Real, Wild & Woody made its debut Saturday at the Tempe Center for the Arts, and by almost any measure the beer festival was a huge hit. A sold-out crowd of 1,000 people enjoyed one-of-a-kind cask, sour, and barrel-aged ales from 30 breweries, including 27 from Arizona.
Sure, there were a few first-year hiccups. An ID-check bottleneck kept attendees waiting for 30-45 minutes in 105-degree heat, and some layout changes mandated by the arts center created some unintended congestion inside. But both problems are easily fixable for next year.
From the first beer I tried (Huss Brewing‘s Southern Hussy, a peach ale aged in bourbon barrels) to the last (SanTan Brewing‘s Cab Franc Saison, a beer-wine hybrid made in collaboration with Dos Cabezas Wineworks), there wasn’t a single disappointment.
Real, Wild & Woody is the brainchild of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, which represents 49 Arizona breweries. The guild already sponsors the state’s premier beer festival, the Arizona Strong Beer Festival.
Although breweries had their own tables, all the cask beers were racked together. Shown being poured is Fate Brewing‘s Puffs Imperial Coffee Milk Porter made with Cocoa Puffs cereal.
Brett Dettler and Jon Buford were pouring three beers for Arizona Wilderness Brewing from Gilbert. Their Woolsey the Wild, a sour wit beer aged in Russian River Sonambic barrels, was one of the first beers gone.
Besides its above-mentioned Cocoa Puffs beer, Fate Brewing from Scottsdale had a popular lineup at its table, including Breakfast for Dinner, a barrel-aged porter made with Cartel Coffee Lab coffee from Tempe and glazed doughnuts.
North Mountain Brewing‘s Jerry Gantt admires his Russian imperial stout brewed with maple syrup. The Phoenix brewpub opened last year.
Isaiah Garfias, founder of the popular Arizona Craft Beer Lovers group on Facebook, checks his smartphone. I guess a moderator’s job never ends.
Here’s the view from the second floor of the Tempe Center for the Arts. The floor-to-ceiling glass wall to the left offered a picturesque view of Tempe Town Lake.
Andrew Ortega from The Perch Pub & Brewery pours the Chandler venue’s Rosemary IPA from a cask.
Two guys that know something about beer: Derek “Doc” Osbourne from BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse and Anthony Canecchia from SanTan Brewing.
Wait a minute – didn’t John Ziegler move to California? The former bartender at Whole Food Chander’s The Watering Hole was back in the Valley for a week. He now works for DBI, the largest distributor in Northern California.
As Saturday’s festival winds down, Ron Kloth from Papago Brewing in Scottsdale tries hard to hide his excitement.
Greg Sorrels from the Beer Research Institute, which is expected to open in Mesa at the end of August, chats with an attendee. Although BRI didn’t have any beer to pour at its table Saturday, there’s always next year’s festival…
