SLIF !!! Vol VIII

Well, it appears we have made it to yet another Friday! The weekend is at hand! Lets start it off with your favorite glass of beer, and why not yet another edition of The Beer Czars "S.L.I.F. Vol. VIII......lets do this!

Arizona Beer Compass......
Last week, my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting Whitney Hayes. She runs and writes the new beer searching tool for us Arizonans called "Arizona Beer Compass". If you are like me, and are a more visual person, sometimes looking at a list of breweries isn't all that helpful (especially if you aren't familiar with the area you are looking in). So having it displayed in map form, that tells you where are all the breweries, tap rooms, and even soon to be breweries, all displayed on a map, here you go. Zoom in, out, click on the brewery nearest you to get info, its all interactive, easy to use, helpful, and completely awesome! Check it out right here!


Mother Road "Street View" tour of their Flagstaff brewery and tap room...
Speaking of maps (I am a huge fan of maps by the way). Mother Road Brewing Co. in Flagstaff as a cool new feature. You can take a sort of walking tour of their brewery using Google Maps Street View. Its pretty awesome, check it out here.....






How to order beer like an annoying hipster!
If there is one thing I think the beer community can do better, is to make fun of itself. There are those that find the humor in it, but there are still a lot that can't stand the thought of poking fun at their beloved beverage, or those that enjoy it. Well, I am not one of those people! I can laugh at just about anything, and this video made me actually laugh out loud.....check this out.

 

 

 

 

Phoenix has a new brewery coming to town!                        Mother Bunch Brewing will be opening its doors hopefully sometime this summer, they are moving into a Crossfit gym that is moving. Read all about it here.....

 

 

 
 
Take Beer Pictures like a pro, with your phone!  I started this blog, partly because I was always posting pictures of beers I was drinking, when a high school friend suggested I start a blog. So I did. They weren't very good photos, but they worked. Now, with advances in cell phone cameras, and apps, you have plenty of options for taking your photos. If you are looking for tips on how to take those pic's like a pro?? Well, now Draftmag has a great piece written by a beer photographer, check it out here....

Home Brewing kits

Have you been thinking about getting into brewing, but don't really know where to start, or where to go for equipment? Well, the fine folks at Kegworks have put together some kits that have pretty much all you need to start brewing! So, if you want to start a new hobby, passion or even an obsession, check out their link here.....

 

 

 

So there you have it folks, this weeks weekend kick off! Also, just a reminder, we are still collecting your winter beer photos for our "friends and fans photos" post coming up soon, so, check below for all the details as to what we are looking for, how to get it to us etc., and we will take care of it!

 

So, go grab your favorite weekend beverage, and enjoy yourself, stay safe!

 

Until next time

Bottoms up my friends

 

The Beer Czar

 

Powdered Beer????

I was surfing through Facebook the other day, when a post from one of my favorite shows "Drinking Made Easy" (if you haven't seen this show, its on Mark Cubans's "AXS" Channel, it stars Zane Lamprey travailing to different cities to explore the local drinking culture. Its a bit "frat boy-ish" but still has a lot of interesting info, and is pretty funny, check it out if you get a chance) had a post that caught my attention. The article is titled "On the Go Powdered Beer" My first thought was "no way, this can't be what it sounds like!" Well, to my horror, it was.

A company called "Pat's Backcountry Beverages" has developed this abomination, that when you mix the "beer" powder, with water, and a portable carbonation system, creates a drink "comparable to a micro brew with all the taste, alcohol, carbonation, and aroma we love." Really???


Called "Hybrid Brewing Technology" or HBT, the company also produces powdered wine, and soda drinks. They don't say or explain much about the technology used to produce this, not that I would understand it anyway, but it is still an interesting product none the less.

This will most certainly be marketed to hikers, and bikers, and hipsters more interested in looking cool, and having all the stuff the rest of us less enlightened folks don't have. This to me however is a lot like tofu bacon. If you want bacon, eat bacon, if you want to be a vegetarian, then give up wanting to eat bacon. Same thing is at play here, if you want a beer while hiking, or biking, or reading "The Odyssey" in public for people to see how intellectual you are, get a can, or a sippy cup for god's sake, but please don't bastardize a wonderful beverage like this! Then again, this is to be expected, with the emergence of "beers" like Michelob Ultra, Bud Select 55, or Miller 64, the populous seems to getting further and further away from what beer is suppose to be, and developing an almost entirely different product, a sort of "beer flavored beverage". Opening the door for beer geeks and snobs, and providing plenty of cannon fodder for them to bitch and complain about while drinking "real" beer! Its part of the fun after all.

Regardless, I would be interested in trying this, and the technology fascinates me none the less. The company is looking for further investors to take this product nation wide, so, if you have some extra scratch, and are looking to invest in beer, this may be your chance!