Happy Hour at Monsterland

*watching Heinekin commercial*

Daniel Craig... WHY? Did Skyfall really need that advertising revenue? Was Eon Productions really that hard up for cash because of the recession?!

Ugh, not my problem, and not my first or fourth choice of beer. Anyway. Beer Blogger here, and if there's one thing I have a soft spot for, it's local craft brews. Arizona has a LOT of local brews, so I could easily dedicate a good couple months to reviewing them all, roadtripping statewide on my free time. Which actually isn't a bad idea...but I digress. What I'm really getting at is that Monsterland has a delightfully diverse display of brews from around Arizona on tap.

But what's Monsterland? It's a Halloween-themed restaurant located on Main Street in Mesa, originally opened in 2011 as a haunted house but was converted the following spring into a theme restaurant open year-round. It's a popular spot for the spooky decor, the animatronic beasties that activate without warning, and the wait staff often dressing up in costume like they're about to go trick or treating. The food's decent, but pricier than it's really worth during regular hours, but between the hours of 3pm to 6pm Wednesday thru Friday, the appetizers are $2 cheaper and the beers a dollar off.

And that's where I come in! My sistah-from-another-mistah (and movie co-reviewer) Kat was in town, and while searching Main Street for suitable craft-y souveniers we stopped in for lunch. Thus did the beer taps flow with the following brews.

SanTan Count Hopula - Seasonal IPA. Daaaaark, a deep red with a thick head. It had an intense hoppiness, and it was nearly as rich as a stout in flavor if not in thickness. I tasted some chocolate undertones, but that might be the malt coming through. If you like IPAs then by all means give it a try, it's got a lot to offer. But honestly, the strength of the hop might put off the casual drinker. Still, clever name.

SanTan Hefeweizen Wheat - This has a spiced, perfumey bouquet, it's a cloudy orange with thick head. It's very good, with a banana citris flavor that does not even require the usual lemon garnish. It's a veritable bouquet for the senses, you can taste everything right away. It's a surprise for the average beer drinker interested in trying something new, and I definitely recommend giving it a try. Unless you don't like bananas.

Sonoran Victorian IPA - I like that name. For an IPA, this has a rather light hoppy flavor. Golden amber in color with a light frothy head, it's really a good starter for this type of beer. I'd almost say it's double hopped from the flavor, but without the higher alcohol content. It's a nice casual beer, easy on the palette but with more than enough character to merit another pint. (Really wish I could show you a picture of it, but I didn't take any and couldn't find one that I was positive would permit its use here.)

Stay tuned, I'll be posting next about several seasonals that Kat and I tried...and THIS time there'll be pictures I don't have to pull from the web!
Photo Credits: Monsterland Interior, Source: The New Times, Author: Bella.
 SanTan Count Hopula and Heifeweizen Wheat, Source: SanTan Brewing Company.

Oktoberfest at Tempe Town Lake

Oh, Oktoberfest.

This past weekend, Tempe Town Lake was host to the Budweiser Oktoberfest, a three-day event with live music, rides, carnival and German food, and more beer than you could possibly drink in one sitting. A few people tried, and thankfully they had friends to carry them out when they failed. Several thousand people were in attendance, and quite a few dressed like German barmaidens, pulling off the look oh so very well! Me, I wasn't going for anything so ambitious as getting plowed, just the opportunity to taste some beers I'd be hard pressed to find any other occasion without plane tickets, passports, or a TARDIS.

(It always comes back to a fucking TARDIS, doesn't it...)

I rode the light rail into Tempe because I sure as Heidegger didn't want to risk driving after sampling whatever beers struck my fancy. The BBF would aid me in narrowing my selections from the near hundred different beers on tap, and checking off the harder to find brews makes the decision easy.

The various biergarden tents they had set up accepted drink coupons, which could only be purchased by cash. VISA fails me once again. However, aside from the many generic ATMs conveniently near the coupon tables, there were drink specials during certain hours of the day to balance out the cash/credit inconvenience. My interest was in a beer flight of 8 German beers for purchasing my tickets between 1pm and 3pm, but as luck would have it I got there just too late. Instead, the purchase table attendent, a sympathetic motherly type with curly brown hair, gave me extra tickets to make up for the trouble.

And thanks to that becurled woman's generosity, I was able to savor the following brews.

Warsteiner Premium Verum - A German Pilsner. Generally my palette for pilsners isn't well refined, they taste alike to me. This Pilsner, though, was crisp, dry, and best of all, a little more hoppy than I expected. It's light bodied, but not too light. One more German, checked off the BBF. Yeah, I liked it.

Estrella Damm - Spanish lager, I thought it was light on taste, inoffensive to the palette but not exceptional. The BBF says that it's an easy drinking pale lager with a touch of hops but I couldn't detect that. My impression was that it was like a thicker, stronger Budweiser. Might try it again, if only to pick up on those hops it supposedly has.

Hop City Barking Squirrel - A Canadian lager, dark orange, and tasted a more than a little hoppy. I'd say it's more like a weak IPA as well as a strong lager, which is a good thing. Fact is, I thought I tasted a subtlest hint of apples, which is weird because according to Hop City Brewing Co's website there isn't any apple in this. Huh. Olfactory hallucinations aside, I really liked this lager, and would enthusiastically recommend and order again.

Firestone Union Jack - American double dry hopped IPA out of CA. The hoppy taste is much more subtle in these double hopped IPAs, so you can taste more flavors all around. The Firestone Walker Brewery claims that this has grapefruit citris-iness, I could detect a citrisy character but I thought it was lemon or orange. The overall taste is mild, but alcohol-wise it's strooooong (7.5% alcohol by volume). I'm a sucker for IPAs, especially double- and triple-hopped, so this is one I'd recommend as well.

All told, it was three hits and a miss beer-wise. But it was Oktoberfest, brauts and beers and cute girls in poofy short skirts with knee socks, it's all a hit! And besides, any day that ends with a cold beer is a good day.

Photo credits:Warsteiner Premium Verum, source: Wikicommons, author: LeeKeoma. 
Estrella Damm, source: Wikicommons, author: Erik Cleves Kristensen. 
Hop City Barking Squirrel, source: Hop City Brewing Co. 
Firestone Union Jack, source: Seattle Beer News.

Worldwide Beers! Pilsner Urquell and Mythos

This past Friday night I was at church, drinking. No, seriously. WAIT COME BACK.
 

Actually, it was a Greek Orthodox church for a cultural festival. A buddy at Lost Leaf had told me about it, as I had been looking for something...anything...that would get me a long way away from home that particular night (long story). Lots of yummy Greek food, they had the best gyro, and these little donut things, loukoumades, that are covered in honey and filled with cheese and joy, omigod you guys. There were also cash bars serving beer and wine, and there were a lot of wine bottles floating around. They had this lager on ice called Mythos (love the name), a Greek import.

I can best describe it as like Budweiser if they actually cared about making a good product. It's your basic lager, nothing unique about it, but very well made. Its taste is crisp yet inoffensive, and it's light bodied. A good beer to relax with company.

In my pursuit of "slaying the dragon" at the George & Dragon, that's how they call filling out their beer flight for a t-shirt, the bartender Jana suggested I try Pilsner Urquell, a Czech beer they had on tap which was also on the Big Beer Flight list. I'm always down for what's on tap. I had tried this before in the bottle but it was a couple years prior so I'd forgotten everything about it.

Mmm. It tasted like sourdough bread, which I quite like. Otherwise light on the palette, and there was a hint of cloves in the aftertaste which I really liked. Now the BBF book describes it as "blend of Moravian malt and aromatic Saaz hops," which is probably where the sourdough taste comes from. It also says "the aroma is dominated by a floral, spicy hop character," but I didn't pick up on that. It's a quality pilsner that stands out because of that unique flavor.

And there you have it. Mythos wasn't in the BBF, but it was still a good night, good times, and good drinks. Pilsner can be found anywhere, and both are worth trying. I'm your Beer Blogger, and it's beer o'clock somewhere.

Photo credits- Mythos Beer, source: Wikipedia Commons, original author Shadster.
Pilsner Urquell, source: Wikipedia Commons, original author Gent Thaçi.

The Big Beer Flight: Beers Of The World

Hi there, I'm your Beer Blogger, and have you ever wanted to try all the beers? ALL the beers? I know I have!

So last year, my friend Katie bought for my birthday a book, Beers of the World: Over 350 Classic Beers, Lagers, Ales, and Porters, by David Kenning. As books go on one of my favorite subjects, it's a pretty good read. It gives brewery history, regional information, taste review, even pairing suggestions. It's not comprehensive, and one of the biggest sections is devoted to American beers, but it's a good introduction to beers worldwide and brewing traditions.  And it's got purty pictures.  But it's not a review I'm writing here.

Lots of bars and ale houses have a beer flight, a checklist of their beers where completing the flight will earn you a prize, like a t-shirt. Restaurant chains like "Old Chicago" have them, and smaller establishments like my local pub "George and Dragon" have them. That's a lot of beers, and they can only be redeemed at the restaurant or pub that originates the list, and more and more they come with mobile phone apps that let you track your beers. That's not gonna work for me. Y'see, my phone isn't compatible with those apps, and besides, it's too easy!

So here's the plan. I'm using this book as my own personal beer flight. I'm going to taste every beer listed in this book, domestic and foreign! The easy part is comparing beer menus and store inventories to the index in the back of the book for sampling. The hard part will be those beers that require a passport. AWESOME!!!

To start, I've gone through the beer menu at Lost Leaf, this local pub in downtown Phoenix with a diverse menu that's always changing. There's several Belgian, Czech, and German beers in the fridge, not to mention a huge list of national beers. Oh, there's also British, Canadian and even a Lithuanian brew but they weren't in the book. More to come on the Lost Leaf menu, later.

But next, will be sampling the German brews at Oktoberfest this month! Let's see how many of them are in the book, and how they taste.

That's it for now, I'm your Beer Blogger, and it's beer o'clock somewhere.

Long story short

I take back every bad thing I've ever said about Abita Jockamo IPA. It's now my favorite Abita beer, right next to Andygator. Also, Turbodog ROCKS.

SunUp Brewery

It seems like Arizona has no end to local and regional breweries. There's Four Peaks in Tempe, Sonoran Brewing Company and Rock Bottom in Scottsdale, Oak Creek up in Sedona, Mudshark out in Lake Havasu, the list goes on. And the list, which is real friggin' long, can be found through the handy search feature at Beerme.com. There's a lot of beer facts that can be found at Beer Me, of which I've only taken the briefest of peeks. One more item for the "to-do" list, for another time. Today I'll be reviewing the selection offered by the SunUp Brewery in Phoenix, located at 322 E Camelback Road.

Now, there's a little bit of confusion about the name. There was a time not too long ago when SunUp was called the Sonora Brewhouse, in fact I remember seeing the sign that way as recently as early 2009. However, there was conflict with the Sonoran Brewing Company claiming the names were too similiar, and there being a lot of confusion between customers of one going to the other, so the name was changed to SunUp. The brews are the same, however, which is really the important thing.

I sampled six of their year-round beers, a diverse selection from the taps. The first was their Horizon Hefeweizen, their wheat beer. It had a bright, unusually clear yellow color; the clarity is more typical of a kristallweizen than a hefeweizen, where the yeast is filtered out to remove the hefe's cloudy appearance. It was also milder in taste than a typical hefeweizen, very light finish and hardly any hop to it. There was a hint of sweetness, but really overall it was a modest taste that lingered on the roof of the mouth. In fact, it was so mild that it didn't need the citrus from the lemon wedge garnishing the top. I've never run into that before with a hefeweizen.

The Light Rail Cream Ale (named for the fact that the brewery is quite close to the Phoenix light rail) was also a mild taste, but it had more body than the hefeweizen of course. It's a dark yellow, like good whiskey. It starts out somewhat bold, and there's a hint of sweetness to this as well. It's also very smooth. I couldn't detect the creaminess of the name except at the finish, where it balanced out the boldness of the taste for easy drinking.

The Stinger Pale Ale starts out bold like the Light Rail, but stays bold and strong because of the hops for a well balanced taste. It's a bright, clean, clear amber color, and it feels oddly warm as it goes down. There is some bite to the Pale Ale, and you can clearly smell the hops and detect the malt in the flavor. The balance and strength of the Pale Ale made this a personal favorite.

Now, the Sun Up Amber stars out stronger, much stronger, than the Pale Ale, but the taste mellows out as it reaches the back of the tongue. The bouquet is very faint, I could barely detect the hints of the malt. A dark reddish amber color, it put me in mind of a less overpowering Killian's, especially in the finish. Now I do like Killians, but I'd take this Amber over the Killian's any day.

The Trooper IPA was intimidating, because of my last experience with the Abita Jockamo, but this brew renewed my interest in IPA's. It's a very dark amber, and the bouquet was surprising, it was harder to detect the hoppiness than I'd expected in this type of beer. But the taste, oh yes you will know how strong the hops are in this, and it will linger on the tongue. For a beer as bitter as this IPA was, it was exceptionally light on the bite, far more smooth than sharp on the palette. It has to be the malt. That to me made this IPA more than just a damn good beer, it was a friggin' revelation.

Then there's the Vanilla Porter, and I was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, how good this was. A deep ruddy black, the red showing in the head around the edges, the bouquet had the most enjoyable aroma of chocolate. The chocolate was the strongest ingredient in this brew, but there are layers of flavor, I could detect traces of cherry and nuts, with subtle hints of vanilla all throughout. Very full bodied, to be expected from a dessert beer, and so smooth and warming. This porter was an absolute joy to drink. My waitress suggested trying it as an ice cream float. Oooooh cheezburgers fries and shake what a good idea. She also suggested I sample a couple of the seasonals they had on tap, the Double and Triple IPAs.

Now both of these IPAs were a deep rich amber, with the Triple being just a shade darker than the Double, I mean you really have to look. They're both heavy on the hops, so much so to me that the Triple's bouquet seemed just a little stronger. The Double IPA was very sharp, very strong at the start with a hard bite to it, but sweet at the back of the tongue. And yet in spite of that bite it still had a smooth finish! The Triple on the other hand, was very malty, with less bite to it than the Double if that makes any sense. It was almost syrupy in consistency, and sweeter all throughout and not just at the end. They were both also much stronger in alcohol content than your typical IPA. Oh yes, these two make me want to try more IPAs.

SunUp is a small microbrew compared to others like Four Peaks, and their beers are only available on tap or in kegs, but they are absolutely worth the effort. The beers are easy to drink, either light on the palette or smooth all the way down, without any disappointment to be had. As far as food goes, I only had a cobbler with my beer flight, but it was delicious. I'm thirsty for the next occasion to stop by SunUp, maybe I'll give that porter float a try.

Addendum - It wasn't till two years after I wrote and posted this article that I gave that porter float a try. Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown. The stout was too chalky, and didn't balance with the ice cream as evenly as would regular root beer.

The Abita Brewery Tour (November '09)

I have two absolute, drop-dead favorite brands of beer, Four Peaks and Abita. Now, Four Peaks is a local brand. They don't have a brewery tour, just an adjoining restaurant. Ha, JUST an adjoining, like that's a crime. It's an excellent beer, and I'll cover it in more detail later. Abita is a Louisiana-based brand, brewed in (of course!) Abita Springs, north of New Orleans... a loooong ass way north of New Orleans. Sure as hell felt long the first time that I toured the brewery.

Here's a little back story. I've been visiting New Orleans for going on ten years now, at least once a year. I have friends who live there, and even more that come there to meet up, hang out, see the sights for a few days, like you do. They began touring the brewery in '06, and it became an annual thing for most everybody to have a shuttle take them across the lake to the brewery. Me, I kept sleeping in... sleeping it off. A flat tire in '08 kept me from making it then. Last year I finally joined everybody for the tour. Well worth the repeat visits!

The entrance was through an open patio decorated in the same architectural style as the rest of the French Quarter, balconies with rod iron railings and gas lit lanterns on each side of the upper story windows. Red brick fences and clay fountains bubbling away, and more rod iron patio seating. The Abita logo was set as a tile mosaic in the sidewalk through the gate. Past the patio was the Tasting Room, the combination gift shop/waiting area/all-you-can-drink-tap for visitors going on the tour. The gifts were pricey, the seating was leather and overstuffed, and the beer was practically endless. The waiting area was made to look like a pub, with a polished dark wood countertop, stools and a long mirror framed by the same polished wood opposite the seating, and right behind the taps, with the Abita brand etched into the glass. All of their various beer products, be it the Amber, the Purple Haze, the IPA or even the ever-so-delicious Andygator, were available for the visitors to sample as often as they liked (cups were included). Can you tell which one was my personal favorite? Oh yes.

Andygator was a gold colored ale with a sweet taste, sweeter than I've been accustomed to tasting in beers, with a fruity aroma and no bitter finish. I like beer with a little sweetness to it, so this one truly stood out ahead of all others in my recollecting. And smooth, it was almost like water it was so easy to drink. The Amber was hoppier, very close to my tolerance for hops before it becomes the last thing I drink, with a modest bite to it at the end. And I don't mind telling you that it tapped my sobriety on the noggin fast. The Purple Haze was not as sweet as the Andygator, nor as smooth. I'd actually call it a fruitier version of the Amber, with a lighter finish that was quite nice altogether. The Restoration Ale, another pale ale, was agreeable, but it doesn't stand out. The ingredients list it as having a mix of "Pale, Lager, Crystal and Cara Pils malted barley," and it shows because I could only see it as a middle-of-the-road brew. Actually, Restoration would be a good starter beer for someone getting to know the Abita brand. The Jockamo IPA was friggin' harsh, very hoppy, very bitter finish, were it a wine I'd call it full bodied because it was almost as thick as an oatmeal stout. Think of taking your coffee black, no sugar, with a finish like something charred by the fire, that's my impression of the IPA. My least favorite, I would say it's for someone with a developed pallet, who likes it that way, perhaps both. As for me, for fuck's sake, it turned me off ALL IPA's.

Now I quite like oatmeal stouts, depending on the occasion, for the rich creamy consistency where the bite is fully complimentary to the chocolate-nutty taste. I've yet to try Abita's Turbodog, which is their oatmeal stout (and wouldn't you know, it's also one of the four Abita beers that actually makes it this far west!), I'll have to write that up sometime.

The brewery tour was prefaced by a video that was played in the Tasting Room, complete with lights dimming, about the history of the brewery. The music was a generic hometown tune, suitable for framing the narrative that emphasizes the importance of local business, quality ingredients, and brewers you could relate to, even (haha) see yourself having a beer with. Hell, if it'd been a presidential candidate I was ready to vote for it. It wasn't long enough to be boring, so no worries about losing interest while the lights are low. The only true complaint I would leverage at the intro video is that you couldn't get more beer while it was playing! However, you could refill it in the brief window between the end of the video and the start of the tour, and you could bring your beer with you.

The interior of the actual brewery, named The Cellar, was like some sterile, chrome temple to the gods of alcohol, high ceilings to accomodate the massive metal silos where fermentation was taking place. Lean in close and you can hear hymns sung to Ninkasi. Or Drinkasi, Ninkasi's rascal of a li'l bro. There were touches to the decor that made it a little, I don't know, homey to everyone coming through. There were banners suspended from the ceiling to denote the mash tun, the lauter tun, and the merlin kettle, all mounted around a raised platform with a sign overhead reading "Brewhouse." Behold, Drinkasi's alter! Leave the votive offerings at home.

If you have the opportunity. if you're in Louisiana, by all means. GO. You'll be glad you did! Just be sure you have a designated driver, it's a long way to go and after sampling all of Abita's stock you're not gonna be in driving shape. Myself, I'm absolutely planning to go back the next time I'm in New Orleans, and I'll be working to add the OTHER Abita landmark, the original brewhouse which is now the Abita Brew Pub. I had no idea it even existed until I looked up the Abita website. Well, the tour guide did explain that the current brewery wasn't the original, but he failed to explain that it had been made into a restaurant. Wouldn't that make for a fine capper to an afternoon of free beer, lunch where it all started.

Oh yes, there will be an Abita Brewery Tour update late this year. There's still so many brews I've yet to taste!