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

Sam in a Can coming soon!

The Perfect Pint

Well, it only took 2 years, and a million bucks, but its finally coming to a beer store near you. That's right, come May, 2013, you can drink your beloved Boston Lager right out of, the can?

That's right. Boston Beer Company spent the last two years, and considerable amount of cash to develop a new can that will help you get the most out of you Boston Lager. A few of the things you may find different about this new can;

The lid is wider, allowing more airflow

The new Sam Can!

The lid has been moved away from the lip, to help promote and accentuate the hop aromas by moving it    closer to your nose.

The hourglass ridge creates more turbulence which pushes flavor out of the beer

Extended lip places the beer at the front of your palette.

Everything is better topless!

I guess all this is very cool, I just don't know how necessary it all is. I mean, after all, bottles don't afford us any of these "advantages" yet, they have no issue putting them in bottles. I mean, don't most "beer people" pour the beer into a glass before drinking it anyway? I would argue, if you are drinking beer right out of a can or bottle, you aren't going to get the most out of the beer no matter what the shape or design of the vessel. I can see this being an advantage to tailgating, or the beach, when bringing you Sam Adams Perfect Pint Glass isn't always an option. Not sure if the cost is worth the benefit in this case, but knows, I guess I will just have to wait and see! I think the topless can makes a little more sense to me.



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

San Tan Seasonal coming in Cans this Fall!!!!

So, great news for beer fans in Arizona! Chandlers San Tan Brewery, the fastest growing brewery in Arizona, is releasing its Rail Slide Imperial Spiced Ale in cans this fall!!! San Tan has been a leader in the craft can movement, and this is just one more step to put San Tan even further in front of the pack!

This will be the first season canning of one of their beers. Until now, San Tans staple beers were all you could get in cans, limiting the seasonal stuff to the pub, or limited locations throughout the valley. Which, for me personally, is great news, since their four core beers are pretty good, their seasonal offerings, at least the ones i have had, have been outstanding! Their Winter Warmer, Mr Pineapple, and Sex Panther are all great beers! I haven't had their Imperial Spiced Ale yet, but I will be on the look out this one for sure.

Set for a November 1st release, in both keg and cans. The Imperial Spiced Ale clocks in at a modest 8.1% abv, with 35 IBU's.

You can read more about it here

Beer in Cans, its OK, really, it is!

OK, this is something that has sort of bothered me for a while now, but lately, I am getting a lot of "comments" regarding beer in cans, so I thought I would make my feelings known on the issue.

Bottles vs Cans?

I've heard a lot of people making comments, discounting beer in cans, completely! Most simply say "beer from cans tastes like metal" Really? No it doesn't, I promise you. Let me ask you this, do you say that about draft beer as well? Because, NEWS FLASH, that draft beer you are drinking could have come from a keg made from aluminum as well, and I have never heard anyone complain about their draft beer tasting like metal (as a reader pointed out, some kegs are also made of stainless steel, either way, both are metal, kegs are not made of glass, thank you Hughes!). Truth is, the beer never even makes contact with the aluminum, thanks to a synthetic lining that has been gracing the inside of your hated beer can since, oh, before WWII! (1935 to be exact!). Truth it, the "metal" taste, its all in your head, I promise.

To try and prove this, I've done little "experiments on friends. I've taken beers available in both bottles and cans, and had them do a blind taste taste. I would pour it in two cups, and ask them to tell me which one was the canned, and which was the bottle. As you would expect, they were only ever correct about 50% of the time, which, you could chalk up to just a lucky guess. So, I would take it further. I would give them each a cup, and tell them this is the can, and this is the bottle (however, I would tell them incorrectly, telling them the bottled beer was the canned, and vice verse), and almost every time, they would tell me the one they thought was the bottled beer tasted better (see, all in your head). Next, I didn't tell them which was which, and ask them to pick the best beer, 3 out of 4 times, they would tell me the canned beer was better. So, no matter what, no one will ever convince me that canned beer is worse then bottled. If there is a differance in taste, canned beer is better, and here is why....

One of my favorite beers, and it comes in a can!

Cans are actually a better way to store beer. They are completely air tight, no chance of the cap leaking, or oxidizing, and rusting. Also, one of beers biggest enemies is light, and cans let absolutely ZERO light in. Bottles let in some light, depending on the color of the bottle, that is why brown bottles are best. (the other, and probably dumbest thing people will tell me "I only drink beer from green bottles" O really, why is that, you like that awful skunk flavor?).

Another thing people say is, bottles keep my beer cold longer then cans do. Well, this is certianly the case, all I can say is, if you are drinking beer directly from the bottle or can, you aren't completely tasting the beer anyway, since you can't completely take in the aroma of the beer drinking right from the bottle or can anyway.

There are many other advantages to cans as well. They are cheaper, lighter (making them cheaper to ship), canning lines are faster then bottling lines, as well as less expensive, easier to open (don't need a can opener)...you get the point.

So please, turning up your nose at canned beer, is really just ignorant, and snobbish (that is my opinion). I challenge you to go out, and try a few craft beers in cans, you will be pleasantly surprised. More and more craft brewers are making their beer available in cans, most notable, Sierra Navada. Some, like Oskar Blues beers are only available in cans, and I have to tell you, their Ten Fidy Stout (at 10.5% abv) is one of the best Russian Imperial Stouts on the market, bottle or can!

So lets stop all this "cans are bad" bull, and get these false ideas out of our heads, and start loving beer for whats inside the can or bottle, and not what it comes it, I assure you, you will not be disappointed!

If you do try some beer in cans, and you are surprised by the results, please, let me know, I would love to hear your story!

Bottoms up my friends!