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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| Dave, adding Agave |
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| 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!
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| 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
The day has arrived! Aug 1, 2013, National IPA Day! Head on out and indulge yourself in some hoppy goodness tonight. IPA's are arguably the most popular beer style out there today, so why not celebrate it! Plus, this IPA day is a pretty special one. Today, at 7 pm, there will be a simultaneous release of the much anticipated Wolf-pack Imperial IPA. If you follow this blog at all, you are well aware of Wolf-pack. A true collaboration of most of the valley beer bar's, to celebrate not only IPA, but the Arizona Beer community as a whole. It is an Imperial IPA, brewed with 4 types of hops, and agave nectar! This one clocks in at about 8.5% ABV, and 75 to 80 IBU's. If you would love to get your lips on a glass of this hoppy goodness, be at one of the follow bars by 7 pm.....
