Beverage Manufacturing

Four Peaks SunBru: A Can-tastic Gold Medal Winner

Beer: Sunbru Brewery: Four Peaks Brewing Co. Style: Kolsch ABV: 5.2 percent If you people are any part the beer geeks you claim to be, you'll journey outside your homes on Saturday, May 18, into the increasingly balmy summer air and over to the AmeriCAN Canned Craft Beer Festival. You'll get to lis ... More >>

Cigar City Jai Alai: Take It in the Can

Beer: Jai Alai Brewery: Cigar City Brewing Co. Style: American IPA ABV: 7.5 percent The journey from brew kettle to drinking vessel is long and hard, and not all beer gets there in perfect condition. To taste right, a beer must battle many foes along the way: diacetyl, a yeast compound that tastes ... More >>

Fate Brewing Company: Happy Hour Report Card

The Spot: Fate Brewing Company , 7337 East Shea Boulevard #105 Scottsdale, 480-994-1275, fatebrewing.com. See Also: - Brews and Chews at Fate Brewing Company - Happy Hour Report Card: San Tan Brewing Company The Hours: Happy Hour is offered Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.

New Online Wine Retailer Cuts Out the Middleman for Savings on Top-Notch Wine

The folks at Nakedwines.com, a British online wine retailer that recently launched in the United States, say they have some bad news for wine lovers. "When you spend $50 on a bottle of delicious Napa Cab, you are spending about $7 on wine," the website says. "And $43 on sales, marketing and other s ... More >>

Watch Out, Kitties, Here Comes San Tan Brewing Company's Sex Panther

There's no evidence that it's illegal in nine countries or that "60 percent of the time, it works every time," but one thing's certain: San Tan Brewing Company's Sex Panther is on the loose starting Monday, January 7. See also: - New Brewing Company Moving Into Former Rio Salado Brewing Site - Ro ... More >>

Maynard James Keenan: Biodynamics For Dummies

With few exceptions, knowing is better than not knowing. As they say, "Knowledge is power." If you believe this as much as I do, then you can understand why some of our historic monsters went to such great lengths to eliminate knowledge and why forward thinkers and the socially conscious would die ... More >>

Local and Online Wine Clubs to Try

Thinking of starting 2013 with a wine club membership for yourself or as a gift for a fellow wine lover? Afraid of commitment? Looking for special access to members only wines? Discounts? Today, we compare some online and local options, all of which have free membership. See also: - Shit Wine Snob ... More >>

Beer for Brains RAREaffair 2012: Tons of Brews, a Dozen-Plus Restaurants, and No Flippin' Drink Tickets

A wise man (Homer Simpson) once said, "To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems." And if the problem happens to be how to raise brain cancer awareness, then the Beer for Brains RAREaffair has glasses full of the solution. From 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, November 10, Bee ... More >>

Maynard Keenan, Sam Pillsbury, Todd Bostock and other Wine Experts Give Pavle Milic Advice on Designing Wine Labels -- and Pavle Finally Names His Wine

"Los Milics" In this occasional series, Pavle Milic (co-owner of FnB, Baratin, Bodega and AZ Wine Merchants in Scottsdale) will spill about his current mission to learn how wine is made -- literally from the Southern Arizona ground up. Today: What's in a name? And some advice from the pros on label ... More >>

Amazon.com Will Start Selling Wine

The internet's monolithic online retailer, Amazon.com, is poised to begin selling wine through their Marketplace sometime later this month. See Also: --Pavle Milic's Wine-Making Adventure --5 Ways to Open a Bottle of Wine (Without a Corkscrew) We can only imagine how handy Amazon.com's customer r ... More >>

AZ Hops & Vines in Sonoita Grows Arizona's First Commercial Hops Crop

See also: Ten Favorite Arizona Summer Festivals and Adventures for Food, Wine and Beer Lovers Nowadays, the rolling grasslands of Sonoita and Elgin are better known for wineries than big cattle ranches. But apparently, grapes aren't destined to be the only gold in them thar hills. Shannon Austin ... More >>

East Meets Northwest

Five Ways Not to Buy Wine

Vine Geek Brian Reeder co-owns AZ Wine Merchants in Scottsdale. Wine is subjective. Every wine is different. It all depends on your taste. Price doesn't equal quality. It's all the same anyway. Just drink what you like. Blah. Blah. Blah. We've all heard the nomenclatures. The bullshit lines that e ... More >>

Talking Bourbon with Rob Samuels, COO of Maker's Mark

Rob Samuels comes from a long line of whiskey-makers -- the Samuels clan has been distilling as far back as the 1500s in Scotland and was making whiskey in America before the country was founded. Bill Samuels Sr. (Rob's grandfather) began producing Maker's Mark in 1954, and Rob took over as chief op ... More >>

'Cue Ball

Chow Bella Prepares for the Coming Achocalypse with Prescott Brewing Company

Who hasn't wanted to spend a few minutes chatting up the guys who make their favorite brews? The Chow Bella team, lucky dogs that we are, recently got the opportunity to do just that. Thing is, we only got a few minutes with each one. These guys are busy! Watch the short video below for an insight ... More >>

Chow Bella Chills Out in the Fridge at Papago Brewing Company

Who hasn't wanted to spend a few minutes chatting up the guys who make their favorite brews? The Chow Bella team, lucky dogs that we are, recently got the opportunity to do just that. The catch? We only got about three minutes with each one. These guys are busy! Watch the short video below for an ... More >>

Blueberry Pinot Noir, Green Apple Riesling, White Chocolate Ale and Other Sips of the Kokopelli Wine Festival

"Going once....going twice...sold!" Kokopelli winemaker Dennis Minchella auctions off one of the 1,000,000th bottles.​We spent more time (okay, all of our time) sipping at grapes rather than crushing them over the weekend at the 10th Annual Kokopelli Krush, a wine festival put on by Kok ... More >>

Canned Gods

The AmeriCAN Canned Craft Beer Festival

amymittelman.com ​Here at Chow Bella, we like our beer in cans. Aesthetics aside, cans are the ultimate in beer technology, providing better protection against oxygen and light (mortal enemies of fresh beer) than bottles while being easier to ship and more acceptable at the beach. Plus, they ... More >>

Beer Advocate's Top 100 SW Beers: Who From PHX is in the Top 10?

​For those of you not familiar with Beer Advocate, it's the bible for beer snobs. A place where we can all go to share our much coveted opinions of rare and no-so-rare craft beer. An online venue to brag about our beer conquests. Beer Advocate also occasionally likes to put out these nice lis ... More >>

Caffe Boa Winemaker Dinner and Blondies in Today's Eater's Digest

Bakergirl​Hungry for your early morning serving of food news, with no preservatives or additives?Winemaker DinnerGet naked with Caffe Boa and winemakers Tony Coturri from Coturri wines and Olivier Cousin from France for a special evening of naked food and wine Saturday March 12. The Naked Winemake ... More >>

Craft Beer Competition and Sampling Event and Grilled Oysters in Today's Eater's Digest

Tastespotting.com ​Hungry for your early morning serving of food news, with no preservatives or additives? Craft Beer Tasting Tonight!  Join beer brewers, beer judges and beer lovers at Taste of Tops tonight for the first round of judging for the Great Arizona Beer Festival Craft Beer Competi ... More >>

Craft Beer Competition and Sampling Event and Grilled Oysters in Today's Eater's Digest

Tastespotting.com ​Hungry for your early morning serving of food news, with no preservatives or additives? Craft Beer Tasting Tonight!  Join beer brewers, beer judges and beer lovers at Taste of Tops tonight for the first round of judging for the Great Arizona Beer Festival Craft Beer Competi ... More >>

Pavle Milic Pours His Heart Out at Ignite Phoenix 9

Photo courtesy of virtualwayfarer via FlickrIgnite Phoenix 9 happened a week ago, and we at Chow Bella are still aflame about the food-related topics discussed.  As food writers and lovers of fermented liquids, we were most excited about the presentations of Maureen Basenberg, founder of the A ... More >>

Is it Bad to Shop for Wine By the Label?

UNCORK THE ISSUE: Is it bad to shop for wine by label? SPILL THE JUICE: "No!" says Stephanie Caraway, the southwestern regional manager at Terlato Wines International. "We all do it. The way I see it is if the aesthetic on the front of the bottle matches my aesthetic, I'll probably also like the aes ... More >>

The Best Beers of 2010

Photo courtesy of beercollege.net ​Dwell all you want on the poor economy, the dwindling job market or the plethora of depressing events of 2010 -- it's been a good year for beer. Despite a drop in overall beer sales, craft brews continue to rise in popularity, allowing innovative American b ... More >>

Winemakers Dinner, Udder Delights, and Mummy Meatloaf in Today's Eater's Digest

www.theknead4speed.com​Hungry for your early morning serving of food news, with no preservatives or additives?Wine Dinner at The BouldersLatilla at The Boulders Resort is hosting a Winemakers Dinner this Thursday, October 14. The recently overhauled restaurant's Executive Chef, Michael Pieton will ... More >>

Spokespersons

Jovial bike festival rules the roads

Beer Me Now

Restore the love with the help of suds

This Weekend: Pillsbury Wine Tasting Room Grand Opening

Meet winemaker Sam Pillsbury (above, center) and taste his new releases at this weekend's tasting room shindig.​Looking for a weekend road trip idea? I suggest a jaunt up to Cottonwood, where winemaker Sam Pillsbury is hosting a grand opening party for his new wine tasting room and gallery ... More >>

Brew and Bar Between

Celebrate AZ with a cold one

John McCain's Wife's Budweiser Distributorship Boycotted by Latino Group Over SB 1070

RenjishinoFirst baseball, now beer's boycotted? What's next, lapdances?Budweiser, which in 2008 was bought out by a Belgian beer giant to form Anheuser-Busch InBev, has spent millions on advertising to the Latino market. According to a 2009 article in Hispanic Market Weekly, the company spent more t ... More >>

Wine Talk: David Johnson of Oakville Grocery Co.

David Johnson, the wine director at Oakville Grocery Co., dispenses unpretentious wine advice as a bonus to this week's Chef Talk with his business partner, Chef Walter Sterling.

This Weekend: Devoured Phoenix Culinary Classic

Jason Silva A year ago, I sipped some wine at West of Western culinary festival with entrepreneur and small business advocate Kimber Lanning of Local First Arizona, chatting about boosting the profile of local restaurants. If only I'd brought a crystal ball with me. ... More >>

Make Your Own Wine, Quick & Easy!

​ ​Famed director Francis Ford Coppola did it. So did Sam Neill and Olivia Newton-John and Tool's Maynard James Keenan. If they can get into the wine business, so can you! All you need is a large grape arbor, some vats, processing equipment, oak barrels, bottles, massive amounts of tim ... More >>

Camelback Inn Launches Meet the Winemaker Series

Joy Sterling​If you've ever loved a wine so much that you wanted to meet the crafter of the spirit, now's your chance to get a little closer to the people who make tasty vino. Rita's Kitchen at the Camelback Inn is hosting a montly series of "Meet the Winemaker" events, where patrons may sa ... More >>

Local Wine Wins at Whole Foods

Lauren GilgerVoters tasting the local wines on Saturday at the Arizona Wine Consumer Choice Awards at Whole Foods Market in Chandler.Move over, Napa. Arizona's young wine industry is currently undergoing a growth-spurt akin to a 12 year-old basketball player. For proof, see Michele Laudig's cover st ... More >>

Brew Review: Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter...Floats?

It turns out you can't please everyone. I think we can agree one a few things, thought. For example: I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream. We also scream and shout and salivate at the thought of great beer. What if I told you that I combined the two? At last week's Draft Magazine Cr ... More >>

Brew Review: New Dogfish Head and Other Great Brews at The Draft Magazine Craft Brew Festival

Jonathan McNamaraVolunteers pour Steamworks Brewing's delicious beers at the Draft Magazine Craft Brewing Festival Choosing the right horse requires a lot of luck and a certain willingness to watch your already mentally-spent earnings fail to materialize. That's why I took a different gamble at Turf ... More >>

Beer Wars

Happy Hour Deals at San Tan Brewing Company in Chandler

Like many microbreweries, San Tan Brewing Company exclusively offers ales, as opposed to lagers (and yes, categorically, hefeweizens and stouts are members of the ale family). While this might turn some people off, it should be noted that ales typically offer a higher content of alcohol and they oft ... More >>

Brew Review: Great Arizona Beer Festival

Jonathan McNamaraSee more shots in our Great Arizona Beer Festival slide show. Walking in to The Great Arizona Beer Festival on Saturday, we promised ourselves that we would not stumble out like blithering idiots. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. So once again, the Brew Review ... More >>

Brew Review: The Carling iPint

More beer, and sooner

Grape Expectations

Celebrate the wines of Rioja, Spain

Best Brew Pub

Four Peaks Brewing Company
1340 East Eighth Street, Tempe
480-303-9967

Haunted by Spirits

John McCain derived his wealth from his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain, whose father started his road to riches as a bootlegger. As a politician, the senator has remained beholden to the liquor industry and the family business

Second Helpings

SECOND HELPINGS