Bisbee Deferred: Barrio and Nimbus Brewing, Tucson, Arizona

I traveled to southeastern Arizona earlier this month for a work-related conference in Sierra Vista. Johnny Southside was kind enough to let me ride with him and our plan was to visit a couple breweries in Tucson before proceeding to Sierra Vista where we would check into the hotel, dump our bags, then make a dash in to Bisbee to hit some of the pubs there. My hope was to score a sample of some local beers, including products offered by Electric Dave in the Bisbee area.

What’s that old Yiddish saying? “Man plans and God laughs.” We didn’t get to Bisbee as we’d hoped due to equipment trouble. Still, it was a worthwhile trip, with nice stops at two places in Tucson. Here’s the dope:

Our first stop was at Barrio Brewing Company in a gritty industrial area of Tucson. The old warehouse building is enough to make you want to come inside for a closer look, but add fresh, local beer and the draw is just too strong to resist! The exterior of the building seems largely unchanged from the days when it housed the Tucson Warehouse and Transfer Company. The loading dock has been cleverly converted for use as a patio and you’ve got to climb some steps to enter the front door. The music and atmosphere at Barrios are top-notch and when we visited, early afternoon on a weekday, the place was not especially busy.

Once seated we were quickly greeted by a waitress and we had our orders placed in no time. I liked the fact that all the available microbrews were listed on a chalkboard along with their respective abv percentages – that’s always a nice bit of information to display for weary travelers who might be planning to have only a single beer for the road.

With my lunch I had a pint of their seasonal Copperhead Pale Ale, which weighs in at 5.7% abv. It was darker than most pales in my experience with a faintly sweet smell. The Copperhead Pale was a bit dry and grainy tasting and altogether a worthy beer and a nice companion to the plate of tacos that I had.

Next, I sampled a pint of Barrio’s Red Cat Amber (which gets its name from the fact that Tucson is home to the U of A Wildcats, I guess). The Red Cat Amber was darker than the Copperhead Pale (rightly so) and seemed more hoppy to me, though their website indicates otherwise. It also had a slightly thicker mouth feel and struck me as closer to an IPA than the Copperhead oddly enough. The Red Cat was sweet and not as dry as the Copperhead Pale Ale.

Southside and I settled the tab, thanked the nice waitress – who’ll be celebrating a birthday soon evidently – and we proceeded down the road to our next stop.

Nimbus Brewing Company sits in a similarly gritty part of Tucson and is located not too far from Barrios – though you wouldn’t know it from the drive because streets and traffic in Tucson are a bit of a nightmare. The thing that sets Nimbus’ location apart – I think - is its proximity to Davis Monthan Air Force Base. (That, and the giant hand protruding from the front of the building…holding, what else? A beer.) Johnny Southside and I took a couple of seats on the patio where we could watch the A-10 Warthogs coming in on approach just across the railroad tracks. We ordered up a dose of onion rings from a scruffy-faced bartender and I had a pint of Porter that didn’t appear to be on the printed menu. (Nimbus offers six beers packaged in bottles for sale but there are more beers available at the brewery.) The porter looked, smelled and tasted just like a porter should in my book; faintly sweet tasting with a hint of chocolate. I’d give it high marks and only regret that it isn’t one of the beers they offer for sale in bottles. I bought a t-shirt as a souvenir of the visit and in short order we were back on the road, never suspecting for a moment that we’d never actually get to Bisbee on this trip.

Ah well, it all worked out for the best. We survived the trip, survived the conference and managed to sample some new beers from Arizona brewers. I can’t say that I find reason to visit Tucson very often – maybe once every year or so – but I’m going to make a point of stopping at either Barrio Brewing Company or Nimbus Brewing Company (or both) the very next time I do get down that way. Perhaps we’ll even get to Bisbee next time!

(For the record, we did attempt to purchase some Electric Dave beer while in Sierra Vista but the nice lady at the liquor store said his shipments don't come in regularly. Too bad. Sorry Electric Dave.)

Packaging Oddity

At the risk of dredging up memories best forgotten, I’ll relate something odd that happened as I contemplated an empty Samuel Adams Irish Red bottle. (I do this a lot lately, meticulously pouring over beer bottles, labels and six-pack cartons. Makes for interesting reading and once in awhile I stumble on some interesting nugget of information…or something worth blogging about.)

As I turned the bottle around to peruse the label I noticed an ever-so-slight imperfection in what would likely be called the shoulder of the bottle – where the side of the bottle slopes up to meet the neck of the bottle. A divot or minor indentation caught the light and was even more noticeable to the touch. I immediately remembered Internet talk of a voluntary bottle recall that Sam Adams conducted earlier this year.

Here’s a piece about the recall posted at Boston.Com.

Click here to see a clarification from the folks at Harpoon Brewery.

I’m sure that a ding in the side of a bottle needn’t gin up the same level of concern as bits of glass in the bottle, but this certainly has me wondering about the bottling and packaging industry. I suppose I’ll save this slightly misshapen bottle; maybe it’ll bring a fortune on eBay. (I’m thinking not.)

I think the most important lesson to take away from the whole "glass chips in the bottle" episode is the fact that the Boston Brewing people were way out front on the whole issue; they announced the voluntary recall before any public concern was raised and in the end, the problem really wasn't a problem at least for consumers. No doubt it cost Boston Brewing and their bottle supplier time and money but the short term cost was worth it when you consider the potential long-term impact this might have had on their product image. If anything, the beer drinking public should feel more confident in their belief that Boston Brewing puts out a safe, quality product.

And what of the Irish Red that was in the bottle?

Irish Red was malty smelling and slightly sweet smelling in the glass. While the taste is sweet, I didn’t detect the caramel taste advertised on the neck label. Taste becomes more malty as the beer warms in the glass. There is a very slight alcohol bite in the finish that isn’t unpleasant. Samuel Adams Irish Red is definitely better than the last bottle of Killian’s Red I tried.

How about another from Boston Brewing?

Samuel Adams Black Lager has become something of a staple for me. I’ve even had folks tell me that they’ve used it to make beer floats. (Brenda at Brenda's Beer Art told me about the Black Lager floats and I’ve put it on my list of beer floats to try.) I last sampled Black Lager back in late July when Johnny Southside brought some over for us to enjoy the day we started our batch of Mr. Beer Red Ale.

Black Lager pours a dark coffee color as you’d expect. The head characteristic varies dramatically depending on how you pour it, but it looks great if poured well. It has a distinct coffee taste but not as much alcohol bite as you’d expect in a beer this black. I’ve been a long time Black Lager drinker (when I can find it) and I’ll continue to do so.

Anybody interested in an empty Irish Red bottle with a slight Salvidor Dali look to it?

Bewitched Red Ale: Okay So Far...

Figuring it was time to let the bird fly or risk its premature death in the nest, I popped the top off of one of our bottles of Mr. Beer Bewitched Red Ale last night – not one of the liter bottles but one of the 12 ounce Gatorade bottles that have all but tried to explode these past few weeks. I sampled a second bottle this evening.

To update, I placed four liter bottles and six 12-ounce bottles in the refrigerator last Saturday (a little over four days ago now), leaving two one liter bottles to remain at room temperature for a bit more bottle fermenting. Admittedly, it’s been less than the one week prescribed by Mr. Beer experts, but with the Gatorade bottles looking like they might burst, I figured I might as well begin trying them. I sampled one last night and one this evening.

At this point, the Red Ale is highly carbonated, even having come from the back of the refrigerator. It had a sour/sweet smell both in the bottle and in the glass. The second bottle actually had something of a berry smell to it, which seems a good reason to avoid reusing Gatorade bottles, I think.

It poured a lovely red-amber color with a full thick head. (Yeah, that's a picture of it to the right, there.) I had to back off both times to avoid overflowing the glass and the pour for the second bottle was more active than the first. It has a thin mouth feel and a malty taste that is rather dry with a quick finish.

Though I'm a tad underwhelmed, I can say at this point that the first batch from the Mr. Beer system wasn’t a total loss and I don’t intend to pour the remaining product down the drain; after all, I can always let it sit longer. Tomorrow I’ll deliver half the beer to Johnny Southside and I’ll keep the four liters lagered in the back of the fridge along with a single bottle at room temperature at least until the 30th, then we’ll see where we go from there. At least one Mr. Beer home brewer has made the case for lagering the beer longer to allow its flavor to develop. Additionally, Senor Brewmaster has suggested ditching the Gatorade bottles and I couldn’t agree more, especially after smelling berries in tonight’s bottle of Red Ale. These people know what they’re doing. Why should I try to reinvent the wheel?

Now, what beer recipe to order next? Maybe a pumpkin lager? How about a nice stout for Christmas? The prickly pear cactus have bloomed and their fruit pods are beginning to ripen; hmm, I wonder if a prickly pear wheat beer would be okay this late in the year? I’ll keep you posted.

The (Late) Session

Never one to ride along with a busload of zealots, here I am taking up the rear of the caravan, furiously pedaling my unicycle.

The August installment of “The Session” was focused on anniversaries. I’ll confess that I have no idea in what regard The Session dealt with anniversaries, but since the first Friday of August fell on August 1st, I’ve got an anniversary for you. Colorado Day!

Colorado was admitted to the union on August 1, 1876 and no doubt on August 2nd, some fellow emerged from the Front Range (perhaps where Clear Creek enters what is now Golden, Colorado) and said, “Big deal! Where’s the whorehouse?” Yeah, I’d still live in Colorado if I could, but I don’t and waxing nostalgic about it just makes me pine for it all the more, so let’s get to the beer, shall we?

In honor of Colorado’s birthday and to have something clever to post for The (Late) Session, I popped the top off of a bottle of Left Hand Brewing’s Imperial Stout. This stuff clocks in at a hefty 10.4% abv and touts itself as “Black Ale to brighten your day.” It smells of roasted or burnt coffee in the bottle and roasted nuts in the glass. There is also a slight alcohol scent from the glass that presages the alcohol bite in the taste.

In the glass, this imperial stout is as dark as coffee with a medium to weak head. In the tasting one is immediately hit by the thick mouth feel, then the alcohol bite at the back of the palate and in the nasal cavity. A second pour yielded a more substantial head with nice lacing and the taste was more nutty, which may have been due to the more active head or because the beer had warmed slightly in the bottle – or both.

This is the second beer that I’ve tried from Left Hand brewing. As an example of the style, Left Hand Imperial Stout ranks well, but for me its liquor-like qualities place it at a disadvantage. I’ll be content to fall back to their Milk Stout in the future and I’ll honor them as an example of Colorado’s up-and-coming craft-brewing heritage.

Here’s where you can find more dope on this beer, this brewer and this topic in general:

For starters, The Beverage Tasting Institute has a nifty discussion of stouts and porters. It’s worth a peek.

Next, pay a visit to Left Hand Brewing's website. Browse around, buy a hat, buy a glass.

Beer Advocate gives this stout high marks.

Here’s a link to the governor’s proclamation for Colorado Day 2008.

Happy anniversary, Colorado!

And, just in case you’re interested in knowing more about what the August installment of “The Session” was really all about, here are some links to real beer blogs and their take on “anniversary beer.” (These folks do this stuff better than I....or is that "better than me...?)

The Barley Blog was the designated host for the August installment of The Session.
The Brew Site
Lyke 2 Drink
Brewed For Thought

Mr. Beer Update: The six 12-ounce bottles went into the back of the refrigerator this morning, the bulging caps having grown ever more prominent. In order to contain any leakage that may be caused by a premature evacuation of the contents, I've wrapped all the bottles up in a couple of plastic bags. There isn't enough room in the fridge for all the liter bottles, so I'll probably begin lagering just a couple of them, give them a week or so, then transport them to Johnny Southside, who will be splitting the first batch with me.

My thanks and appreciation to those of you who've posted comments here in the past and in particular to those of you who've offered comments and advice regarding the Mr. Beer project. I hope there will be more batches and I hope you'll keep visiting and leaving comments when you can.

Mr. Beer Update At One Week Plus...

I’ve been like a mother hen worrying over a clutch of eggs this past week.

I’ve not seen any noticeable activity in the Mr. Beer fermenting keg. There’s been something of a “bathtub ring” round the inside of the keg almost since day one. We’re now at one week and one day – as of Monday – and I’m concerned that something didn’t pop.

A check of the Mr. Beer Fans Forum yielded some useful advice along with frequent admonitions to be patient and leave the thing alone. Several of the local experts suggested actually pouring a bit of the product into a glass for inspection and taste testing. Per their input, if the wort still has any sort of sweet taste to it, then it’s not done fermenting. Ideally, according to the brewing guru’s, the product should taste something like flat beer.

Well, I screwed up some courage and drained a tiny bit into the bottom of a pub glass a couple nights ago. Hmmm. Looks a bit like unpasteurized apple juice, or that funky water that comes out of rusted pipes. I tasted it and at first it didn’t taste sweet, but as I let the liquid work around a bit I found it to have a slight sweet taste – perhaps that was psychosomatic.

Okay, so we’ll let it go until next Sunday and see were we stand. Some on the Mr. Beer Fans forum have stated that an additional (third) week in the keg isn’t out of the question. Damn! I can’t wait that long!

In the meantime, perhaps Johnny Southside and I need to mull over some names for this Red Ale we’re brewing. I’m thinking if it’s a failure, we call it “Flaming Red Failure,” or “Dismal Red Ale.” If that’s the case, I’ll probably take my half of the product and give it to relatives for Christmas – hey, if they love me, they’ll have to love my beer, too! Can’t be any worse than the fruitcake we trade year after year after year!

Stay tuned for more news on the brewfront.

Wait, there’s more!

Even if the actual brewing process isn’t (currently) living up to my expectations, I have to acknowledge that you meet the nicest folks as you hitchhike along the information/fermentation superhighway. Case in point, the kind fellow at Man Made Beer who not only has a nifty Mr. Beer brewing blog but who also acknowledged Beer Rant’s existence by paying us a visit and leaving a nice comment under an earlier post. Fear not, you’ll see Man Made Beer added to the list of beer blogs at left.

I'm falling behind in my beer posts. Recently I've sampled a summer wheat, a triple stout and an ESB. Hopefully I'll get 'round to posting on them in the next few days before I lose track of things!

Meet Mr. Beer

The 50th Beer Rant Post and a Confession

Ah, my fiftieth post at Beer Rant. This is nice. Didn’t think I’d get here this fast. Didn’t think I’d sample so many new (and old) beers in such a short time and still manage to muddle along largely hangover-free.

There is one trick to the “hangover free” part: Don’t buy whole six-packs of beer you know you only want to sample and if you do, don’t feel compelled to finish the whole six pack, trade it off or give it away. Just make sure you have notes so you’ll be able to remember if it was a beer you want to try again. (I didn’t figure these things out on my own, really. I’ve picked up a ton of great knowledge, largely by visiting the beer blogs that are listed here.)

I don’t suppose folks have logged on here to learn my beer sampling secrets so let’s get right down to confession time. I’m brewing a batch of beer using the Mr. Beer Home Brewing System! It’s a long story and I can already imagine true beer snobs and real “fermentarians” sniggering and looking down their noses…well, if that’s you, go ahead and log off now.

Brief synopsis of events leading up to brew day: The Mr. Beer kit belongs to Johnny Southside. Johnny Southside received it as a gift and hadn’t tried the system. We had discussed home brewing kits in the past and Johnny Southside mentioned he had an as yet unused Mr. Beer system. I proposed that we do a test run at Beer Rant Headquarters and he kindly agreed to loan me the system. I purchased a new set of basic brewing ingredients online at Mr. Beer, the ingredients that came with the kit having long since expired. I chose their Bewitched Red Ale and to round out the brewing experience, I bought a set of their plastic bottles and caps for bottling the end product.

I’m an all-or-nothing sort of guy a lot of the time. When I become interested in something, the interest borders on obsession. I noodled around the Internet and found a Mr. Beer users forum that proved to be a font of good information on the process. One of the first things I found out was that the brewing times listed in the Mr. Beer literature are minimum times and that most regular users of the Mr. Beer system double the time so that the wort is in the brew keg two weeks, in the bottle two weeks, then lagered in the refrigerator at least one week. Well this posed a difficulty once Johnny Southside and I consulted the calendar; we didn’t have enough weekends free to commit to a brewing schedule, so we kept putting off the brew day.

Finally, a window of opportunity presented itself and we boiled up some product, placed it in the brew keg and tossed the yeast yesterday. The wort is now in the keg, stored in a moderately cool room at Beer Rant Headquarters. The hard part begins: waiting.

Perhaps for my 60th or 70th post you’ll see a review of some Beer Rant Special Red Ale or some such! In the meantime, guess I’ll just have to keep sampling these other beers I’ve got stored in the refrigerator.

Thanks for visiting by the way!

Good Trade

Widmer Brother's Hefeweizen

It was late fall of 1988 and I was passing through the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona, driving back to Arizona after a brief working sabbatical in a tiny mountain town west of Denver (just over the divide from where Hunter S. Thompson ranted and raved in his Woody Creek compound). I’d been out of the army a little more than four months, held a full time job on a highway project on Berthoud Pass, dated a nursing student who got busted for selling cocaine, climbed to the top of Torrey’s Peak, drank boxes and boxes of Rainier beer and spent far too little time actually appreciating my surroundings. The snow began to fall at our job site well before Halloween and then it reached the cabin I was renting in that little mountain town, and I realized things weren’t going to improve weather-wise, so on election day, and in the midst of a snowstorm, I loaded up the pickup truck and pointed it southwest.

I recall it was somewhere outside Kayenta that I spotted a stooped old man trudging along beside the road, a ragged looking dog following close behind. The wind was not so much cold as it was persistent and the mutt seemed to be seeking shelter in his master’s wake.

I pulled over and waited as the old fellow trudged up beside the truck. Leaning across the cab, I opened the passenger side door and offered him a ride. He nodded, not saying a word and stepped back as if to climb into the bed of my truck, already piled high with what few possessions I carried and stacks of Edward Abbey books in Rainier boxes.

I beckoned him join me in the cab and, shrugging slightly, he – and the dog – climbed into the cab with me and I pulled back onto the deserted highway, the persistent wind no longer a burden.

Eager to make conversation I asked, “Where you headed?”
“Flagstaff,” came the brief, blunt reply.
“You have family there?” I asked.
“No,” came the reply.
“What’s your dog’s name?” I asked.
“Doesn’t have a name,” came the reply.
“Pretty cold today, huh?” I asked.
“Yeah,” came the reply.
“Let me know if the heater’s set high enough for you,” I said. “I don’t have the setting’s just right ‘cause I’m not used to this truck. I got it for my girlfriend.” There was no reply and we drove on for a few miles, my companion gazing through the windshield at the onrushing empty highway, thinking.

Finally, he said simply, “Good trade.”

(I’ll leave it to you to decipher what part of the foregoing story is bullshit.)

I worked a deal with Johnny Southside this week wherein I traded him two of my precious Deschutes Cinder Cone Reds for two Widmer Hefeweizens. I have to confess that I regretted making the deal about five seconds after having made it, but having made it, I stood by it and things worked out nicely, I have to say.

Widmer Hefeweizen smells faintly of citrus in the bottle, which is strange because I did not detect a noticeable citrus character in the taste. It pours an attractive opaque golden orange and a quick swirl of the bottle will release the sediment and give you nice finish to the pour. I garnished the glass with a slice of orange, in keeping with the illustration on the label only to learn later that it’s lemon they suggest. (This is the danger of not researching beers before I sample them, but it’s a procedure I must adhere to religiously, no matter the risks.) There is a strong taste of wheat in this one and I imagine the citrus slice need not be a requirement to make this a nice refreshment. I enjoyed my first one after mowing the lawn at 4:30 on a hot afternoon, with the temperature above 100 degrees. I enjoyed the second one, at a more leisurely pace right after the first one.

Visit Widmer Brothers Brewing and check out their nifty Brother’s Day promotion. I’ve got a couple of brothers – maybe I should send them an email on Brother’s Day.

Here’s a feature article on Widmer Hefeweizen on Beer Advocate. Ouch, “training-wheels beer.” That’s harsh. I like it and I don’t much go in for hefeweizen’s so I guess that’s me riding the trike.

Here’s what the Beer Advocate Poll Numbers show for Widmer Hefe. Not high marks.

I hope Johnny Southside is as pleased with the trade as I.

Oak Creek Brewing, Sedona, Arizona

Long Day’s Journey To Cool Climes
With daytime temperatures in the Valley of the Sun threatening the 110 to 115 degree range, this past weekend seemed a wonderful time to make an all too rare jaunt up to the relatively cooler country around Flagstaff. Johnny Southside became a willing accomplice once I told him that on the return trip we could swing through Sedona for beers at Oak Creek Brewing. (Our business in Flagstaff is immaterial, except to say we were on the trail of some 75-year-old remnants of a Depression-era work program known as the Emergency Conservation Works or Civilian Conservation Corps.) I had an additional ulterior motive in that I hoped to purchase one of the nifty ceramic beer steins offered on the Oak Creek Brewing website.

We wound our way into Sedona from Flagstaff, via the back road, stopping only briefly at Mund’s Canyon for a photo and to take in the crazed raving of a hiker sitting outside the pit toilets (evidently I’m not the only one who’s gone crazy as an outhouse mouse from the heat). We barely slowed down as we passed Slide Rock State Park; marveling at the line of cars backed up at the gate waiting to pay their entry fee. Understand, that here in the desert southwest, anyplace with running water is literally a Mecca for city folk, eager to escape the heat. Perhaps a close second would be any place where the beer flows and a drinker can sit in the shade.

There are actually two locations for Oak Creek Brewing in the greater metropolis of Sedona, Arizona: one is (evidently) a brewpub and grill while the other is the brewery proper. Being your typical anti social, I steered us toward the brewery with the hope that there might be fewer folks present.

The Oak Creek Brewing website indicates that the brewery is hard to find (but worth it) and I’d tend to agree. Nevertheless, two determined travelers managed to find their way through the tourist trap of downtown Sedona and in short order we were parked in a nearly empty lot, next to a Sedona Brewing truck circa 1930.

We stepped into the brewery, glad to be out of the glaring sun, and found perhaps 3 or 4 folks sitting at the bar and at the scattered tables. The bartendress greeted us and I dumped my notebook on a table then returned to the bar to peruse the offerings. Two seasonal beers were listed: a Maerzen and a red ale, cleverly named King Crimson, along with the regular brews.

Early on, I committed the cardinal sin of loudly proclaiming my status as an “out of towner” but the folks at the brewery were kind nonetheless and for that I thank them all, including our friendly barmaid who was working her first shift as it turned out. Johnny Southside and I decided to start with a pitcher of the Maerzen seasonal. Maerzen or Marzen gets its name from the fact that it is traditionally brewed in the month of March, with characteristics that help preserve it through the summer brewing season. Dark golden in color, the Oak Creek Brewing Maerzen seasonal had hints of grass in the smell with hints of fruit in the taste. Indeed, not a bad warm weather refresher.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity to sample both Oak Creek seasonals, Johnny Southside and I snacked on popcorn and peanuts, jawboning about every topic under the sun while the pitcher gradually emptied.

The Oak Creek Brewing brewpub is clearly a working operation with vats and machinery to prove it. The whir and thump of the brew vats sounded a workingman’s symphony to accompany our conversation as an eclectic group of people moved in and out of the establishment: biker types, families with kids in tow and individual men slumped over those ceramic mugs.

I asked our first day barmaid about buying a mug and she said she didn’t think there were any to be had. While we drained that first pitcher, she made a phone call and in short order reported that indeed, there were no more of the ceramic mugs available for purchase. That’s a pity. I was disappointed, but I determined not to let it spoil the trip.

The King (Crimson) Has Left The Building
With the Maerzen gone, we then ordered a pitcher of the King Crimson Red Ale, and, to perhaps assuage my disappointment, I ordered a glass of the Red Ale in a nifty Oak Creek Brewing pint glass. Ah, life’s good.

Life’s good and so is that King Crimson, which smelled of caramel with a sweet, dry taste, hinting of coffee. I preferred it to the Maerzen but tend toward darker beers in general. I snapped some sample photos of the beers and our surroundings, then asked the bartendress to draw me a growler of the King Crimson, which she immediately proceeded to do, only to find that, evidently, the shop was on its last keg of King Crimson. Now, I don’t know if I can rightly claim to have walked out with the season’s last growler of seasonal King Crimson, but I know that the nice lady behind the bar made a note in the log book to indicate that the last keg of King Crimson had been sold and she very graciously taped a copy of the BeerRant “business card” to the page, with a note indicating “wants a ceramic mug.” (I suspect that, fermenting in one of those big vats, was more delicious King Crimson, but in years to come, I’ll tell the story my way.)

We settled the tab and ambled back out into the sunlight and heat of the parking lot, facing nothing but the drive back to the Valley – and more heat. I imagine the Oak Creek Brewery is a swell place to sit from about 7 to 11 in the evening and if I lived in or near Sedona, perhaps it’s the sort of place I’d frequent often enough to create trouble with the bride – unless of course she were to join me.

Corporate shill.
Yeah, I bought a pint glass and a swell growler, each with the Oak Creek Brewing log. Here’s the link to their website:
http://www.oakcreekbrew.com/oakcreek/home.php

Here’s a MySpace page for the Brewery (don’t ask me, I’m old and don’t know the first thing about how MySpace works):
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=328347432

Here’s a link to a list of visitor comments about the Oak Creek Brewery. I have to agree with all the positive comments I see here and echo the comments about friendly staff and clientele. This establishment is an asset to the town.
http://www.pubcrawler.com/Template/ReviewWC.cfm/flat/BrewerID=588

For what it’s worth, here’s the Rate Beer page for King Crimson:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/oak-creek-king-crimson-imperial-red-ale/83803/


Afterword.
I couldn’t resist popping the cap on the growler of King Crimson shortly after getting home. Mmmm, delicious. I poured the remaining beer from the growler the next day (Father’s Day!) and, while it was a bit flat, I believe the flavor was even more pronounced with a strong taste of coffee. I also poured a dab or two of the leftover King Crimson onto some salmon while it grilled and the result was a nicely brown glazed piece of salmon that tasted terrific.

I'm reasonable enough to know that I can't be a regular at the Oak Creek Brewery - it's too far away - but I will continue to seek out their product in my local stores and look forward to the time when my travels take me north again. I pray it's soon - this heat is a killer!

Sunbru (Dog Days) Kolsch Style Ale

Four Peaks Brewing SunBru Kolsch

Attended a conference at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona this week. The “Ho” is like right out of a movie from the 1960s. I expected to see the Rat Pack lounging round outside in the shade. And, while 99% of our time was devoted to affairs of the convention – presentations, venders, etc., Johnny Southside and I did manage to spend a few minutes at the bar in Café ZuZu.

What I’d thought was a tap handle for Grolsch turned out to be a tap handle for Four Peaks Sunbru Kolsch. I ordered one and Johnny Southside had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The Sunbru presented very light in color with a sturdy head of about one finger’s width. Smells like a lager to me with a mild taste of grain and a quick finish. The beer was ice cold and is certainly a nice summer beer, but just too light in color for my tastes. Right or wrong, I’m afraid I equate light color with “weak.” I found myself casting a jealous eye toward the Sierra Nevada that Johnny Southside ordered. (So I ordered one of those for round two.)

The Four Peaks site describes Sunbru thusly: “…a very light golden ale that is malty, sweet, almost honey-like in the nose. This ale has a light to medium body and a very delicate flavor. Easy drinking, it has very low bitterness and a soft dry finish…This style originates from the city of Cologne, Germany where all twenty-eight breweries are dedicated to brewing only Kolsch style ales.”

According to their site, Sunbru was originally called “dog days,” which I prefer to the name “sunbru,” which sounds like a fruit drink or iced tea beverage. I think if all the breweries in Cologne brew this style, it must be a rather boring town as far as beer is concerned.

Beer Advocate’s devotees had this to say:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2171/24288

Here’s a picture of the bar in ZuZu’s. If this place weren’t outside my normal area of operation and removed from my usual social milieu, I might be coaxed back for another beer…heck, I might go back anyway.

Here’s my favorite picture of the Rat Pack (I just wish they hadn’t set the drink on the felt!):

Back to work tomorrow. The Valley Ho will move on without me.

Chamberlain Pale Ale (Warning: History Lesson)

Shipyard Brewing Company. Chamberlain Pale Ale

If you’d asked me last week to name an American beer that honors a Medal of Honor recipient, I wouldn’t have been able; but today I know.

On the advice of Johnny Southside, the wife and I visited Total Wine near Arrowhead Mall a week ago, and found a veritable cornucopia of beers from around the world. We headed first down the six-pack aisle and the very first beer to catch my eye was the handsomely labeled Chamberlain Pale Ale. Joshua Chamberlain is a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg and a personal favorite of my wife. When we got ‘round to the singles aisle, I made a point of picking up two of the Chamberlain Pale Ale’s for my mix and match six pack. (By the way, the Total Wine is flippin’ awesome! If you don’t have one in your neighborhood, write your congressman and demand on NOW!)

I tried the first bottle of Chamberlain Pale Ale this afternoon and I’m so very impressed with this beer, I think I’ll go back and pick up a six-pack to have for the anniversary of the Gettysburg Battle in early July. I think this will be a terrific beer to enjoy in our Arizona heat over the July 4th weekend. But I digress. Who is Joshua Chamberlain?

Amazingly, 63 men were awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of heroism during the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between July 1st and July 3rd, 1863. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine is one of those heroes. Gettysburg is now known as the high water mark of the Confederacy, but in the first days of July 1863, Union success was hardly a foregone conclusion. The battle of Gettysburg erupted as the result of an almost accidental encounter between Union forces and Confederate foraging parties who had moved toward the town of Gettysburg in search of supplies – especially shoes, which were in short supply in the rebel military. The initial contact developed into a delaying action as Union forces were pushed back through the town of Gettysburg and into the high ground adjacent to the town. (Ironically, Gettysburg is the only battle of the Civil War in which Confederate forces attacked from the north, while Union forces fought from the south to the north.)

On the second day of the battle, Colonel Chamberlain’s 20th Maine, composed of 358 men, were arrayed to the left of the Union line in defensive positions on Little Round Top. Chamberlain’s small unit protected the whole left flank of the Army of the Potomac. Late in the afternoon of July 2nd, the unit withstood repeated attacks from the 15th and 47th Alabama. By evening, stretched further and further along the ridge, their ranks diminished by combat casualties, the 20th Maine was in an untenable situation. At about 6:30, rebel forces launched a final attack on the 20th Maine’s lines. If successful, this attack would have given Confederate forces control of high ground from which to attack the remaining Union forces. With his ammunition nearly depleted, his forces sapped by combat casualties, Colonel Chamberlain knew his unit would not be able to repulse yet another attack. Chamberlain ordered his men to charge into the advancing enemy with bayonets fixed. This daring charge so surprised and unnerved the Confederate forces that many of them dropped their guns and surrendered. The remaining Confederate forces were successfully repulsed and the Union lines were secured for another day.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was truly a renaissance man; a scholar and soldier, he even served as governor of Maine and passed away in 1914. While I’m no judge of greatness or of great beer, I’d say this beer is as fine a tribute to the man as will be found anywhere.

The Tasting
Smells faintly of grass in the bottle and mildly of wine or alcohol in the glass. Pours with a thin head, a dark amber color. Tastes of fruit. Light. This one’s a terrific beer and an excellent example of the style.

Don’t take my word for it.

Here’s what the troops at Beer Advocate had to say about this one:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/139/1382

Here’s a nice news piece from Beer Advocate, marking the mass-market release of Chamberlain Pale Ale. Some useful background and links here:
http://beeradvocate.com/news/1002281

Here’s a link to the website of the artist who painted the beautiful image for the label on Chamberlain Pale Ale:
http://www.civilwarartist.com/

Finally, here’s a link to the brewer’s website. Go there and buy a Chamberlain pint glass or t-shirt, NOW! (Drink from it, or wear it for the Gettysburg anniversary in July.)
http://www.shipyard.com/

Beer Moment

I’m getting old enough to see trouble before it’s fully brewed….

For the past couple of weeks I’ve had a bottle of Four Peaks Kiltlifter Scottish Style Ale parked in the refrigerator waiting for the tasting, but I happened to bump into it on tap beforehand. Consequently, you won’t be reading a review of Kiltlifter here at Beer Rant any time soon.

I’m in a two day training session at the Arizona National Guard armory on McDowell Road – no, I’m not a soldier (not any more – that’s a young man’s business). Anyhow, they cut us loose a bit early today and I’d spied a promising watering hole on the morning drive in, so I cajoled Johnny Southside to follow me there after class for a glass of something on draft.


The place turned out to be J Heads, a punk bar. Just as well. I haven’t actually had a real draft beer since, well, maybe since I visited the Coors Brewery in Golden several years ago. We stepped from the bright afternoon sun into the dimly lit interior to find ourselves the only patrons. J Heads is a lot like my prototypical favorite bar: low ceiling, pool table that was carried out on the last chopper to escape Saigon in the early 1970s, and all manner of stuff pinned, stuck, pasted and otherwise attached to the walls and ceiling.

Tap handles showed a couple of worthwhile prospects including Top Down Ale and Kiltlifter. I opted for Kiltlifter, Johnny Southside choosing likewise. A few quarters for the pool table and we were all set.

J Heads (formerly Jugheads – voted Best of Phoenix punk bar in 2007) is the sort of place that used to cause me a lot of trouble and I walked a fine line between finishing my single glass of beer and going home on the one hand and, on the other hand, hanging around until 9 pm, only to wander home covered in glitter and smelling of smoke and strange perfume.

We shot two racks of pool – Johnny Southside won both – and we drank our beers. I chatted with the barkeep, mentioned my blog, and asked him some questions about J Heads, and then Southside and I stepped back out into the afternoon sunlight to head home. I’ve no recollection of the Kiltlifter except that I liked it and thought about it all the way home. The visit to J Heads wasn’t a tasting, but a beer moment.

Once home, I popped the top off of that bottle of Kiltlifter that’s been hiding in the refrigerator and sat quietly in my backyard, enjoying the beer, not covered in glitter, not smelling of smoke and strange perfume and not thinking about the tasting, but instead, watching my two year old granddaughter laughing and playing. This wasn’t a tasting either, but yet another beer moment. Wow, two in one day.



Think I might go back to J Heads tomorrow.
Did I mention that Johnny Southside won both rounds of pool? Geez, I’m slipping.