Ten days. More than 400 events. Thousands of craft beers. The annual hops-fueled orgy that is Arizona Beer Week starts its fifth run Thursday.
Craft beer geeks have been waiting an entire year for this. If you don’t understand what all the fuss is about, here are eight reasons to check out Beer Week:
The Arizona Strong Beer Festival
Yes, there’s seemingly a beer festival every other week in the Valley. Many, if not most, are uninspired affairs hastily thrown together in a blatant attempt to cash in on craft beer’s popularity. On a scale of 1 to 10, they’re a bunch of 1s and 2s.
Saturday’s Arizona Strong Beer Festival, on the other hand, is the state’s only true 10. Every Arizona brewery – heck, pretty much every brewery worldwide whose beer is sold in Arizona – is represented.
Many bring rare and coveted beers to the fest – which is the official kickoff of Beer Week – and the majority staff their own booths, often including the head brewer, to answer your questions.
Meeting the people who make craft beer
Even if you can’t make it to Strong Beer, you still have plenty of opportunities to meet some of the biggest names in craft beer.
This Friday, for example, Doug Odell (pictured above), founder of Colorado’s Odell Brewing, will be sharing a cask of Peanut Butter Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout at World of Beer Tempe, and brothers Mike and Greg Hess, from San Diego’s Hess Brewing, will be sampling their rare Coffee Grazias Nitro at Whole Foods Chandler.
One of this year’s new events is the SanTan Brewers Roundtable, an evening with top Arizona brewers Jon Buford (Arizona Wilderness), Steve McFate (Fate), Jeff Huss (Huss), and Anthony Canecchia (SanTan).
Being among the first to try a new beer
Many Valley breweries will be debuting creative beers this week.
All week, OHSO will host Pie Social, 11 pie-flavored beers brewed in collaboration with 10 different Arizona breweries and the Arizona Society of Homebrewers.
Lemon Lush, a new lemon-and-coconut seasonal from Huss Brewing, will be tapped Monday. Huss also collaborated with Fate on a huge imperial stout.
Peoria Artisan Brewery unveils its Imperial Peanut Butter Porter, and Freak N’Brewing taps its Sweet Thang Creme Brulee Imperial Milk Stout.
Taking a bus, or a boat, or a bicycle
Arizona Brewery Tours is running a pair of West Valley Brewery Wobble Tours to five westside breweries Sunday, while SunUp Brewing is partnering with London Bus Company for a Sunday Funday Pub Crawl.
Also Sunday, Four Peaks Brewing and Desert Belle Boat Tours are teaming up for a Beer, Brats & Boat Tour at Saguaro Lake.
SanTan’s popular Brews Cruise bicycle tour through Chandler was an early sellout, but you can join the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre ride, which starts at T.T. Roadhouse in Scottsdale.
Or walk off the beer calories when Bjorn Nabozney, co-founder of Montana’s Big Sky Brewing, leads a downtown Tempe pub crawl.
Tackling a tap takeover
There are plenty of tap takeovers – when a bar devotes a large number of its taps to a single brewery – during Beer Week, but there also are notable “theme” tap takeovers.
Some are geographical, such as the all-Arizona tap takeover Friday at Taste of Tops, where all 30 taps will feature beers brewed in the state.
Some are style-specific, such as a Barley Wine Festival at the Handlebar Tempe or an American Sour Beer Tap Takeover at the Yucca Tap Room.
Barrel-aged beers are especially popular nowadays, as evidenced by a Barrel Aged Beer Fest at Taste of Tops, another Barrel aged Beer Fest at Arizona Wilderness, and the week-ending Day of the Barrels at World of Beer Tempe.
Some takeovers combine geography and style, such as the annual Colorado Firkin Night at Flanny’s.
Pairing a beer with any kind of food
Typical beer dinners – where a restaurant and brewery join forces to offer several courses of food, each paired with a different beer – also tend to get special treatment during Beer Week.
For the second straight year, Four Peaks and SanTan, often considered to be rivals, will team up for a Rare Beer Dinner. Four Peaks also will offer a Vegan Beer Dinner at Green.
Grand Canyon Brewing will unveil two new beers at a Pig Roast at the Brat Haus. The Attic will host a Green Flash Crab Boil.
On a smaller scale, there’ll be a number of food pairings, such as Bacon & Beer pairings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at The Brass Tap.
Other unusual pairings include Donuts & Beer, Cupcakes & Beer, Chocolate & Beer, and, my favorite this year, Girl Scout Cookies & Beer.
Learning something new about beer
Do you know what a Hot Scotchy (pictured) is? Enjoy this rare brewers’ drink when ASH puts on its annual Hot Scotchy Night at the Hungry Monk, Yucca, and Moto.
How about a Randall? Learn what it is and what it does when The Brass Tap hosts a Night of a Million Randalls (actually, 10).
Want to blend your own sour beers? Two experts from Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing will show you how at their Sour Symposium.
Learn how to create beer cocktails at a Craft Beer & Cocktail Class at Linger Longer.
Just relaxing and having some fun
Above all else, Beer Week is about having fun. And there are some events where you can really let your hair down.
From 7 a.m.-noon Friday, the Hungry Monk will celebrate the release of Bell’s seasonal double IPA with a Hopslam & Donuts Pajama Party.
Are you a fan of “The Walking Dead” TV show? You’d probably enjoy Ninkasi’s Dawn of the Red Zombie Walk on Roosevelt Row.
For the third straight year, the Ska Burlesque Show will feature “Breezi and the Deviant Dames†at the Yucca.
