Funny video, Triumph Visits The Great American Beer Festival!

Been a little busy this week, but wanted to share a pretty funny video with you. Been a while since I've seen Triumph the Insult Dog, but it seems he made to the GABF. This is pretty funny, check it out....

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

Odell Beer Dinner at El Palacio!

Many times on this blog you've heard me go on and on about the awesome beer dinners held at El Palacio, Well, I am happy to report, you get to listen to me talk about another one, coming up THIS WEDNESDAY!!! Not much time left, but still plenty of spots available! The time, Chef Anthony's amazing culinary creations will be paired with the amazing brews of Odell Brewing Company out of Fort Collins Colorado. If you have never been to a beer dinner, you need to treat yourself to one. They are a great way to experience new brews, enjoy some great food, and meet new people, that share your love of beer and food.
There are even more reasons to go to a beer dinner at El Palacio. For one, its Mexican food, which is, on its own, just awesome. Two, its $25 people, really, just $25! I can honestly say, I've never been to a 5 (or even 4) course beer dinner for under $35. Most will run you $60 or more. So, its affordable, the food is great (so don't let the price fool you), and the company is more then enjoyable. This is hands down the best value I've seen for a beer dinner.

This dinner will be a 5 course dinner. Here is what you can expect...

Course One - Ceviche Cocktail Shot. Shrimp, citrus, avocado and garden vegetables, paired with Easy Street Wheat

Course Two - Compressed Fruit Salad - seasonal fruit pressure compacted and infused with herbs, seasoning and garnished with a grilled tamale cake, paired with Isolation Ale.

Course Three - Street Taco - a homemade tortilla filled with roasted chicken and garnished with traditional veggies, paired with India Pale Ale (the tacos at El Palacio are AMAZING!)

Course Four - Pancetta Enchilada all Carbonara - An Enchilada stuffed with chorizo, and pancetta and topped with green chili carbonara sauce, paired with Cutthroat Porter



Course Five - S'More Taco - A chocolate tortilla filled with homemade graham cracker ice cream, and topped with a hint of marshmallow cream sauce

Fish Taco with some Mudshark, just awesome!

As if you needed one more reason, Chef Anthony and El Palacio just took Grand Reserve Champion at the Arizona Taco Festival, so yeah, you need to get there. I can almost guarantee you will have a good time, you will have some great food, and you will more then likely learn a little something about food, beer or both.



To learn more about past El Palacio Beer Dinners, check out my reviews here and here...



You can reserve a spot one line here..... (just make your reservation for 2 or more for Wed, 23rd, at 7 pm)
Or you can call them at 480.802.5770

Check out their Facebook page..
Learn more about Odell Brewing on their website here.....

Hope to see you there!!!
If you go, look for me, and introduce yourself, love to meet you!

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

S.L.I.F. vol IV

Once again, we made to Friday! So here is this weeks installment of SLIF!!!

America's Favorite Beer by State!

I've been seeing this making the social media rounds lately. I study done figured out which state like which beer the most. I must say, I am a little encouraged by the result. I would have expect Bud, or Miller to dominate the landscape. This isn't really the case, Sam Adams dominates the North East, and Blue Moon (I know is Miller Coors, and not very "crafty") makes up a good number of state, 18 (by my count) compared to Bud Lights 8 (same number of states as Yuengling).  I think just 5 years ago, this map would have looked VERY different. Check out the infographic below, and click the link for a lot of other states about beer here...

Is Beer Good for You????

So what if it isn't right? Do you think it is good for you though, is it unhealthy, how unhealthy is it? What have you heard? What do you know? Test your "Beer and your Health" knowledge with this fun quiz here....

So, beer's to your health!


Beer and Sausage Diet? 
Speaking of beer and health, how about a diet that included nothing but beer and sausage? Think it will work? Well, it does for one local man, Evo Terra. If you've been to a beer festival or some other beer event here int he valley, you've probably at least seen Evo. He's a regular in the valley beer scene, so when I saw this on Fox News, I had to share it with you. Pretty cool, check this out.

        

Government Shut Down is over!
But I still wanted to share this with you. The Onion doesn't write a lot about beer (one of the few times they did, it was a classic however, check it out here.....). Well, The Onion asked "the people" about the shut down effecting the beer community. The "responses" are pretty entertaining, check them out here....








America is getting a Trappist Brewery.
Check this out! A Trappist Brewery is coming to America!! New England no less, check it out here.....


New Belgium Brewery "Beer Masher"

Its no secret I am a fan of New Belgium. I have sighted Fat Tire as one of the few beers that changed my mind about beer, and showed me what beer could be. That was back when NB was brewing just a handful of beers, some of which, like Fat Tire, is still being brewed to this day. Since then, they have brewed dozens upon dozens of beers. Ever had a NB brew you loved, but haven't been able to find again? Wonder what happened to that beer, do they still even make it? Well, New Belgium have created a sort of user friendly data base that tracks just about every beer they ever brewed (including collaborations) on one easy sight. Click on a beer, and it will give you a bunch of info on that beer. Check it out, its a lot fun. I would love to see more breweries doing this on their sites, pretty awesome, check it out here.....


So there you have it, we made it to another weekend! I hope you all have a great, safe and happy weekend!

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

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SanTan Brewing Company's Grand Opening Celebration!

I was lucky enough, and truly honored to be invited to the Grand Opening Celebration and Ribbon Cutting on San Tan Brewing Company's new production facility in Chandler. The facility is incredibly spacious (about 35,000 sq ft), with plenty of room for future expansion!

Beer Czar chatting with Anthony

Although talking with San Tan co-founder head brewer and owner Anthony Canecchia there are no immediate plans to do so. They will be brewing a bit below max. capacity, ramping up production every year. This facility is fairly remarkable considering it was just about 6 seemingly short years ago San Tan opened their brewery and pub in historic Downtown Chandler. Since then, Anthony and crew have continued to expand and grow, collecting numerous awards and accolades along the way, including a silver medal at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival, a gold medal at the 2012 US Open Beer Championships and 2011 Best Brewery in Arizona, selected by the Phoenix New Times, as well as Small Business of the Year from Chandler Chamber of Commerce.

The event was a lot of fun. I ran into a lot of friends there, including Jon and Brett from Arizona Wilderness, my old friends from That Brewery in Pine, and of coarse the ubiquitous and lovable James Swann! Even managed to make a few news ones. So, check out a few of my pictures from the evening below....

Nice new sign on the outside of the building!

The crowd....

The 50 bl Brew System

Classy!

Getting tours...

"Hoptomus Prime"

Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny

Anthony and the Mayor

Anthony thanking his crew, here with Chip

Cutting the ribbon!

Jen (from HDE Agency), James Swann and Mrs. Czar!

For a look at the complete photo album, head to The Beer Czar Facebook page (like us while you are there!)

I want to congratulate Anthony, and everyone at San Tan, for all their recent as well as continued success. It's be a lot of fun watching you guys start up, and grow into one of the biggest, most popular (and in my opinion best) breweries in Arizona, and its easy to see why!

Visit SanTan Brewing Company at 8 S. San Marcos Place, Chandler, AZ.
They are open Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.- 1 a.m. and Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. – 2 a.m.
Check out SanTan Brewing Company online here.....


 Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

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Arizona Beer bringing home some hardware from GABF!!!

As many of you already know, the Great American Beer Festival is going on as we speak, and today was
the day they announced the winners of all the various categories, and Arizona should be proud!

This year, Arizona breweries took home a total of 5 metals! 1 Bronze, 3 Silver, and a Gold!

Here is the list of winners!

Bronze in "Sweet Stout or Cream Stout" - Thunder Canyon Brewery -  Dark Lightning Milk Stout

Silver in "Specialty Beer" - Fate Brewing Co. - Candy Bar Milk Stout

Silver in "American Style Strong Pale Ale" - Four Peaks Brewing Co. - Hop Knot 

Silver in "Scottish Style Ale" Four Peaks Brewing Co. - Kilt Lifter

Gold in "American Style Strong Pale Ale" - Lumberyard Brewing Co - Lumberyard American Pale Ale

Congrats to all the winners! This just ad's to Arizona's already impressive collection of hardware. I am sure we will be adding more and more as the years go on! Awesome day for local beer, congrats everyone!

For the complete list of winners, check out the GABF page here....

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

Want to contribute to The Beer Czar??

Do you love beer, love to write, love to take pictures, or just love to tell stories? We want you to be a guest contributor on The Beer Czar. We've had quite a few so far. They have taken us to breweries, brew pubs, given us tips on throwing a beer themed party, even told us a few ghost stories, but we want more! So, whether it be about your favorite beer bar, brewery, beer, bar tender, beer vacation, whatever it is, and you want to share it with us, please let me know. It can be stories, reviews, slide shows, videos, podcasts, whatever you want to do, get creative, we would love to post whatever it is you come up with! Even if you have another blog, and want to contribute to this one, we'd love it!

If you are interested, please drop us a line at thebeerczar@gmail.com and we would love to arrange a post with you!
Or you can find us on our Facebook page here (like us while you are there!)
Or on Twitter @TheBeerCzar  


Thank you!

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

S.L.I.F. (Vol. III)

Well, we made it to another weekend (almost), so here without further ado, is this weeks installment of SLIF!


Government Shut down bad for beer???

I try to avoid getting political on this blog, but there are somethings that you just can't ignore, right now, that is the Government (kind of) Shutdown. See, the government is really not totally shut down, they just shut down the things we actually need and enjoy (i.e. National Parks, various licensing agency's) to make it hurt, all while leaving open things THEY use and enjoy (i.e. Congressional Gym, THEIR paychecks etc.) One of the victims of this nonsense is the craft brewing industry. Existing brewery's can't get seasonal label or recipe approval, while brewery's in waiting can't get licencees approved, and can't move forward with their construction or openings. It hit home here in the valley for a brewery (hopefully) coming soon to downtown Phoenix, Mother Bunch Brewing. Check out the story on KPHO 5 here..

CBS 5 - KPHO




What can I do about it?

This is pretty funny!

What can you do about this idiocy? Realistically, very little. We can vote for new members of congress,
president etc, but we all know 90% of these ass clowns are going to get reelect, so what can we do? The answer? Drunk dial them!! It doesn't do much, but its funny, and might make you feel a little better.
Drunk dial a Congressmen here......


Now you want to get away.....
I know, its frustrating, and now you want to get away for a little vacation, with some great beer. Wel here is a list of 10 Luxury Beer Vacations for you to dream about, and if you lucky, book!

Luxury Beer Vacations

10 Pumpkin Beers, with 10 Pumpkin Beer recipes!

OK, I've talked a lot about pumpkin beers, but if you still can't find one, here is a list of a few more, but better yet, it also includes pumpkin beer recipes! (for cooking with pumpkin beers, not for brewing it)

Top 10 Pumpkin Beers, with 10 Pumpkin Beer Recipes!

Been a while since we mentioned Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co......

So, here you go, they are getting a PATIO! If you haven't been to AWB yet, lets just say, you need to go. I haven't had anything to eat there yet, but will soon, and their beer is amazing! They are getting well deserved rave reviews, and every week, they are announcing some amazing new beer they are dreaming up (if you don't follow them on Facebook, you should, keep up to date with them, go like them on their page here...)

Anyway, check it out, they are getting a patio, in a few weeks, we will be able to enjoy their beers alfresco!

Great American Beer Festival

For those of you that don't know, the GABF is going on right now. I found a slide show from Draftmag of day one, so check out whats going on up in Denver this weekend, check it out here....

So, here's to another weekend!! What are you drinking this weekend? Whatever it is, remember, drink good beer, with great people (it makes it taste better!)

Until next time

Bottoms up my friends!

The Beer Czar

Ghost Stories with Becky - "Do Ghosts Drink Beer?"

With Halloween fast approaching, we wanted to give you some more"ghost stories" So my good friend Becky was kind enough to provide us with another installment of "Ghost Stories with Becky"

Check it out! (if you missed the first one, check it out here.....)


Ghost Stories with Becky
Do Ghosts Drink Beer?

As I sit down again on a Sunday night, relaxing with my favorite, Sam Adam's Octoberfest. I am left thinking about my weekend full of friends, football and of course a few drinks. Last night my fellow "Fallen Angels" and I were reminiscing about some of our past investigations (be looking for our new blog coming out October 30^th). 
I was reminded of a couple of experiences that oddly enough, tie into this blog's favorite topic.....beer. 
So my question to you is, "Do you think spirits give up their love for favorite foods or drinks just because they are now dead?"

As you contemplate that question let me share a couple of stories with you. But first! I want to take a moment and give a very brief history. Beer, wine, and other various alcoholic spirits have been around for forever! Many celebrations as well as everyday life throughout the years have had Beer and Wine as its primary beverage. They are easy to make and are usually readily available, not to mention healthier than water depending on which century you are in. Think about what happened here in the US during Prohibition?! That didn't go over very well, people found ways around it. As I said, a Brief history, but I can see I have you thinking now. History tells me one thing for certain, "Beer and Wine are very important to societies for a variety of reasons."
With all that in mind I'd like to share with you one of my own family experiences and one that really pushed me into this field. My now husband, and I were dating only two months when I first met his grandparents. He is from a HUGE Irish/Italian family (need I say more about beer and wine here?) and I was quite nervous about meeting everyone all at once for the latest cousin's christening. Everything went well. I only mention this because this was the only time I had met his grandmother. She passed away about 6 months later. Fast forward now to about a year after her death. I was teaching in the school her children went to and was right next to her church and neighborhood in Dorchester. I was near my desk when I started smelling a floral perfume and hearing the name Mary. I start looking around trying to debunk and figure out what is going on. I'm on the second floor and it is a cold bitter March so my widows are all closed tight. I couldn't figure out

what was going on so like any sane person looking to not be insane, I didn't mention it to anyone.
A couple of weeks later the same thing happened right next to my desk, by the way – I rearranged my classroom and my desk was now on the opposite side from where it was the first time this happened. That night I stopped home to change before going to see my "boyfriend" I just wanted to put on a warm cozy sweatshirt. I had two sweatshirts from college, one big, cozy and maroon with dark letters the other not as cozy, white with maroon and black letters. Guess which one I wanted to wear and which one I HAD to wear. It was the craziest feeling because I argued with myself over this. Unfortunately or Fortunately the choice wasn't really mine to make.

I arrive at his house wearing, yup, the white one when his mom opened the door (he lived in the in law apartment at his parent's house I always went to the main door so I could say HI) Long story shortened. His mother had been trying to reach a professor at Franklin Pierce College who taught about the Paranormal. When I showed up wearing my sweatshirt she was thrilled! She showed me a picture she had taken of her father sitting on his couch with a mirror he had brought back from WWII above him. In the mirror was Nana, legally known as Mary holding a glass of her favorite, red wine. Did I mention that this picture was taken only a month or two earlier (a year or so after her death)?

Another tale, (not as long winded) takes place at a home investigation we did. We were looking for Triggers to draw out the spirit who was there and maybe get it to interact.
** I need to interject here by reminding you that ghosts don't appear or perform on command. Sometimes though, you can draw them out using a "trigger object" (something they can relate to). The Angels and I do not believe in provoking or harassing spirits. That is just disrespectful and being a bully.** Someone came up with the idea of Beer. So we left an empty beer can on a table for him, telling him we did so. When we returned later, we found the can under the stairs which were on the other side of the room.

My final tale is aboard the ship the USS Salem. We were investigating her for the first time and as we went along we invited the sailors to the officers Gedunk for a game of poker. We brought for trigger tools, a deck of cards, a pack of cigarettes they would have smoked and a zippo lighter. We then sat around the table and tried to have a "game" It would have been great if we could have brought in a beer or two but they didn't seem to mind playing for cigarettes. We caught a great picture in front of the Admiral's chair, What do you think??



So I leave you again with the question, "Do you think spirits give up their love for favorite foods or drinks or cigarettes just because they are dead?"

Until next time.
Becky


Thanks again to Becky, and again, look for details as her own blog for her paranormal group "Fallen Angels" gets up and running, I'll provide all the details here when I get them

Until then, you can follow them on twitter here....



Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar 

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San Tan Brewing's Oktoberfest!

 

This passed weekend, San Tan Brewing Co. celebrated their 6 year of hosting Oktoberfest! I had a basketball tournament to go to with my oldest daughter, so sadly, I was unable to attend, however, my dad Papa Czar was more then happy to go in my place, and report back to me on the festival.

All I can say is, I am impressed, having not even been there. Why do you say? Well, its a big joke in my family that my dad is prone to "complain" about something's (ok, everything). I was almost nervous to send him for me, as I was expecting a laundry list of things he didn't like, and thought San Tan could do differently in the future. Well, my hat is off to San Tan, and HDE Agency, my dad absolutely LOVED this event. He said it was comfortable, well organized, fun, affordable, festive, and a few other things. His exact words "if you left Oktoberfest hungry, thirsty, unhappy, or not entertained, there is something wrong with you"

So there you have it, straight from Papa Czar's mouth.  He is already looking forward to next year!
So, hat tip to San Tan, and the fine folks at HDE Agency for a very hard to get "Papa Czar Approved" event!

You can see the complete set of pictures of this event on The Beer Czar's Facebook page here (and like us while you are there, if you haven't already, thanks!)

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

And the Winners are........

Now, lets draw the names of the 4 lucky winners that get a set of tickets to San Tan Brewing's Oktoberfest, coming up this Sat!!

So there you go! Congrats to..
William Hampton
Daniell Lind
JK Richards
Eric Barton

I will be contacting you with all the information you will need to get your tickets!
Congrats, hope to see you there

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar