I noticed and have been pondering the last few weeks, why Arizona doesn't have any breweries on the Top 50 list. It's not a lack of quality beer for sure. Oak Creek, Prescott, Four Peaks, and others all are brewing high quality ales and deserve recognition. But that Top 50 list is size oriented, so what will it take for Arizona's great breweries to get on the list?

Water. Arizona is a VERY dry state, even up here in the mountains so I think this is a major issue for any brewery considering growth. Towns like Flagstaff, Sedona, and Prescott while we can support a brewpub or small production brewery without enough water I doubt we can provided sufficient water supply a brewery on that list. The metro areas like Phoenix and Tucson on the other hand because they have a more reliable and larger water network to tap into may be the only places that a Top 50 brewery could be established.

So that said which breweries could develop out to that size? Four Peaks and Nimbus seem the only two obvious candidates. They are already bottling in the urban areas. They have strong brands with good quality. I have seen their beers in Cost Plus World Market packs, which while may be based regional is a good way to develop a reputation in larger markets.

However if Oak Creek, Prescott, or maybe even Beaver Street decided to open a production brewery in some place with more water or perhaps set up a contract brewing for their beers they have the quality and GABF reputation to make a play for the big time.

I don't see Arizona making the big time soon, but when we do they brewery will have certainly earned the title.

The first Saturday of May is National Homebrew Day and to celebrate this year Oak Creek Brewing and Northern Arizona Homebrewers will celebrate at the brewery. There will be brewing demonstrations, tours, and other fun so if you are in the area please stop in and join the fun.

Yes the photo evidence is true, second photo in the series, I was at the Dogfish Head Off-Centered Experience at Papago Brewing this weekend. The event raised funds for Brain Cancer Research.

It was a great experience. Ron Kioth, the owner, provided the perfect venue and environment for it to be a success. The tickets were limited to 100 each of the two sessions and while I know many others were interested in attending but couldn't because of it selling out early. The smaller group size provided a good balance of crowd, but not so much you couldn't move or enjoy yourself.

There was the best selection of Dogfish Head beers for the event that I have ever seen in Arizona. Of course there were the usual suspects one can find like the 60 Minute IPA or Chicory Stout. The more interesting were those we don't normally get to see like Chateau Jiahu, Johnny Rawton, and Olde School Barleywine. It was great to have the opportunity to taste those and I hope to see them in the Arizona stores in the near future. I'd love to elaborate on the many ones I was able to taste but sadly keeping indepth notes at any beer festival event is a losing battle, but a fun one to be sure.

I started with the Olde School Barleywine, small wonder I didn't keep excellent notes huh, while it had a strong alcoholic character it was well balanced with slightly Evergreen notes. I thought they were on the pine side, but a certain Food Geek thought they were more on the spruce/cedar side. I also got to sample the Burton Baton it was a very impressive Imperial IPA. It had a bit of a sweet wood component balance with a smooth, not hard bitterness. The Chateau Jiahu had an amazing delicate character, but I wasn't able to appreciate it properly because of the larger beers earlier I had tasted.

Last the entertainment it was well, Off-Centered. See the pictures I link to at the top of the post, but it was a unique experience and that frankly doesn't describe it right.

All and all it was great combination of great beer, people and entertainment, throw in that it was for charity and it was an experience that couldn't be beat. I hope the Off-Centered Experience returns to Arizona in the future.

So glad to have you around, er well when you are.

The Arizona Republic noticed the hop shortage. Scott didn't get enough credit for the long conversation he and the reporter had during his holiday busy season, I know because I was working at the shop and heard a good part of it. But it was a good review on how the shortage is impacting Arizona brewing folks.

As Vox mentions cooler weather means my return to Phoenix, on occasion. So let's have a beer as she mentions Saturday at Sonoran Brewing. I will probably show up around 3pm. Hope to see all my blogging friends there.

it means I must be willing to go to Phoenix. Normally with the pending trip down the mountain, I'd be rounding up bloggers for a blogorama or heading to DracoVista studio. But not this time, nope this time it will be to checkout Podcamp AZ. A number of friends will be there and it looks like an interesting and unique 'unconference' or so goes the lingo. So if you have time of Saturday stop by and give it a chance yourself.

Just another Summer day at Slide Rock...

I know some people who consider publicly funded elections a great idea and I have never had much faith in the concept. Not so long ago a State legislator had to give up his seat because of a minor reporting error the Citizens Clean Elections Commission ruled. But then that same agency makes a $2 million dollar error and no one loses their job. So while they are all ready to hold the Sword of Damocles over the voter's choice, they have shown little accountability themselves. Expresso Straight has been doing a great job on following the issue.

And people seriously would like to expand this program, unbelievable.

Haven't written the follow up because frankly there wasn't much to say. The organizers of Made in the Shade did charge more and gave us less. As one local brewer noted it was a drunk fest not really a beer tasting anymore. Another brewer wondered if the festival will even be around next year in it's current form because of how badly it was managed. The absence of Arizona brewing community with the exception Beaver Street and Mudshark stood out to everyone I spoke with at the festival. The lack of homebrewers and local breweries pouring their beers ensured that the lines got long fast. I noticed some folks even drinking cans of mass produced swill waiting in line to enter the festival, I couldn't help but wonder if they came to sample new and different beers or thought it was a college kegger.

Only a couple beers really stood out for me. Steamworks had a nice Amber lager that was very clean. The New Belgium Mothership Wit was so good I have gotten a six pack after the festival to enjoy some more. The Stone beers were as usual excellent.

At one point we got into a mystery line which turned out to be Pyramid, since I don't care for their Hefe, I tried some Honey beer which was overly sweet and had no complexity. A friend disliked it so much he pour it out on the ground, the ultimate of insults at a beer festival. But then I did the same for Redstone's Raspberry Mead which was more reminisce of koolaid than a fruit mead. Largely it was a bunch of mass distributors and a handful of Southwest regional breweries.

In the end everything I predicted before I walked into the festival was correct sadly. Many of the craft brewing fans I spoke with are doubting they would even come next year. It makes me wonder if the Brewing Guild or some local group won't take up the mantel of making a smaller, more community minded event in the future. There is a market for a high quality beer tasting event in Flagstaff that the community can once again be proud.

Preparing both mentally and physically for this year’s Made in the Shade festival. But for the first time in a long time, I am not really excited about it’s approach. I get the feeling the organizers are charging more, offering less, and are not returning back to the community on the same level.

First off the price has gone up, but the festival doesn’t pay for the beer, the brewers do, and I doubt the county has had a dramatic price increase in use fees.

I get the feeling they are offering both attendees and brewers less. Attendees used to get glass glasses and I can accept plastic make less mess when dropped. They are probably cheaper but for $35-40 for general entry fee they can give us a decent piece of glassware as souvenir.

The next way we are getting less is fewer breweries. Now sure if you look at this page they advertise over 50 breweries, but the truth is there are only really around 30 breweries. Then a few regional distributors who show up with a truck and pour you beer from a bunch of breweries. Breweries they have no experience working at the brewery or knowledge of the beer. I come to beer festival to meet a brewer or someone who works there and knows about the beer. I go early just so I can check out a few places early before the event gets crowded to get to know the brewers and their beer. Actually have a bit of conversation, because these events are as much about the social experience as the beer. When you go to a distributor truck with 10 taps, they won’t generally discuss the beer because frankly they don’t KNOW it. The distributor gathers delivery people to the festival to pour and they don’t care about it, they just want to move a line.

The festival used to be a star in the Southwest attracting breweries from as far as Las Cruces, San Diego, and Boulder. New Mexico and Nevada both used to be strongly represented and they are hardly here this year. In fact outside of two local breweries, only one other Arizona Brewery decided to come which is a clear sign of what the state's brewing community thinks of the event. 3 out of 30, okay 3 out of 50 if you use their numbers, regardless of whose you use, it is a horrible sign about the condition of this beer festival.

The festival organizers are also offering less to the brewers as well as us attendees I have heard. First off our homebrew club and the Phoenix organizations were denied to even share our beer this year. In addition this is only a rumor that I am working to confirm, but I have heard this year they are far most restrictive to brewers/pouring staff. The organizers are requiring the brewers to buy a special use liability insurance to pour at the event, prescribing number of kegs to bring (that the breweries pay for), that those people who pour can’t sample beer at other booths, and lastly the festival used to sponsor a brewer's hotel where the rooms were covered by the festival in exchange for the brewer's staffs work and free beer. Brewers must pay for their rooms this year. My source indicated that the AZ Brewers Guild was so put off by the requirements they have decided to boycott the festival. Hence why less than 10% of local brewers participating in this year’s festival, but this is only a story I have heard from one source, I trust, but I am working on confirmation.

Restrictive rules like the above will impact small regional brewers and homebrewers the most. They are the ones least likely to be able to meet such requirements, but it is these groups that are at it's core the heart of the Craft Beer Revolution. They are the most ones on the front lines with the most innovative ideas. Without them you are left with larger wholesalers and the megabrews. Companies more interested in a bottom line and less interested in flavor. Flavor, diversity, and community are core values that craft beer was built on, ignoring these values and ultimately the festival will lose it's heart and soul.

The brewing community has a long history of supporting the larger community, but you can’t make it all demands and no return. Last year I heard the complaint that the only places with interesting and unique beers was the homebrewers. This year with the lack of them and the local state brewers I suspect the overall impression will be even more bland. If this is the case the organizers will need a major shakeup or I will start taking the money I spend from this festival and putting it toward other more local friendly events like the Prescott Oktoberfest.

Flagstaff's local Channel 2 always covers national news after the first break, but frankly why? Lately they have cut back local coverage, giving up on weekend and morning broadcasts. The last thing they have currently is waste time in the 22 or so minutes they broadcast. It is rather doubtful that anyone in this small town tunes into their programming to catch the latest national news headlines. When you tune into Channel 2 you want local news, weather and sports roundup. NBC offers a seperate national news show for those interested and even those without cable can get it. For those with cable or satellite there is even more choices, so why would they tune in to a local news channel? I don't know either.

The only advantage Channel 2 has over all of these other programs is they cover this local market, so why waste our valuable time and attention.

It just boggles my mind.