A Day at Mesa Beerfest!: Three Local Craft Brews

Desert Eagle Brewing Co.'s beer tent. You could wait in line, or walk down the block to the brewery.

I love beerfests. You get to sample a decent range of craft brews among a huge crowd of fellow beer aficionados for the whole day. Great way to chill! Unless some drunk fifty-something trips and spills his pint of dark ale down your back as you try to record your notes, I mean come the fuck on... but anyway. Mesa Beerfest just off of Main Street had a fair range of breweries out, including Desert Eagle Brewery which makes sense because it's also on Main. I'll be going into further detail about their brews later. Instead, let's sample a few that were new to me.

4216 N Brown Ave, Scottsdale AZ 85251

Based out of Scottsdale, Bad Water Brewery was established in 2012 with a farmhouse ale as its first batch on tap. They brought their inaugural ale to the beerfest, and I was happy to give it a chance. The body was a deep amber with thin foam that clung to the sides, even for a plastic cup. The body was cloudy with yeast, typical of a saison. Its bouquet was balanced with wheat and sugary floral notes, and a light fruity note like bananas. It reminded me of some hefeweizens, really. But the taste was definitely not that of a wheat beer, there was a mild hoppy bite that deepened the body through to the finish. It was crisp but not all that clean of a finish, with a nutty quality to it like that I've tasted in brown ales. It was good, and with an ABV of 6% it was overall a quality brew. But in all honesty there was very little to set it apart from saisons that I've tasted before.

1641 S Stapley Dr, Mesa AZ 85204

Next was the 480G IPA from the Beer Research Institute. Opened in 2014, this Mesa brewery specializes in Belgian-style ales and IPAs with a love for hops that borders on obsession. I myself have a passion for the hoppier brews, and with an ABV of 7.4% this one seemed to be the right choice. At first glance this "Best Coast"-style IPA had almost zero head on a semi-clear amber body, though the head may be due to BRI's keg running low by the time I reached them. The bouquet was clearly hoppy, with floral notes with a slightly sweet malt edge that's common to IPAs. The taste is incredibly hoppy, with woodsy notes like you'd find in a taste of scotch, and you can freely pick up notes of citrus zest in the finish. Several, ranging from orange to lemon to grapefruit. It's a broad range, circulating in sensation from the bitter hops to the sweeter malt and orange to the bitter grapefruit and back to hops. It's certainly unique in that regard from other IPAs, and had I gotten to it earlier in the event it would have been better, I'm sure. As it is, I can call it satisfying.

232 S Wall St, Chandler AZ 85225

And then we have The Perch Pub and Brewery, and their Uncommon Good Session IPA. While I do enjoy IPAs, sessions are the exception. They're lighter with the hops and the ABV, and frankly at that point I'd be better off with a simple lager. The Perch is based out of Chandler, and a glance at their beer menu will leave a beer drinker begging for flights. It's huge! Not only with their own brews, but also those from other breweries, totally over 40 at any given time, though at the time I'm posting this they do not have Uncommon Good on tap. The name of the pub comes from their hosting dozens of tropical rescue birds at their establishment. On first pour this IPA had a head that looked, well, so bubbly that it was more like a batch of fish eggs than a meringue. Again, this has to be because it was from a nearly-empty keg. The body was a cloudy amber, and the bouquet was hoppy but the malt makes it overall lighter and cleaner than with standard IPAs. The same goes for the taste, it's hoppy but much more modestly and with almost no bite in the finish. It's alright, and at a 4.9% ABV it's a little stronger than most other sessions. But it doesn't stand out enough to make me change my mind about choosing this over a summer ale or a true IPA.

All told, if you're inclined to try these yourself, you can't go wrong with a visit to these particular breweries around the East Valley. These brews are good quality, though they don't stand out as something to, say, request your local pub to stock in. There's a lot of craft brews out there, and they're all worth sampling, but it takes a little something special to go beyond sampling and into regular drinking. These three don't quite reach that level.

So many brewfests to come, so many new releases, and so many great beers out there to try out. More to come, my friends!

Uncle Bear's Grill &  Tap, from Chandler, was also serving, though I didn't get to sample from them this time.