The Beer Bloke: Monday afternoon pub crawl in Chandler & Tempe

I hope everyone enjoyed last week’s fortuitous romp through Flagstaff. This week’s article is shaped by an email I received in response to that very trip. The email read simply “staycation.” How odd? Anyway, I began thinking about all the great places one can find a cold quality craft brew right here in the East Valley and the Monday pub crawls my mates and I have been doing.

One such recent crawl began on a Monday morning – yes, I said morning – with Bloody Mary’s at BLD in Chandler. BLD is relatively new and is owned by Robert Morris, who also owns another Chandler eatery called Cork. It was 9 a.m. and time to get back on the horse! No better way to cure last night’s beer headache than strong vodka mixed with tomato, celery and God (aka the bartender) only knows what else.

As my eyes began to function for the first time that day, I noticed the place looks like a modern Denny’s. Imagine Denny’s in Soho, London or New York. Very minimal yet very posh. The place is right alright and the Mary’s were going down nicely but we couldn’t stay for long as the Sirens’ call began to grip us. There was beer to be had!

Stop No. 1 in our quest was, of course, the Hungry Monk – the place in Chandler for sports, hot wings and India Pale Ales. Here we were joined by Justin from The Brew Bros. and first beer on the list was Hop Knot from Four Peaks brewing. Citrusy, hop balanced and a nice example of the West Coast IPA style.

Jim, the proprietor, was on hand and joined us for a pint before surprising us with a rare bottle of barrel-aged stout called Parabola. Smooth and sweet with an essence of whiskey and tobacco, this strong full-bodied dark ale is best shared in good company, and share we did.

The plan was a short journey to Four Peaks Brewing in Tempe to try their new barrel-aged Belgian black ale. The release date was set for that today and, by the gods, there was no stopping us. We said goodbye to Jim and made our way to Four Peaks.

As we arrived, Teddy Golden, Four Peaks’ main “beer ambassador,” was there to greet us and took us on a tour of the brewery. What an amazing operation. If you have never been on a tour of Four Peaks just know you need to put it on your bucket list.

After the tour Teddy made sure we got the very first pints of Belgian black and suggested the perfect food pairing: Hot roast beef with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions all wrapped in their homemade beer bread.

Although the barrel-aging program at Four Peaks is in its infancy, you would never know by trying this brew. Dark, smoky, delicate and perfectly carbonated with a dry elegant finish, the beer’s flavors nicely accentuated the trio of beef, garlic mashed potatoes and sweet caramelized onions.

Next on our list was Taste of Tops, the tasting room at Tops Liquor, also in Tempe and right down the way from Four Peaks. We arrived and realized the pub side didn’t open until 3 p.m. Bummer. What’s a terribly parched Beer Bloke to do?

As luck would have it, Greg, Tops’ owner, was in the house and took us on a tour of his facility, then let us into the tasting room a full hour early. (Greg, by the way, is a Certified Cicerone and has championed the craft beer movement in Arizona longer than some of you reading this article have been alive.)

As one might expect, it soon was time to get a bit closer to our own places of residency. We begin to contemplate our next move when Jim, owner of Hungry Monk, called and invited over to his house with the promise of raiding his much-coveted beer cellar.

At this point our little group had doubled in number and we showed up to Jim’s house with more than 10 people, including Patrick, another of those famous Brew Bros. Once I saw Jim’s private beer stash I immediately began thinking of ways to convince him that I was his long lost son!

Ah, staycation. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home …

You can send comments or column ideas to England native James Swann, the beer buyer at Chandler’s Whole Foods, at kingjamesswann@gmail.com.