Arizona, Days 7-8 (7/27-28/11)

Spent one day visiting Sedona and one day hanging by the pool visiting with family. Much fun was had by all, but little in the way of new beer experiences.

We did buy two new six-packs, and sampled both:

Nimbus Brown Ale. Nimbus is an AZ brewery, and we wanted something dark, so this was a good choice. Turned out to be a very tasty option. Lots of IPAs and pales available from local breweries, but this was one of the few dark ones in the store, and very good!

Descutes Black Butte Porter (have had it previously, but wanted a second yummy, dark option).

We also sampled a few more from the mixed six-packs:

Marble Brewery's Wildflower Wheat. This is an American wheat made with wildflower honey, and was very refreshing. I'm more a fan of German wheats, but in this weather, the Wildflower was perfect!

Nimbus Oatmeal Stout. Excellent stout! We really enjoyed this one! I wish the local grocery store had this in six-packs, but no such luck.

And a cousin had left behind one Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss, so we had that as well. Leinies is becoming the "go to" brewery for fruity, refreshing beers. I like the shandy better than this one, but Berry Weiss is still good for the AZ heat. However, Meagan was working on the Achocalypse when she tasted it and said that, in comparison, it tasted like a wine cooler.

Arizona, Day 6 (7/26/11)

Another day spent mostly at the pool and picking up people from the airport. Along with the usual "pool beers" (New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale and Pyramid Haywired), we also drank more of our standards (Four Peaks Kiltlifter, Cave Creek Chili Beer and Elsie's Irish Coffee Milk Stout) as well as trying three new ones from the mixed six-packs:

• Wasatch Devastator - a dobbplebock that we found unimpressive, but with an interesting logo on the bottle
• Wasatch Polygamy Porter - At 4% abv, a good session beer, but a bit watery for a porter
• Odell Brewing Co. Cutthroat Porter - Our favorite of these three, but it doesn't compare to some of the porters we get in Asheville, like ABC's Ninja Porter or Green Man Cask Porter.

Finally, at the end of the day, we broke into the Prescott Brewing Company Achocolypse growler, as it's the perfect dessert beer after a big meal of tacos!

Arizona, Day 5 (7/25/11)

A loooonnnnggggg drive through beautiful scenery and winding switchbacks in two vans got almost all of the family to Salado cliff dwellings in the Tonto National Monument, an interesting (and hot!) experience.

Eventually returning home and picking up yet more people at the airport, we had a heavy thirst that required the following beers to quench it:

Four Peaks Hopknot IPA - A tasty IPA, though not quite as good as the Lumberyard one

More Four Peaks Kiltlifter - Our favorite Four Peaks beer so far

More Cave Creek Chili Beer

And we broke into the growler of of Elsie's Irish Coffee Milk Stout

Arizona, Day 4 (7/24/11)

Spent most of the day by the pool and catching up with relatives. While various people had to arrive later or leave earlier, the ultimate attendance at this family (and occasionally beer) related event included over 30 near and distant relatives. Beer-wise, we drunk "pool beer," including New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale and Pyramid Haywired.

In our rooms, we tapped into the six-packs purchased earlier and tried:

• Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout - an amazing beer averaging 18% abv and fully of roasty stouty goodness (
• Wasatch White Ale (Utah) - A tasty white ale, very refreshing in the hot Arizona weather
• Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA (Utah) - a 9% hoppy beast of a beer, also ideal for hot Arizona weather
• Lumberyard Brewing Co. IPA (Flagstaff, AZ) - Another tasty IPA, moderate alcohol and hops. This is the brewery that Chris told us we had to visit if we passed through Flagstaff, so we were glad to find it available (in cans, no less) in Scottsdale.

Arizona, Day 3 (7/24/11)

We drove from Prescott back to Phoenix (actually, to Scottsdale). When we'd driven the other way, it had been dark and we missed all the gorgeous desert scenery. This time, we got to admire the mountains and cacti and beautiful vistas. All that looking worked up a thirst, so after checking in we went to Papago Brewing, which is our favorite Arizona brewery so far.

Papago has a wide selection of beers on tap, as well as a cooler of bottled ones that you can purchase either to drink on premises or to take with you. Of course, our goal was to sample Papago's beers, so Marlowe got a flight of all six (actually, two flights of three since that's how Papago rolls):

• Oude Zuipers - Belgian Strong Ale
• Coconut Joe Coconut Coffee Milk Stout
• Elsie’s - Irish Coffee Milk Stout
• El Robusto - American Black Ale
• Orange Blossom - Vanilla Mandarin Wheat Ale
• Hopago - India Pale Ale

Meagan got a pint of Elsie’s, but tasted all of Marlowe's. We also had an appetizer and lunch, which was quite tasty. We were so impressed with the beer that we each had a second flight of three.

Meagan:

Oude Zuipers - Belgian Strong Ale

Elsie’s - Irish Coffee Milk Stout

Orange Blossom - Vanilla Mandarin Wheat Ale

Marlowe:

Oude Zuipers - Belgian Strong Ale

Coconut Joe Coconut Coffee Milk Stout

Orange Blossom - Vanilla Mandarin Wheat Ale

We also bought a growler of Elsie's and a six-pack of other beers for later in the trip.

Before returning to the hotel and visiting relatives / picking up people at the airport, we stopped at the grocery store for a few supplies and a six-pack of Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish Style Ale.

After much visiting with relatives, we introduced Rainer to the Cave Creek Chili Beer, which he enjoyed, while Marlowe and Meagan also enjoyed Kilt Lifters. We'd been unimpressed by Four Peaks' overly kitschy web site, but their Scottish Style Ale is quite good.

Arizona, Day 2 (7/22/11) - Part Two

After the excellent lunch and good beer at Raven Cafe, we walked over one block to Prescott Brewing Company for dessert and more beer. Dessert was excellent! Chris, Karen and Emmett split a chocolate brownie/ice cream/whip cream tower and Meagan and Marlowe split a peach bread pudding.

Beerwise, only six Prescott beers were available. Marlowe had a sampler of all six (Ponderosa IPA, Liquid Amber, Willow Wheat, Prescott Pale Ale, Bumbleberry [honey and blackberry beer], and Achocolypse [just what it sounds like]). Three were unremarkable, but the pale was very refreshing; the Bumbleberry tasted more of honey than berries, but was an interesting beer and I'd drink it again; and the Achocolypse was very dark and chocolaty and so good that we brought a growler.

Karen and Chris each had pints of their preferred beers, while Meagan had a sampler of Bumbleberry and Achocolypse.

Overall, we all agreed that Achocolypse was the winner, though perhaps not the greatest of session beers since the chocolate may become overwhelming after a couple pints.


We then returned to Karen, Chris & Emmett's to play Fluxx: Monty Python version and drink more Deschutes beer, including the not-to-be-missed Hop Henge Experimental IPA, and a few cans of Guinness. A lovely evening was had by all.

Arizona, Day 2 (7/22/11)

We spent the morning playing with Emmett and talking, but after his nap, we all went into Prescott for an excellent lunch and great beer at the Raven Cafe. All organic with an excellent beer selection. We sat on the upper, outside level which was delightful. All entrees were huge and delicious.

Beerwise, Marlowe and Karen both tried Santan Pineapple Wheat beers, which the server highly recommended. They were very good and refreshing. Meagan had the Oak Creek Nut Brown, also very tasty. She lucked out, in that the tap ran dry so she got 3/4 of a pint and when the keg was tapped again, another whole pint at no charge. You know a restaurant appreciates good beer when they go out of their way to make sure the guests drink sufficient quantities. Both Santan and Oak Creek are AZ breweries, and our intent is always to try as many local beers as possible.

Chris had a non-AZ beer, but then he lives here and gets them all the time. He had Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, which is an excellent beer, and even better on draft.



Raven has upstairs draft beers and and a larger selection downstairs, so for round two some of us went downstairs and acquired:

• New Belgium's newest Lips of Faith offering: Vrienden, a tasty Belgian beer with a refreshing sourness This complimented Meagan's remaining Nut Brown, but since she was designated driver, Marlowe and Chris had to help her finish both beers. Tragic!
• Firestone Walker's Double Jack, a double-IPA with a lot of hop flavor, but well balanced. Marlowe lucked out on this one. Supposedly only available in 10-oz pours, the server accidentally gave him a full pint.
• Stone Ruination IPA, an excellent IPA that Chris enjoyed before pilfering some of Meagan's Nut Brown.
• Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale, a highly drinkable and refreshing ale that Karen enjoyed.
• Emmett didn't have any beer, but he ate several sweet potato fries.

Raven Cafe also sells bottled beer of a wide variety, so we bought a mixed 6-pack to try later. Haven't had them yet, so reports on the beer will be forthcoming.

Arizona, Day 1 (7/21/11)

After nearly 2 days with no sleep, we (Marlowe & Meagan) arrived in Phoenix, AZ. After stopping for some really good Indian food we drove to Prescott to visit friends Karen, Chris and Emmett. By the time we got in, there was time to share a beer and catch up and then crash hard. But the beers they served are worth noting:

For Marlowe, they had acquired Cave Creek Chili Beer, not for the faint of heart and containing a whole chili in the bottle. Everyone else had less spicy beers from Deschutes. It's good to have friends who appreciate good beer, as they demonstrated the following day.

Post post

We went to the Fine Arts for a matinee yesterday and noticed they had replaced Fat Tire with Gaelic so chose that one. One taste reminded me how lucky we are to live here. I don't think there was one beer out of the 96 we tasted that I liked better than Gaelic!

Final (?) post

Just some comments in closing. I know there are readers of this blog who know a lot more about beer than I do so my descriptions may be lacking. My objective was simply to document the somewhat rare opportunity to see a lot of great sights while enjoying a large number of brews at the same time. Many were from breweries we will likely never hear from again but that was what made the opportunities somewhat special.

By the numbers--

• 3200 miles in the rental car (excludes miles traveled with Pooh)


• 33 MPG in a now-defunct Chevy Cobalt


• 5 States


• 4 National Parks + the Colorado National Monument (comment: a lifetime senior pass to national parks for $10 has to be the greatest bargain in America).


• Went to the top of Pike's Peak


• Saw Mt. Blanca--famous for the place Shirley MacLaine designated as the center of the world (universe?). Thought I would throw that one in...


• The main musicians at the beer fest in the mountains was Trout Fishing in America (www.troutmusic.com). Grammy winners no less.


• Now for the number everyone is curious about--how many beers did we sample on the trip----------------96! Makes you wonder why we did not stretch it to 100 but I am not sure we could pull that off by the end of the journey.

The one thing I have meaning to do was to post some pictures. Meagan has indicated how to do it but I won't have time before we leave again on Saturday for a week--a Harry Potter adventure with our granddaughter. Beer consumption will be limited...
Thanks for your interest! We will see many of you at Brewgrass on 9/17.

Tom & Priscilla Karvonen

Day 15

Saturday, July 2nd
Predictably, I did not really feel like posting after the big event yesterday. After I had trouble connecting to the motel wi-fi, I gave it up quickly. We are waiting for our flight and will likely not finish before boarding.

Having one of these beer events at a 9000+ feet altitude taught me two things.

1. Six hours at Brewgrass = 4 hours here

2. Sunscreen needs more frequent application at this elevation. SPF 50 did not protect my neck and my calves actually got some burn.

There is no way I can comment on all the beers sampled so I am taking the easy way out and simply listing them. In this context, sampling means anywhere from a sip to a half pint (we were given pint glasses which may have foretold Marlowe's doom had he attended such an event). We got off the train at 11:45 a.m. and headed for the first booth.

Eske's Brewery (Taos NM)--Hula Hoop Ale and 10,000 Foot Stout

All the rest are CO breweries--

Amica's (Salida)--Headwaters IPA 7% and Saison Salida 6%--a Belgian style farmhouse ale (good). The small town of Salida will host an event with 52 breweries next weekend!

Rockyard Brewing (Castle Rock)--Redhawk Ale ESB and Hopyard IPA

Crazy Mountain Brewing (Vail Valley)--Lava Lake Wit (good)

Caution Brewing (Denver--relatively new, using Odell's old 5-barrel system)--interesting brews--Lao Wang Lager 5.1%--wild rice blended with Asian spices and Honey Matrimony 5.9%--we liked them both.

Odell's (also had some in Ft. Collins) Cutthroat Porter and St Lupulin Extra Pale Ale--we liked them both

Pagosa Brewing (Pagosa Springs)--Kayaker Cream Ale and Poor Richards Ale (good--included molasses)

AC Golden (Golden)--Colorado Native Ale--OK--this is the one I was going to skip due to the obvious tie to Coors. The gal working the booth took the time to assure me that Coors is leaving them alone to do their thing. Besides, my conservative/libertarian friend Pooh laid a guilt trip on me by reminding me that he tasted Wynkoop (started by the liberal Hickenlooper family).

Rocky Mountain Brewing (Colo. Springs)--IPA

Palisade Brewing (Grand Junction) --Dirty Hippie Dark Wheat (had to take a picture of their poster) and High Desert Red.

At this point, another participant came up to talk to me because he saw my Great Northern Brewing t-shirt from Whitefish MT--turned out to be his home town.

Carver Brewing (Durango) ESB

Horsefly Brewing (Montrose) Paso Fino Porter (good--even to me) and American Pale Ale

Avery (Boulder) White Rascal Belgian White

Left Hand 400 lb. Monkey IPA

Ska (Durango) ESB

San Luis Valley Brewing (Alamosa) Valle Caliente (no--after smelling, I did not try this one)

On the one hand, I was probably not too smart in ending my session with one of the strongest brews available but it was reaaaalllly good--Amica's Nigel's Large Ale--English Style 9%.

We boarded the train for the return trip to Alamosa. We had seats in the dome car--got some snacks but the bonus was that the folks who entertained at the event (4 guitars and another singer) were there and jammed almost the whole way back--mostly what I would call Americana/folk.

After checking into the motel, we headed for San Luis Valley Brewing for supper. Had some good food and all had their Kiwi Ale--which we all agreed was a good light refreshing way to end our imbibing.

25 beers sampled...I know a couple of them are familiar to all of us but it was cool having a chance to sample all the small breweries' wares.

One more post coming to close things out--hopefully tomorrow.

Day 14

As promised, my discipline is working--light beer consumption today.

First was Alamo Golden Ale--"brewed with a fiecely independent spirit" by Real Ale Brewery (Blanco TX). It was just OK but borderline good since it was drunk while walking outside in the afternoon. This was after a project to sighting in the scope on his .223 rifle and shooting at three targets at 75 yards, 150 yards, and 230 yards. We hit 9 of 10 shots at the 230 yd target. Priscilla even shot three times. Although I am NOT a fan of the NRA, I have no problem with target shooting plus Pooh has varmints out here that cause problems, especially for his two dogs. He has a graveyard for porcupines which have no predators. His two dogs have had 45 and 86 quills removed recently. Coyotes are also a potential threat. Anyway, back to beer...

St. Arnold Brewing Company's Lawnmower Beer. Very refreshing, lots of carbonation, three thumbs up. As mentioned previously, he is the patron saint of brewers, living from 580-640 A.D. This is an important bottle that will be added to my collection.

That's all for now. Hard to say when I will post the details of the Rails And Ale adventure, but I will try my best!

Day 13

June 30th
Still a day behind in posting...just don't feel like doing it by the end of our days.

After visiting the wolf rescue center, we settled in for some pre-dinner tasting. We decided to approach it this way so we would all get a chance to sample more beers. One of the objectives was to put a dent in the inventory that Pooh had accumulated for our short visit.

1. Firestone Walker Brewing (Paso Robles CA--motto:Passion for the Pale). A 22 oz bottle of their Union Jack IPA..7.5%..rated very good by all three--even Priscilla. Pooh rescued this one from wine country during one of his trips.


2. Firestone's DBA (Double Barrel Ale). 5.1%..crisp..lot of carbonation..another good summer brew.


3. Indian Wells Brewing (Inyokern CA www.mojave-red.com) their Blackout Stout. M&M sit down for this one--even I gave it a thumbs-up!


4. Indian Wells Death Valley Pale Ale--OK but we agreed nothing special.


5. Indian Wells Spicy Pumpkin Ale (yeah I know, wrong time of year but the bottle presented itself to me who was the Chief Selector of what to sample--a difficult job). The pumpkin was more subtle than strong...all of us liked it--definitely better than King Don's!


6. Indian Wells Amnesia IPA at 7.2%. Good to just OK.

We now broke for buffalo and veggie fajitas but continued to sample--

1. Fireman's #4 Blonde Ale from the Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco TX. Again, a surprise--this is not one of my favorite styles but I agreed with the others that it was a good summer drink.


2. Indian Wells Mojave Gold Lager--probably the least liked sample of the night--boring.


3. Real Ale's Coffee Porter Limited Edition Seasonal--hand picked by me as our dessert beer. Pooh and Priscilla found it yummy (one of Marlowe's favorite terms). I found it OK.


4. And finally, Durango Canyon Brewing (Durango CO) Dark Lager with crystal and chocolate malts. Although it won a bronze at the 1990 GABF, it was just OK in our book.

Now for the favorites--discussed and voted on over morning coffee and fairly clear minds...
Pooh and I voted for the Union Jack IPA, although we admitted we may have been prejudiced by the fact that it was the first one we tried.

Priscilla agonized over the Porter and the Stout before declaring the latter as her choice.
Final comment--for being a true wine guy (more than 1000 bottles in his cellar), Pooh clearly likes a range of beers. Must be a carryover from our college days, although the quality of those brews was sacrificed for price as we recall.

Today will like be a little beer and a little wine as we rest up for the Main Event, the Grand Finale, the Driving Force behind this trip--on Saturday, we leave at 5:45 a.m. for Alamosa where we will board a train for a two hour ride up a mountain, a four hour stay, and a two hour ride back. As you may have guessed, there is a beer component to this experience called Rails and Ales www.riograndescenicrailroad.com/events/rails-a-ales-brewfest.html. Once the date for this event was locked in, we scheduled everything else around it. We have tickets for the dome car. 21 breweries will be present with their wares. I will likely avoid some familiar names like Left Hand and Odells in favor of the ones I have never heard of. All are CO except one from Taos. I am suspicous of one--AC Golden Brewing from Golden--sounds like the initials of a certain large brewer in that city.

Finally--Meagan--Mom is spoiling Pooh's dogs...