Happy IPA Day Arizona!!!

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.....

Flanny's
Draw Ten
Hungry Monk
Spokes on Southern
World of Beer, Tempe
Ground Control
Cabarello
Boulders on Broadway
Lucky Break
Fox Cigar Bar
Sleepy Dog (both Gilbert and Tampe locations)
Watering Hole, Whole Foods Chandler

The motley Wolfpack brew crew...

I will be at The Watering Hole inside Whole Foods Chandler tonight, if you are there, find me, and say hello and grab some Beer Czar swag!

Lets celebrate the wonderful IPA today, now who's thirsty?

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

The Wolfpack Cometh......

The Group...

Aug 1st is almost here. What does that mean? Its National IPA Day, but more importantly, its the
date of the release of a truly remarkable collaboration brew from almost all the valley beer bars!
A while back, a group of valley beer bars met to discuss the brewing of a special beer. It was decided they would brew a double IPA, with Agave nectar. Since its an IPA, they decided to release it on National IPA. The beer will be fairly light in color, and somewhat high in IBU's (about 75 to 80). To reflect the collaborative effort, and as a nod to support Sleepy Dog Brewing has given to the project (they were the ones that brewed it) they decided to call it "Wolfpack Double IPA".
A few weeks after their initial meeting, the group met at Sleepy Dog's brewing facility in Tempe to take part in the creation of the beer.
This is a REAL collaboration. Members of the group took part in all aspects of this beer, from coming up with the recipe, to brewing it, and come next week, the tapping of it!
7pm sharp, Aug 1st get yourself to one of the following beer bars for a glass or two of this beer;

Flanny's

Adding the Agave

Hungry Monk
Spokes on Southern
World of Beer, Tempe
Ground Control
Cabarello
Boulders on Broadway
Lucky Break
Fox Cigar Bar
Sleepy Dog (both Gilbert and Tampe locations)
Watering Hole, Whole Foods Chandler

So, you have plenty of options, and no excuses to not have this beer! Head out to one of these bars, and toast the Wolfpack, and celebrate our growing, wonderful craft beer community here in Arizona!

I hope to see you there!!

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

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