Sold-out Real, Wild & Woody may be model for future fests

The first-ever Real, Wild & Woody beer festival debuts Saturday at the Tempe Center for the Arts. With a limit of 1,000 tickets, it sold out early, just as the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild hoped.

The indoor event, which will run 2-6 p.m., will showcase specialty cask (real), sour (wild), and barrel-aged (woody) beers from 31 breweries, all but three from Arizona. The $50 tickets sold out last week.

That means organizers won’t have to spend this week trying to sell remaining tickets, like they had to with last February’sÂ Arizona Strong Beer Festival,Â the state’s premier beer festival, also sponsored by the guild.

Rob Fullmer, the guild’s new executive director, notes the guild didn’t have to pay for an advertising or marketing campaign, instead relying on free social media.

That’s significant, he says, as the guild plans to launch another new beer festival, Baja Oktoberfest, in Tucson this fall. “In general, we’re going to get better at identifying who we’re marketing to,” he says.

It also may force a change in the behavior of some Valley beer festival fans, those who wait for a last-minute Groupon sale or rely on getting leftover tickets from a brewery. For Real, Wild & Woody, participating breweries received only a few tickets for their on-site staff.

Fullmer says next year’s Real, Wild & Woody likely will have a bigger footprint at the arts center to accommodate more people, but will remain a more intimate event than Strong Beer, which drew more than 6,000 people this year.

Real, Wild & Woody beer list:

Arizona Wilderness

Dos Double IPA Mango
Woolsey the Wild: Sour wit beer aged in Russian River Sonambic barrels
Old Brood: Belgian quad Braggot aged in red wine barrels. Collaboration with Superstition Meadery.

BarrioÂ Brewing

Vanilla Bean Cask Porter
Barrio Blanco-Chai Tea: Simcoe dry-hopped white IPA cask
NCAAle: Whiskey barrel-aged strong ale
Dark sour beer blended with raspberries

BJ’s Brewery & Restaurant

Woody Scottsman: Scotch ale aged in whiskey barrels
Jeremiah Red cask
Cask Hopstorm IPA cask

Borderlands BrewingÂ

Citrana Sour: Lemon-forward Gose with sea salt and coriander
Flemish Red

Cartel Brewing

Birch: Birch-aged pale ale firkin
Cupid’s Delight: Amber rye ale aged on cherry wood with cherries added
O.C.P. (Oak Coffee Porter): Porter aged on oak with whole-bean coffee added

College Street Brewhouse & Pub

Fraternity of Hops 1: West Coast-style IPA pulled before end of fermentation and allowed to finish and age in a firkin
Fraternity of Hops 2: Same IPA aged on American oak spirals soaked in tequila

Desert Eagle Brewing

Black Sugar: Barrel-aged Russian imperial stout
Red Mountain Ale: Casked amber dry-hopped with Amarillo

Dragoon Brewing

Saison Blue: Farmhouse-style ale aged 11 months in tequila barrels
Scout Porter: Smoked porter aged 12 months in rye whiskey barrels
Stronghold Session Ale with Exo Roasters cold-pressed coffee cask

Epic Brewing

Hopulent IPA firkin
Elder Brett: Brettanomyces-infused saison aged in wine barrels

Fate Brewing

Puffs Imperial Coffee Milk Porter: Cask conditioned with Cocoa Puffs cereal
Pebbles Session IPA: Cask conditioned with Fruity Pebbles cereal
Into the Wild Sour Stout: 1055/Fate Collaboration
Fate Berlemoner
Fate Cedar Aged Pale Ale
Fate Breakfast for Dinner: Barrel-aged porter with glazed donuts and Cartel coffee

Firestone Walker BrewingÂ

Stickee Monkee: Central Coast quad aged in bourbon barrels
Lil Opal: Saison farmhouse ale barrel-aged and spiked with Brett and Lacto yeast

Four Peaks BrewingÂ

Sirius Black: Barrel-aged Russian imperial stout
Tequila Raj: English-style IPA aged in tequila barrels
Sour Peach cask

Grand Canyon BrewingÂ

Shaggy Bock: Traditional bock conditioned in fermenter with toasted oak

Granite Mountain Brewing

Double English brown ale aged on U.S. oak. Collaboration with Lonesome Valley.

Huss Brewing

Southern Hussy: Peach ale aged in bourbon barrels
Barrel-Aged Snowbird: Imperial oatmeal stout aged in bourbon barrels
Barrel-Aged That’ll Do IPA

Lumberyard Brewing

Fireside Red: Imperial red aged in bourbon barrels
Black IPA firkin

Mother Road Brewing

Wooden Spoke 3: Bourbon barrel-aged Lost Highway black IPA
Gold Road: Kolsch-style brew aged in Heaven’s Hills barrels with Brettanomyces yeast and pear puree
Roadside: Dry-hopped pale ale cask

Mudshark BrewingÂ

2014: Scotch ale aged in Jack Daniels barrels
La Travail: Saison aged on oak with orange, lemon peel and grains of paradise
Frausboise Requin: Raspberry lambic
Shark Funk: Barrel-aged Oud Bruin

New Belgium Brewery

Paardebloem: Wood-aged ale brewed with peach juice, grains of paradise and dandelion greens. Collaboration with Red Rock Brewery.
Wild Wild Dubbel: Dubbel-style beer brewed with Schisandra berries
Love Oscar: Oscar is the base beer for La Folie
Biere de Peach: Biere de Mars aged in Leopold Brothers Peach Whiskey barrel with Brett and lemon peel

North Mountain Brewing