Consumer Products and Services

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 >>

First Horse Slaughterhouse in the United States to Open Soon

Not so long ago, it was perfectly legal to slaughter horses for meat in the U.S. Is it again? In 2006 lawmakers eliminated federal funding for the inspection of horse meat processing facilities (read: slaughterhouses), effectively making horse meat production illegal in the states. But then in 201 ... 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 >>

Amoeba's Vinyl Vault: Treasure Trove or Legal Sticky Wicket

By Brett Koshkin While the corpses of corporate music retail chains litter strip malls where outlets like Tower Records and Blockbuster Music once stood, Amoeba Music is an independent juggernaut with three California-based stores the size of supermarkets. They've been a celebrated shopping destina ... More >>

Phoenix Coyotes Remain Orphaned After Greg Jamison Misses Deadline to Buy Team

Stop us if you've heard this one before -- a deal to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes didn't work out.Prospective owner Greg Jamison had a deadline of yesterday to buy the team and finalize an arena lease agreement with the City of Glendale, and it didn't happen.

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 >>

Hasbro Announces Gender Neutral Easy-Bake Ovens Are On Their Way

Earlier this week we talked about McKenna Pope, a 13-year-old girl who launched an online petition for Hasbro to market their Easy-Bake Oven in a more gender neutral manner so it would appeal to her younger brother, Gavyn Boscio. Now Hasbro has addressed those concerns directly, inviting the family ... More >>

Arizona's Powerball Winner Staying Anonymous, but Totally Sounds Like a Rich Guy

Arizona Lottery officials held a press conference this afternoon to announce details about the Fountain Hills dude who won half of the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot, except the guy's name.Based on the description given by lottery officials, they definitely made it sound like this guy was rich bef ... More >>

The Shins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes Added to the Expanding McDowell Mountain Music Festival Lineup

The quickly expanding lineup of McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2013 has added two more big names to the roster: The Shins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes. The 2013 installment of the festival is looking to have the most impressive lineup in MMMF history, as The Shins and Sharpe join Th ... More >>

TheRecordingArtist.com Remakes the Music Biz

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 >>

Roosevelt Row's Tediberto's Has a Liquor License Problem

See also: Tediberto's: Drop Your Vitamix and Put on Your Animal-Friendly Dancing Shoes, Vegans, We're Goin' Out to Eat See also: Vegan Mexican Restaurant Coming to Downtown Phoenix See also: Vegan Mexican Restaurant Owner Not Helping Stereotype of Vegans It's one of the worst kept secrets in the do ... More >>

Pizza Patrón Offers Free Pizza This Tuesday Evening, With a Catch

Odds are good that if you're a gringo, you haven't heard of Pizza Patrón. Don't be too surprised. It caters primarily to Hispanic markets, with its metro Phoenix locations concentrated in South Phoenix, Maryvale, and central Mesa. Chorizo is an available topping and jalapeños are one of the most p ... More >>

East Meets Northwest

Carl's Jr. Field-Testing Ice Cream Burger, the Brrrger

Have you ever polished off a $6 burger at Carl's Jr. and said to yourself, "By Jove, what I need now is another smaller burger made of ice cream"? Probably not, but the food scientists at Carl's Jr. certainly did and, by their will alone, have brought The Brrrger into existence. Building on the su ... More >>

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 >>

The Love Me Nots and Jim Adkins Perform at Stinkweeds for Record Store Day, 4/21/12 (VIDEO)

Whether you got up early to buy the Feist/Mastodon split or went to one of the many free shows in town yesterday, it's safe to say that yesterday was a good day. Stinkweeds celebrated its 25th anniversary and Record Store Day with a barbecue and live performances by Dylan Pratt, Mergence, Source Vic ... 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 >>

Jason Draper, Accused of Stealing From 25 Walmart Stores, Says He Steals Because He's "Humiliated" Living With His Mom at Age 35

If you're "desperate and humiliated" because you're 35 years old and living with your mother, getting caught stealing more than $45,000 worth of merchandise from 25 different Walmart stores probably won't remedy that.Still, that's what police are saying Jason Dee Draper did to land him in jail on 28 ... More >>

Tech N9ne Discusses The Clubhouse Shooting, The Doors, and Machine Gun Kelly

Aaron Dontez Yates, better known to the world as Tech N9ne, is not a big fan of the typical. "How many black dudes do you see painting their faces and coming out with bishop robes on the stage?" he asks me, speaking from his tour bus "somewhere in New Mexico." He's taken a strange, twisted path ev ... More >>

'Cue Ball

Would Bill Montgomery and Company Actually Prosecute Porn Actors for Prostitution?

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery sent out a gentle reminder yesterday that anyone paid to appear in a porno flick "may be guilty" of prostitution.He's not saying the County Attorney's Office is going after the porno industry -- or that it isn't -- but with rumors of California-based porno co ... More >>

Bill Montgomery's Warning to the Porn Industry: Filming Nudie Flicks in Arizona May Be Prostitution (Even Though It's Been Happening Here for Years)

​Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery's heard the news that several California porn-production companies may be planning to come out to Arizona, partially due to Los Angeles' new law requiring porn actors to wear condoms.Now, Montgomery's warning that bare-backing it on camera in Arizona may q ... More >>

Unite and Take Over Vol. 2: More Stories Inspired By the Songs of The Smiths

Unite and Take Over Vol. 2, Record Store Day variant cover by Jason Pedersen​One of our favorite Kickstarter success stories was last year's Unite and Take Over, a graphic collection of songs inspired by the lyrics of The Smiths. Editor and writer Shawn Demumbrum took to the crowd-funding s ... More >>

Facing the Music: How SOPA and PIPA Affect the Music Industry

​​Okay, so Wikipedia may be back, but make no mistake: The passing of the bills SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act) would have a major impact on a majority of Internet users. While a free and open Internet hurts the revenue of many companies, it ultimately benefits more peopl ... More >>

Hoodlums Music Turns 13: Reflections From Owner Steve Wiley

​Birthday parties for 13-year-olds are usually pretty awkward (or maybe I'm thinking of my own, just-sorta-pubescent 13th birthday), but that doesn't seem to be the case with Hoodlums Music's 13th birthday bash this weekend. On Saturday, November 5, the local record store institution celebrate ... 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 >>

Stinkweeds vs. John Maus: Weird-Pop Musician Hates Record Stores, Record Store Hates Him

​Yesterday, Pitchfork did an interview with experimental musician John Maus as part of their Guest List series. Most of the interview was typical stuff from the column, with Maus riffing on his love of South Park, Odd Future, Panda Bear, and Ariel Pink. Things took a weird turn, however, whe ... More >>

The Persuaders' Lawrence Zubia on Major Labels, The Tempe Scene, and New Album

​Featuring former members of Tempe jangle-pop kings The Pistoleros, Dead Hot Workshop, The Gin Blossoms, and Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, The Persuaders debuted earlier this year, cranking out the same kind of melodic pop rock that defined the sound of their earlier bands.If you've spent any ... More >>

Warner Music Group Sued by Shareholders to Block Sale of Company

Wikimedia CommonsWarner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr.​As we reported earlier this month, mammoth Warner Music Group was up for auction  -- supposedly to the highest bidder, but that's not how it went down, according to a class action lawsuit filed yesterday by WMG stock holder Derek Cou ... More >>

Chadwick Uptain

Blogs Teased in Our 4/7 Issue

​This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts... Why did Bright Eyes singer Conor Oberst diss Lady Gaga's concert in Arizona? What are Phoenix's most obnox ... 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 >>

Arizona Boycott Fail: Resorts See Big Increase This Year; Phoenix a Top Domestic Destination, Survey Says

​ Despite the efforts of anti-Arizonans like Congressman Raul Grivalva, a boycott against the state this year appears to have failed miserably. Grivalva was among the critics of Arizona's harsh immigration law, SB1070, who called for the boycott. City councils across the country ... More >>

Dia de Los Muertos Celebration @ Desert Botanical Garden

Fast Food Toast Has Us on Meltdown

Scottsdale MILFs, Cougars and "Momshells" Sought by Jean Company in Spokesmodel Contest

Calling all sexy moms in Scottsdale: A local clothing company is holding a contest to find its "spokes model" -- though it'll cost you $200 in purchases to enter. The Scottsdale Jean Company, in conjunction with Rose and Allyn PR, announces in a "MILF [Mom I'd Like to Fuck] Alert" that the winnin ... More >>

Arty Girl: John Loring at Phoenix Art Museum

Next Big Things

The five biggest attention-getters at E3

Generation Next

Microsoft's Xbox 360 fires the first shot in the next-gen console war

Smoke and Beers

Senator John McCain may have turned his back on tobacco, but alcohol still gets a free ride

Mayoral Smoke Screen?

Rimsza blasts cigarette makers, then endorses tobacco-industry legislation

Where There's Smoke

There are Friends of Tobacco. And antismoking advocates worry that behind-the-scenes machinations may water down a state campaign to discourage teen smoking.