucky enough to receive a couple of can's of San Tan Brewing Company's Mr Pineapple the other day. Now, if anyone has been to their pub during the summer months you may have tried this already. They started making it for their annual Luau celebrations. Well, I guess it received such deserved praise, they decided to make it a staple summer seasonal beer in their pub. Now, since San Tan has decided to launch Arizona's first seasonal canned beer campaign, we will now be lucky enough to grab a six pack of this treasure to enjoy anywhere!

This award winning beer (Silver Medalist at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival) is a traditional German Wheat beer using white wheat, two row and Munich malt. They add fresh pineapple ( I read 130 oz per barrel) during the primary fermentation  then crushed, and cooled to infuse those pineapple flavors with the traditional flavors of the German Wheat beer. Its a very session-able 5% ABV, with a light 20 IBU's.

It pours a cloudy, dark golden, almost orange color. With a fluffy white head, that looks almost like frosting on a cupcake! The aroma is fresh, wheat/bread, typical of a wheat beer, but also with a fruity character, and not just pineapple, more like a fruit salad. You can pull the pineapple aromas out of it however. The aroma is very refreshing on this beer!

Now, when you take a sip, the pineapple is much more pronounced then in the aroma, but there is still that hint of other fruit (apple mostly), but again, you mainly get the pineapple, that mixes well with the fresh wheat flavors. Now, this isn't one of those over the top, sickening sweet fruit beers. While the fruit flavors are pronounced, they don't over power and take over the taste of the beer, which I just love! The pineapple flavor is more then a hint, but still subtle enough for you folks that like beer that still tastes like beer. Over all, this is a very drinkable, smoothly pleasant beer to drink. It just seems like all the aspects of this beer are so very well balanced  Not one aspect over powers and takes over, they all seem to mingle, and work perfectly together to produce a near perfect summer/poolside beer!

Will Mr Pineapple take its place in my fridge as my go to summer beer? That remains to be seen, but I will say this, there will be plenty of it, along side my beloved Oberon in my fridge this summer!

Mr Pineapple will be available in stores starting after the BBQ and Beer festival in Chandler next weekend (March 23rd). Find it where every you find San Tan beers.

Thank you Jennifer P and folks at HDE for the "sneak peak"!

Learn more about San Tan on their website here..

Follow them on Facebook 

Follow them on Twitter

San Tan Brewing is located at 

8 S. San Marcos Place

Chandler, AZ 

Opened 

Sun - Thur 11 am to 1 am

Fri and Sat 11 am to 2 am

Until Next Time

Bottoms Up My Friends

The Beer Czar

San Tan Expansion!

San Tan Brew Pub, downtown Chandler AZ

I've been writing a lot lately about the growing beer scene here in Arizona, and most specifically the east valley. Well, it seems not a week goes by when we get more good news from the EV beer community, and this week is no exception.
Arizona's fastest growing brewery, San Tan Brewing is, well its not going to stop growing anytime soon! They just announced they are adding a 35,000 sq ft production and warehouse facility to its ever growing operation! San Tan has seen an amazing 100% growth in the Arizona market of the last 3 years, this move just allows San Tan to continue this growth for the foreseeable future.

In one of the more awesome aspects of this expansion, they will be using their downtown facility as a sort of "San Tan Laboratory" in order to more experimental and offer more special, one off brews! To me, its this sort of thing that makes any brewery or brew pub worth coming back to over and over. Its fine to have the flagship beers on tap, as one would expect. However, to me, its the special beers that make it exciting every time you walk  in the door. Plus, it allows the brew master to flex their muscle, show off a bit, and refine their skills. So everybody wins!

The new facility

The new facility, located at 495 E Warner Road in Chandler (for those in the east valley, that is about half way between Arizona, and Warner Rd, just a few miles from their downtown location) will create some 25 new jobs to the local economy (to add to the already 125 they have added over the last 3 years). So this is not just good news for beer folks, this is just great news for the east valley, and the City of Chandler in general. Its always great to see a local success story, the fact that it is a brewery just makes its all the more appealing to me!

Expect to see more of these!

I have an inquiry into San Tan as to weather or not they will be offering any sort of tastings, or tour or anything at the new facility, and will pass on that info as soon as I get it.

You can read the press release from HDE here...
Check out San Tan's website here...

So, congrats to San Tan. Its always great to see these local success story's. So plan on seeing San Tan even more at stores and bars near you!

Until next time
Bottoms Up my friends!
The Beer Czar

Great news for East Valley beer folks!!!

***UPDATE***

For those of you looking for news of World of Beer opening in Gilbert. They don't have a set opening date as of yet, looks like it may be this fall sometime. The location will be at San Tan Village, along the Williams Field Rd side, right between Kona Grill and Chipotle. New's is still pretty vague, but they do have a Facebook page now, so go there, like it, and keep up to date on their news, and of coarse, as I hear anything, I will be updating it on here as well.       World of Beer Gilbert Facebook Page

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As many of you know, I live in Gilbert, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix. When you hear the term "east valley" in Phoenix, you are talking about cities such as Mesa, and Tempe, as well as Chandler, and Gilbert, and a few others. Until recent years, Tempe dominated the east valley (and I would argue, the entire valleys) beer scene. Tempe hosts the states largest brewer, Four Peaks, and, well, with the exception of Papago Brewery  (just a mile north of downtown Tempe, in S Scottsdale, and btw, check out their new website!!) that was pretty much it. We slowly started getting a few "chain" brewers in the east valley, i.e. BJ's in Chandler, and Rock Bottom in Ahwatukee (S Phoenix). Then, the opening of San Tan in Chandler, and Whole Foods introduction of "The Watering Hole", and well, Chandler was in the running for the Beer Capital of the East Valley. The opening of a few more brewery's, and World of Beer in Tempe probably keeps Tempe as the capital, but Chandler is becoming a destination for beer folks in the east valley.

Inside Trophy's

Gilbert has always been a little lack luster in the beer dept. For a while, there was really no where to go get a "good" beer. No brewery's at all, and few places that offered more then the ubiquitous "mega brews" you can get at any Applebee's. Well, things are looking up in Gilbert I must say. For a while, Throphys Steakhouse was THE place for craft beer in Gilbert (Trophy's in technically in Queen Creek, but about 10 feet from the Gilbert line, so I'll include it, plus, its a VERY cool place, so check it out!).

Then, Arizona Wilderness Brewing announced it was moving to Gilbert! Gilbert's first brewery. They've had some issues with permitting, and their opening, originally planned for the last part of 2012, has now been pushed to March of 2013. Worth the wait I am sure. (I am working on setting up a meeting with the owner of AWB to go over his plans, and check out his operation, stay tuned for more details)

Well, now Sleepy Dog of Tempe just announced it is taking over the recently vacated Warren's Jazz Bistro on Val Vista and Williams Field Rd!. They will have a FULL kitchen, and are looking to move their brewery operations to Gilbert as well, once the restaurant is up and running. They will continue to operate their Tempe location for another 18 months. From what I hear, they plan on having live entertainment, and just a ton of events. They plan on opening Feb 15th!!!!

.....but wait, there's more! According to Mouth by Southwest, World of Beer plans on opening its second Arizona location at Gilbert's San Tan Village Market place (literally 2 miles from my house!!!! walking distance!) I haven't been able to confirm this with any other source, but MXSW hasn't steered me wrong yet, so I can't imagine they will start now.


So beer fans of the east valley. In the up coming 4 months, we here in Gilbert will go from having a couple of options for fine beer here in our fair city, to a pretty impressive collection of beer joints! What a difference a few months can make!

So, in a few short months, make your way to Gilbert, AZ, and have a glass or two with the Beer Czar!
Until next my friends,
Bottoms up!
The Beer Czar