Pale Ales

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 >>

24 Legitimately Fascinating Facts About Beer

We're a sucker for a good infographic and this one is a doozy. We were particularly amused by the revelation that hops, which gives many beers their distinctive strong flavor, is genetically related to cannabis. Perhaps when legalization finally sweeps the nation we can look forward to extra strong ... More >>

You "Must" Try These Beer/Wine Hybrids

To look at it from afar, it would seem that the rivalry between beer drinkers and wine drinkers is as heated as the stink between, say, the Hatfields and the McCoys, or Duke and UNC. Oenophiles turn up their noses at the uncultured rubes chugging what they see as swill; beer-lovers snicker at the ou ... More >>

5 Things You Need to Know About Craft Beer in Arizona

Happy Arizona Beer Week, drinkers! Have you mapped out your schedule yet? There's a lot to see, do and imbibe in the next few days -- it's a busy, beautiful time to be a beer lover. It's also impossible to focus on just one beer during a time like this, so for Arizona Beer Week, we're giving you a ... More >>

17 Don't-Miss Events During Arizona Beer Week, Feb. 16-23

With more than 100 tastings, tappings and opportunities to tipple taking place throughout Arizona Beer Week, one must schedule his time wisely for maximum drinking. These are the events you'll find us at -- and the beers we'll be drinking there. See also: - Chow Bella Rides with Mother Road Brew ... More >>

Grand Canyon Hop Bomber IPA: Get Flavor-Bombed

Beer: Hop Bomber India Pale Ale Brewery: Grand Canyon Brewing Co. Style: American IPA ABV: 7.5 percent One of my major complaints about Arizona's breweries is that they seem afraid to innovate. For all the different breweries in the state, the consumer still has very few Belgian ales to choose fro ... More >>

Bell's Hopslam Returns This Week

Beer: HopslamBrewery: Bell's Brewery,Inc.Style: Imperial IPAABV: 10 percent See also: - Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Banana Ale - Ballast Point Victory at Sea. Not to get you guys all excited, but Bell's, the best damn brewers in all of Kalamazoo County, posted this on thei ... More >>

SanTan Count Hopula

Beer: Count Hopula Brewery: SanTan Brewing Co. Style: American Strong Ale ABV: 7.1 percent See also: SanTan Mr. Pineapple Beers that come out every year but don't stick around for long -- seasonals, we call them -- are an important piece of any brewery's portfolio. Drinkers will often eagerly ant ... More >>

Craft Beer and "Craft Salmon" at T. Cook's Alaskan Beer Dinner Last Night

See also: Craft Beer of the Week: Schneider Aventinus Weizenbock T. Cook's at the Royal Palms Resort invited guests to an Alaskan Beer pairing dinner last night, in what it hopes will be the first in a series of beer pairings to run throughout the fall and winter. The evening featured a variety of ... More >>

Three Things to Eat Drink, Drink, and Bake this Weekend, The Craft Beer Edition

See Also: Here Come The Growlers: Starting at Midnight, Bars Can Hand Over 64 oz To Go Happy weekend Chow Bella friends! Ready for another road trip? This time we're heading out west to sunny Palm Springs, California for one of the desert's biggest craft beer parties. Then we'll head home for a f ... More >>

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

Beer: Indian Brown Ale Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Style: American Brown Ale ABV: 7.2 percent See also: Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Life & Limb See also: New Belgium/The Lost Abbey Brett Beer The Beer Judge Certification Program (the major authority that certifies and ranks judges for homeb ... More >>

Eleven Favorite Phoenix Beers

What's your favorite beer? We at Chow Bella get this question a lot, and while it may seem a simple choice for the uninitiated, it can be much harder to answer for those who have tried a multitude of brews. Even among the relatively small selection of beers made in the Valley, with so many styles, f ... More >>

Introducing "This Week in Beer," Your Weekly Beer Calendar

Beer is a big deal in the Valley. From tastings and tappings to pairing dinners and more, there's a different beer event to attend pretty much every night. Every week, we'll curate upcoming brew-related goings-on and lay them out for you here. Your calendar will be as full of beer as your belly. M ... More >>

Four Peaks Wins Big at World Beer Cup

Seems like Arizona's brewers are finally getting some of the respect they deserve. At this year's World Beer Cup -- the largest commercial international beer competition on Earth with 799 brewery entrants from 54 countries -- Tempe's own Four Peaks Brewing Co. took home two gold medals and a bronz ... More >>

Strong Beer Fest 2012: Totally Worth the Wait

​By the looks of the lines, the fact that Tops Liquor went through 5000 bottles of water, and the throbbing pain in my forehead, I'd say the 2012 Strong Beer Fest was a success. Check out our slideshow here, and read on for details of the best -- and not-so-best -- beers of the day.  ... More >>

Bell's Hopslam

​Beer: HopslamBrewery: Bell's Brewery, Inc. Style: Imperial IPAABV: 10 percent Several times a year, a brew is released that sets the beer-buying public in a frenzy. Like a locust swarm, they'll race from store to store to pick up as much as they can, leaving barren, empty shelves in their wake. D ... More >>

Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale

Zach Fowle ​Beer: Lagunitas Sucks Holiday AleBrewery: Lagunitas BrewingStyle: Imperial IPAABV: 7.85% Lagunitas sucks, but at least they know it. I have a list of favorite winter brews, and right near the top is Lagunitas' Brown Shugga. I love its origin story, which goes like this: Somethin ... More >>

Tap That

RAREaffair Didn't Disappoint

Zach Fowle ​Beer for Brains sure knows how to throw a party. On Saturday, close to 800 beer lovers soaked themselves in suds at the RAREaffair, thrown by the Beer for Brains Foundation. Held at Talking Stick Resort, this no-limit food-and-drink-tasting event featured more than 75 beers for s ... More >>

Spicy Chili and Sweet Orange Blossom Beer at Hoptoberfest in Chandler

This turkey chili (front) made us reach for the Kleenex with its creamy heat, but the chicken chili was more of a bland sniffles cure. ​After two weekends of foodie and wine festivals, Chandler's beer drinkers got their fix this Saturday at the Hoptoberfest Chili Cook Off, hosted by the Hung ... More >>

Bryan's Black Mountain Barbecue Does Beer For Brains Event Next Monday

Jamie Peachey​Juicy barbecue, ice cold beer, and a good cause? This one's a no-brainer, or, in the case of Bryan's Black Mountain Barbecue in Cave Creek, a Beer for Brains fundraiser. ​At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, September 12, Bryan's Black Mountain Barbecue will be pairing up 'que and beer ... More >>

SanTan Brewing Co. Negro Nitron

​Beer: Negro NitronBrewery: SanTan Brewing Co. (8 S. San Marcos Place, 480-917-8700)Style: Black IPAABV: 7.3 percent The Black IPA is so hot right now. As in fashion, music and baby names, trends in the craft beer world progress rapidly. Last year, Belgian IPA was the tits, and lately it see ... 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 >>

Zach Ogle's Hop Suicide

The Hop Suicide ​Yesterday we met Zach Ogle, the beer geek pouring drinks at Papago Brewing Co. The bartenders at Papago love to mix beers together, and today Ogle shares with us the recipe for one such mix: the Hop Suicide. Because it's a simple combination of whatever hoppy stuff Pap ... More >>

Brewed For Battle: Blind IPA Taste Test

Jonathan McNamaraA blind IPA taste test? Let's hop to it!​At what point does one elevate from merely drinking beer to being a full-on beer snob? Answer: when you feel compelled to tell other people what to drink. And the inevitable result of this peculiar ailment is the beer argument. In the ... 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 >>

Brewed For Battle: Double IPA

Jonathan McNamaraHopslam, Twin Sisters, and Breckenridge 471.​At what point does one elevate from merely drinking beer to being a full-on beer snob? Answer: when you feel compelled to tell other people what to drink. And the inevitable result of this peculiar ailment is the beer argument. In ... 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 >>