Beer: Fireside Ale Brewery: Lumberyard Brewing Co. Style: Imperial Red Ale ABV: 9.5 percent Do you feel that? The building giddiness in the soul of every local beer lover. The faint smell of hops and sweet wort in the air. My beer sense is tingling. Arizona Beer Week is almost…
The Spot: Yard House, 9401 W. Westgate Blvd., Glendale, (623) 872-3900. www.yardhouse.com The Hours: 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday The Details: Discounts on most drinks, like $2 off wine by the glass and well drinks for only $4.25-4.75, plus pints for $3.50-$5…
Beer: Elsie’s Irish Coffee Milk StoutBrewery: Papago BrewingStyle: Milk StoutABV: 5.5 percent A few days before each holiday visit to my parents’ house, my dad will call me up under the guise of checking in before I visit. We’ll chat about the trip, what we have planned, how packing is…
Beer: Old Rasputin XIV Anniversary Brewery: North Coast Brewing Co. Style: Russian Imperial Stout ABV: 11.5 percent About 95 years ago, Grigori Yefomovitch Rasputin was killed. Though he was purportedly a mystical healer and held some influence over the tsar of Russia, Rasputin’s remembered mostly for his murder, for which…
The Spot: Vintage 95 Wine Lounge, 95 W. Boston St., Chandler, (480) 855-9463. www.vintage95.com The Hours: 4 to 6 p.m. every day, 4 p.m. to close Wednesdays The Details: Just down the block from Urban Tea Loft and The Bistro at Kokopelli Winery, Vintage 95 offers different daily specials seven days…
Hypothetical situation: A friend of yours, who recently decided to buy a kit to brew his own beer at home, has presented you with a bottle of his first batch and asked for your honest opinion. This beer is flat, sour and looks like it was brewed with 51 percent spittle…
The Spot: SideBar, 1514 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix, (602) 254-1646. www.sidebarphoenix.com The Hours: 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday The Details: Appetizers and well drinks are $4, and you get $1 off all beers and $2 off wine by the glass. All wine bottles are $8 off. There’s an…
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…
Beer: Jubelale Brewery: Deschutes Brewery Style: Winter Warmer ABV: 6.7 percent At my last check, the temperature outside was in the 70s. But the calendar still says it’s winter, dammit, which means it’s still a great time of year to crack open a dark, malty winter warmer. Deschutes Jubelale is…
The Spot: Big Earl’s BBQ, 7213 E. First Ave., Scottsdale, (480) 947-6800. bigearlsbbq.com The Hours: 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday The Details: Since we graded them back in October, Big Earl’s BBQ has revamped their happy-hour specials. Check the chalkboard above the bar for details on the new…
Beer: Sam Adams InfiniumBrewery: Boston Brewing Co. Style: Biere de ChampagneABV: 10.3 percent Boston Brewing Co. comes under a lot of fire from the beer community. It’s to be expected as the largest craft brewery providing for a fickle community of geeks — people will get upset and write you…
The Spot: Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill, 7221 W. Ray Road, Chandler. (480) 893-7550. Other locations include Scottsdale, Tempe and Phoenix. ztejas.comThe Hours: 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Hours vary slightly by location, and the Scottsdale Z’Tejas includes a reverse happy hour from…
Thirsty Lion Pub & Grill, 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway, Suite 1041, Tempe, (480) 968-2920. www.thirstylionpub.com The Hours: 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday. The Details: Wine, well drinks, margaritas, and 11 select craft beers are all $4. Domestics (Bud Light and…
Beer: The Nut Before ChristmasBrewery: SunUp Brewing (322 E Camelback Road, 602-279-8909)Style: English Brown AleABV: 4.2 percent ‘Twas the Nut Before Christmas, and all through the bar, People were coming, from near and from far, For a delicious nut brown ale and some holiday cheer, Nothing quite warms the spirit…
The Spot: Urban Tea Loft, 11 W. Boston St. #2, Chandler. (480) 786-9600. urbantealoft.com The Hours: 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 3 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays The Details: Appetizers are 1/2 off, domestic beer is down to $2.50, and a glass of wine is $2 off…
Beer: Winter WarmerBrewery: SanTan Brewing Co. (8 San Marcos Place, 480-917-8700)Style: Winter WarmerABV: 9.5 percent One of the great things about beer is its ability to combat oppressive weather. In the dead of summer, nothing beats back the heat like a frosty pale ale or light lager, and when the…
Yesterday we met Jim Meehan, bartender at New York speakeasy PDT. Today he shares with us the recipe for the Green Deacon, a drink included in The PDT Cocktail Book. According to Meehan, the cocktail’s based on a recipe in Stan Jones’ Complete Bar Guide called the Rosy Deacon. One…
The tender: Jim MeehanThe bar: PDT (113 St. Marks Place, New York, 212-614-0386) http://pdtnyc.com/The pedigree: Meehan began bartending in Madison, Wisc. At the tender age of 18. He moved to New York in 2002, and after jumping around several other restaurants and bars, opened his speakeasy PDT (Please Don’t Tell)…
The Spot: Va Bene Italian Cuisine and Wine Bar, 4647 E. Chandler Blvd., Phoenix, (480) 706-4070. www.vabeneaz.com The Hours: 4 to 7 p.m. daily, 4 p.m. to close Sundays and Mondays The Details: Contrary to what the restaurant’s website says, Va Bene’s happy hour isn’t exclusively drinks; it’s just mostly…
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: Something went terribly awry when the…
Yesterday we met Chris Lingua, bar manager at the dimly-lit Scottsdale speakeasy Kazimierz World Wine Bar. Today he shares with us the recipe for Rimbaud’s Left Hand, a drink created by a bartender in Chicago with this story behind it: The drink is named for Arthur Rimbaud, a 19th century French…
The tender: Chris LinguaThe bar: Kazimierz World Wine Bar (7137 East Stetson Drive, Scottsdale, 480-946-3004)The pedigree: You could say Lingua came into Kazimierz, as most do, through the back door. He had long been a cook — first for sandwich-board places throughout high school and college, then at Cowboy Ciao…
