San Tan Brewing Company - Part 2: More In The Market

Told you I'd be back with Part 2 in a little bit! Helps when you backed up most of your original notes and content. Remember kids, keep your backups local, you never know when the "cloud" will burst.

So, where were we? Of course, let's resume on a high note with San Tan Brewery's Hefeweizen. Their wheat beer is the first exception to my "can bad, glass good" rationale! It tastes good coming out of the can, with a modest ABV 5.0, and the well balanced blend between banana and citrus flavors still comes through. The problem comes from how strongly carbonated it is, which takes a bit to mellow out but overwhelms the finish at all times. When poured into a glass, you get a modest head that takes a little while to dissipate, obviously because of the carbonation, and the foam does not cling or linger on the glass. The color is a clean but opaque yellow. The bouquet is strong with bananas and some lemon orange, and you can pick up further notes of spice in the taste. I think an orange slice garnish would really enhance the experience. Normally I think if you need to garnish a brew with something like a piece of fruit that it's a poor sign for the beer (Corona and Dos Equis, you oughta be ashamed of yourselves. Go to your corner!). For this, I'd forgive it.

Then we have their Epicenter Amber Ale. Oh, sweet taste bud-shaking Epicenter. On first pour, it's a clear amber, with a thick and effervescent head that leaves a little lacework in foam clinging to the glass. The bouquet is rich, the sweet malt intermingling with nut and honey notes in perfect harmony. The taste is full nutty goodness, with notes of maple syrup and the most subtle hint of coffee, with an ABV of 5.5. I found the finish to be surprisingly dry for an amber ale, and I can't say it's a bad thing. This I would strongly urge to drink from a pint glass, out of the can and you end up with a watery taste, almost no nuttiness, and a weird metallic ting in the finish. But served in a glass, this was easily my favorite of San Tan's core brews. In fact, I'd even say it's one of the best ambers I've had.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, the seasonal for this part of the review is not available till the winter, but at the time I first wrote this, the Sex Panther Double Chocolate Porter was the seasonal available.. Very smooth and chocolate-y, with an ABV of 6.5, everything that I wished that Barrio Brewery's Mocha Stout had been. On first pour, it's a dark cloudy brown with a thick head that ringed the brew. The foam neither clings nor lingers in any fashion. The bouquet is rich with coffee and cocoa, but also raspberry notes. The raspberry carries over to the flavor, as well as nutty elements, and a strong mocha that covers the carbonation that I'm coming to recognize as a San Tan signature. It has bite, not like from hops, but like you'd get from a spoonful of powdered baking cocoa mixed into your milk because you thought it was just like Nes-Quik. But that bite fades out, and is replaced by a smooth semi-sweet finish.



Overall, their consumer market offerings offer something for everyone. The Hefeweizen and Epicenter are easy to drink for casual drinkers and beginners alike, and are all-around really good. The Devil's Ale and IPA I'm sure would please those with more refined and experienced palettes; personally, they make me crave a better IPA. The seasonals are a palette expander, an introduction to something that your average beer drinker might not seek out or have the opportunity to try otherwise. San Tan's beer is a prime exemplar of the effect the serving method has on a brew's drinkability. They're quality brews, with more than a little imagination, and I have to admit I'd ask an establishment whether they had San Tan's wheat beers or amber ales on tap. But just those beers.

And it's not over yet! My resurrected coverage of the San Tan Brewery continues, with a visit to the brewery itself where several of their specialty beers are only available on tap.

San Tan Brewing Company - Part 1: On The Market

Hello my friends, it's your humble beer blogger Daver again, and today on tap we've got a, shall we say, reprint of a review? You see, for several months I was contributing content to an Arizona web-zine, but the site has since changed its focus from local events and reviews to a blog about the editor's friends' parties. Can't say I agree with the new direction, but it's not my webspace or my problem. But that means that everything I contributed? HOSED. Now, I just can't be having with informative beer reviews being lost, so I'm importing what I've backed up, starting with the San Tan Brewing Company.

Based in Chandler, AZ, San Tan opened in 2007 and has since earned name recognition around the Valley as one of the top breweries in Arizona. This brewery has created a diverse range of craft brews to offer at their microbrewery restaurant in Chandler's historic district, at bars around Arizona, and in grocery stores and liquor stores. They're popular enough that they've been working towards expanding their distribution to neighboring states for almost a year now. San Tan offers their four most popular brews in six packs of aluminum cans, and a rotating seasonal at their respective time of year.  

Wait, aluminum cans? Oh dear... as a beer snob, I'm prejudiced against anything aluminum smaller than a keg jacketing my beer. It just doesn't taste right to me! Nobody should have to drink from the can. But in the spirit of fairness, let's see how these cans stack up. We'll start with two of their year-round offerings, and one of their seasonals.

First we've got the Devil's Ale, their pale ale offering.  On first pour, the head is thin and fades out fast. It clings to the glass unevenly, and doesn't linger for long either. It's a clear amber colour. The bouquet is surprisingly strong with the malted hops, an almost pungent sweetness if you tilt the glass back a bit to increase the surface area of the top of the brew in the glass. OK, that might be a little more complicated than you should have to go for drinking any craft brew, but it works that way. Taste-wise, oh yes. Strong with the hops, it is. But not that strong. You really have to drink this in a glass to get the full experience. Straight out of the can (dear god I hate cans) it's almost watery with the body. Poured properly, you get the effervescence of the carbonation and a bit of bite. The carbonation fades out faster than usual, and the brew mellows out as it does to the point the hops become the finish instead of the body. There's almost none of the caramel-y sweetness you'd expect from a brew with malted hops. Seriously, drinking this out of the can and out of a glass is like night and day. Night. And. DAY. At first I thought it was a let-down even with an ABV of 5.5 because of the can, but I'm glad I went a little further.


Next is the Hop Shock IPA, and boy howdy the hops are strong with this one. On first pour, it's a clear amber with a porous head. The foam doesn't cling to the sides of the glass, but rather hangs and slips slowly into oblivion. I can taste the malt, and I can smell it in the bouquet, a sweet and slightly citrus-y aroma. The but the hops are extraordinarily bitter. The body feels a little syrup-y in the finish, and notes of tangerines come through. Carbonation seems to be a thing, San Tan brews lose their fizz fairly quickly. This doesn't hurt the brew, it's just interesting. And with an ABV of 7.1 that's a lot of interest. Again, pouring this in a glass makes a vast difference over drinking it out of the can.

Now, the seasonal selection for today is the Mr. Pineapple, a Pineapple Wheat Beer. Oh man, that would probably pair well with a krabby patty. How did they come up with this? That's not to say it's bad, it's quite refreshing, as expected from a spring wheat beer. On first pour you get a head of foam that pops and sizzles, and fades out completely with no lacing or drizzling along the glass. The color is a cloudy dark yellow, like the syrup from a can of sliced pineapples. It has similar notes of banana in the taste and bouquet as you'd find in the Hefeweizen, and floral notes and some coriander, even a hint of oregano if you can believe that, that pleases the nose. And with an ABV of 5.0, the alcohol content doesn't overpower the overall quality. You can easily taste the real pineapple juice balanced out with the banana, that citrus-y tang all the way to the finish. Unlike most of the others, the San Tan carbonation was modest and subtle, fading into the background with each sip without going flat. All told, for a funny concept, it works really damn well.


Check back in a little bit for Part 2, I'll be covering an amber, a wheat beer, and their seasonal porter. Fun times, my friends.