|
|
APRIL II 2009
|
Issue: # 13
|
|
|
Easter Spectacular!
These holidays just keep coming, don't they? This Sunday we celebrate what the Christians refer to as Easter. According to the dictionary Easter is defined as: 
A spring feast of the Christian church, commemorating the resurrection
of Jesus. It is a moveable feast, falling on the first Sunday following
the full moon after the vernal equinox (21 March); that is, between 22
March and 25 April.
The English name derives from Eostre, Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, who was honored in April.
Dyed Easter eggs, and pieces of candy shaped like eggs, young chickens,
ducklings, lambs, or rabbits - all symbolizing new life - are given to
young children.
Foods traditionally eaten at Easter are those containing sugar, eggs, and butter - the foods that have not been eaten during Lent.
See, in the interest of being fair to all denominations we also utilize this holiday to celebrate the beginning of Spring! That is why we are inviting everyone, regardless of religious affiliation, to our Four Peaks Easter Brunch Spring-tacular. The complete menu is below and will be available at both locations from 10 am until 2 pm! Bring the whole family! More on debunking Easter myths and legends a little later.
The NFL Draft is coming up starting Saturday April 25th. We encourage all of you to stop by either one of our locations because it will be televised through the magic of ESPN.  Please take note that we will NOT be opening early this year, we're sticking with our regular time of 11 am. Once again, please plan accordingly!
Most of the other topics I was going to bring up are addressed quite handily and completely by one Mr. Mike Kruchko, so I will just segue into the meat and potatoes of this weeks Super Spectacular Easter Blow-out Edition of the Four Peaks Brewsletter...
This week our Brewers discuss the Peach Ale in the latest installment of WTHAIT. Mike, as I mentioned above, gets us in the know about the goings on coming up next week. I share some thoughts on the Easter holiday as well as the special Brunch menu and I also have a chat with Rebecca, one of the esteemed expo's that rarely gets the credit that they so well deserve. There you go, another successful issue and all you have to do is keep reading! Now as Frank The Tank from the movie "Old School" so eloquently observed after chugging a funnel of beer...
Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!
Your Friends at The Four Peaks Brewery and Four Peaks Grill & Tap |
|
|
1340 East 8th Street #104
Tempe, Arizona 85281
480.303.9967
480.303.9964 fax
|
----------------------------------
|
----------------------------------
|
15730 North Pima Road
Suite D5-7
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
480.991.1795
480.991.1796 fax
|
|
Easter Brunch and Myths Debunked!
Before I get to the Four Peaks Easter Brunch Menu I think it is only fair that we have a little discussion on the entire concept of Easter. Not as cut and dry as the St. Patrick's Day legend, the history of Easter is mired in crafty deception and, as always, Germans.
Easter began as a pagan holiday. Christian missionaries (they seem to show up in EVERY story don't they?), in their eternal quest to save the unwashed masses, knew that it would be suicide (literally and figuratively) to introduce their holy days to these large tribes of people when spreading their message. Instead they decided to take the existing celebrations and make them coincide with the "Christian" agenda and slowly let it spread across the population. In a remarkable case of forced serendipity, the pagan holiday of "Eastre" was held around the same time as the Christian observance of Christ's resurrection. So it only made sense to put the two of them together! That's right, Jesus is to holidays what Lemon Pepper is to your spice rack; they just seem to go well with everything!
Now, how did they come up with the date for Easter since it changes from year to year. Well, according to Wilstar.com it goes as follows:
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of
the week,
including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of
Nicaea was convened
by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that
Easter shall be
celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on
or after the vernal
equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in
the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the
fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the
ecclesiastical
New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical
full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21.
Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between
the dates of March 22 and April 25.
It is also believed that somewhere in this confusing "caveat" they  allowed most banks to include a year-end bonus clause as part of their several billion dollar bailout, but that has not been verified.
What do the Germans have to do with all this? Well, in the pagan holiday of "Eastre" the Anglo-Saxons worshipped the bunny which was believed to be the earthly incarnation of Eastre, the goddess of Spring. It was believed that the Germans introduced the Easter Bunny to America in the 1800's based on this idea. How this explains their love of David Hasselhoff or the creation of the "Sham-Wow" is still unknown.
Now, here's your Brunch menu, you've earned it!
------------------------------------
House Prime Rib* $15
A generous cut of tender prime rib cooked to your liking, served with roasted potato, steamed vegetable, and a spicy horseradish sauce.
Eggs Benedict* $12
A toasted English muffin topped with poached eggs, grilled tenderloin
filet to your liking, and hollandaise sauce, served with country potatoes.
Enchiladas & Eggs* $10
Two chicken and cheese enchiladas with green chili sauce, two eggs
over easy, country potatoes & spicy black beans.
Four Peaks Breakfast Beer Bread $9.5
Scrambled eggs, country potatoes,hickory smoked bacon, sautéed
vegetables, cheese and Hollandaise sauce rolled in our house beer bread.
Tuna Salad Croissant w/ choice of side $10
Classic homemade tuna salad on a toasted croissant with sprouts,
sliced tomato, red onion, fresh avocado and Swiss cheese.
French Toast $9
Thick sliced challah bread lightly battered with vanilla and cinnamon,
topped with powdered sugar and maple syrup, and served with country potatoes and fresh sliced fruit.
Brewer's Breakfast $8.5
Two eggs Scrambled, two strips of hickory smoked bacon, sourdough toast, and country potatoes. Add Tenderloin-$5
-------------------------------------
How's that for a Easter feast the entire family can enjoy! Remember the extravaganza begins at 10 am and lasts until 2 pm. See you there!
|
|
CASK-CONDITIONED AND SEASONALS
IN SCOTTSDALE THIS WEEK8th Street Ale: The wildly popular English Pale Ale now available in the equally popular cask format! IN TEMPE THIS WEEK
Hop Knot I.P.A: What's got that hip hoppy kick that is a hit with all the chicks? (Hint: It's not Shaft) Upon it's expected quick exit early in the weekend, there is a backup of 8th Street available as well! SEASONAL DU JOUR
Lost Dutchman Lager: Now available!! Our version of a "California Common" (aka Steam Beer), try one today! | |
5 questions with Rebecca Fisher... Today we spend some time behind the scenes with Rebecca Fisher. As one of the elite squad known as the Four Peaks Expediting Assault Team (4PEAT), she has assembled many a side salad, made sure you  get that ramekin of "heart healthy" ranch for your fries and ran back to get extra crackers for your soup all with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. Having been with Team Peaks since the end of July '08 she is quickly coming up on her 1 year anniversary and I can only warn her that the next 9 come and go pretty damn fast! Seeing as I don't have a picture of my fine coworker, I have included a picture of St. Expedite, the Patron Saint of Emergencies (I'm serious)! So let's have a discussion with the "Presentation Princess," the "Stout Shake Styler" and the "Chef Salad... Shapestress(???)" herself, Rebecca... what do you have to say for yourself?
1) What is your
favorite Four Peaks
beer? Please explain.
8th Street Ale because it is delicious! I love it because it's mild yet you still get that real beer kick. 2) You just ordered a
Four Peaks BYO pizza, what is on it and why?
Mushrooms, spinach and jalapenos. I am not a huge fan of meat on pizza and if you include spinach on anything that is not healthy it cancels out the calories, right?
3) Remember when MTV
was about the music? Yeah, most people
don't anymore. So, what are you
currently listening to on your iPod and why? Actually I do remember when MTV played music! And I am kinda all over the board on my iPod. I have everything  from the Misfits to Hank Williams III to Leonard Cohen. I've been listening to the Eagles of Death Metal, The Dead, The Pixies, Talking Heads, Fugazi and Minor Threat to name a few. Why? Because I love music. If I could give up my TV and only listen to music, I would...but I need the Food Network in my life, it's like my bible! Music is a passion of mine and Four Peaks surely plays plenty of good music! 4) What part of this
summer at Four Peaks
are you most looking forward to?
Either honestly or dripping with sarcasm will score you the same amount of
points.
I am looking forward to 110 degree days with no AC, running back and forth from the kitchen carrying incredibly hot plates to sweaty people on our patio enjoying cold beers! (ed note: I couldn't sense ANY bit of sarcasm in that answer)!
5) If there was one
thing you could add or subtract from the Four
Peaks menu (food
or beverage), what would that thing be?
I would add a headline about our food being hand crafted as well. We tout our beer as being hand crafted, and it certainly is, but so is our food menu. There is a lot of work that goes into every order of Fish and Chips, 8th Street Strips, pizzas, etc., let's let everyone know! There you have folks, Four Peaks Brewing Company offers you the finest hand crafted ales and foods all meticulously created by the loving hands of our professional artisans. The artwork we create was meant to be consumed my friends! We couldn't be more in agreement with you, thanks for sharing your time with us Rebecca!
|
|
|
|
UPCOMING EVENTS
|
Saturday, April 11th: Tune in to Good Morning Arizona on 3TV around 8:20 to see Andy and Jim talk beer! Sunday, April 12th: Spend Easter morning with Four Peaks.
Saturday, April 18th-Sunday 19th: Scottsdale Culinary Festival's Great Arizona Picnic! Tickets to this event found HERE! Sunday, April 19th: The 5th Annual Pat's Run in Tempe. Tuesday, April 28th: Four Peaks Beer Dinner in Tempe. SOLD OUT! |
The Brewers Blog
Let's get a couple of things out of the way.
First, why do we still make a fruit beer, hasn't that fad
passed?
Apparently not.
Although it's no where near being our best seller it causes some of the
greatest stir amongst the customers when it runs out; dirty looks, nasty
e-mails,  pitchforks, torches, whole bit.
So we keep it around. In fact our
Peach Ale is one of our original beers so it's got some pedigree from the days
when just about everyone made a fruit beer.
Retro is cool, right?
Second, and this is for men only; does drinking a fruit beer
make you any less of a man?
We would say no. On
the one hand you have some people who drink only double IPAs or monster
barleywines in some attempt to seem manlier (these are the same guys who eat
habaneros and pretend it doesn't have any effect on them. You know who you are). Some call this compensation. On the other hand, you have guys who drink
fruit beers that may be so well adjusted to their manhood, so comfortable in
their own skin, that they may actually be even more manly than suspected. OK, just a theory.
If you haven't guessed by now this week's "What the Hell Am
I Tasting" subject is the Peach Ale.
See it. You'll notice a slight haze in this
beer. Unavoidable really, since we use a
fruit puree/concentrate after filtration.
It was a decision made all those years ago to preserve the flavor and
aroma without completely fouling up the filter with peach bits. Plus, whole fruit is a pain in the butt. It's dirty, it's expensive, it goes bad; no
thanks. Lazy? We prefer "crafty"; we found a substitute
that works better than the real thing.
Sniff it. When we developed this beer it was our
intention to make a fruit-BEER, not a FRUIT-beer. The way we went about it was to get as much
peach aroma in the beer as  possible without getting too much peach flavor. So the aroma is quite strong and rather one
dimensional (although there is some noticeable malt aroma as well). It was easier for us to suggest peach rather
than bludgeon you with it since smell makes up about 90% of what you taste.
Sip it. See, not much peach flavor, more like an
actual beer, huh? Here's a good test;
hold your nose and then drink it. The
peach gets really reduced and you're left with a mildly sweet, somewhat fruity,
but not overwhelming, beer. Just what we
wanted.
OK, time for a tough admission; Peach Ale is not our
favorite. There, we said it. It's difficult, it's like saying one of your
children is not your favorite. You
should love them all equally, and, of course, on some level we do. The Peach is unique, it has many fans and for
that we're thankful, it's just not always our cup of tea (now, pair it with a
cobbler or some ice-cream and watch us change our tune). What it is, though, is a great example of the
diversity of beer; there's one for everybody, even the habanero guy...with the
monster truck.
|
The Grill & Tap Dispatch
with Mike Kruchko
Hmmm, where to start for the week? The baseball season is off to a rip roaring
start...the Sox and Dbacks both won their openers, while the Yanks looked
horrible in theirs and both locations of the Peaks enjoyed the whole day while
celebrating Opening Day '09! So where
does that leave us now? The most
underwhelming NCAA tourney in my lifetime is over, so is the Suns season for
all intents and purposes and the Coyotes are quietly wrapping up their year's
campaign to get those extra 20 fans they've been holding out for. Some may think this is all bad news (in the
Suns case it definitely is), but the next few weeks bring us an abundance of
beer drinking, elbow rubbing debauchery and I can't wait to get started!
I don't want to seem like I'm throwing too much out there at
once, but I also don't think anyone is in the mood to read a three page
dispatch either, so let's just highlight what seems  to be the top of the event
calendar. Within the week ahead we have
everyone's favorite pretentious culinary festival starting. That's not a dig on this year's Scottsdale
Culinary festival; it's probably my favorite single event of the year and their
motto is "Eat, Drink and be Pretty" for Pete's sake. We'll have our customary booth in the beer
garden area once again, so make sure to come get your Four
Peaks on in between your rounds of sushi and cheesecake (wow,
that's quite the mix....probably don't want to eat those together!) I'll be there working the taps on Sunday the 19th
if you feel like coming by and saying hello to a real life literary
genius. Look for more culinary fest'
details next week from Tim...or go to www.scottsdaleculinaryfestival.org to get what you need.
That same weekend brings us one of the Valley's most popular
fund raising events in the name  of one of our biggest heroes, Pat Tillman. The 5th Annual
Pat's Run will be taking place on Saturday the 18th in Tempe,
so mark your calendar, dust off those running shoes and come join me for a
morning of fun for a great cause! The
race kicks off early at 7am, so plan
on spending some time around campus then head over to the brewery to recharge
those batteries on the patio! Don't be
afraid to show your support for the Peaks and run with your favorite Four
Peaks shirt on
either...you'll be amazed on how many people will point out how cool you
look! For more details and race sign up,
check out www.patsrun.com
Last but not least, if you're not the culinary fest or
running type, you may be part of what has become the countries largest
sport....NASCAR (I know, I still can't believe how big it's gotten either). But, fact of the matter is, that NASCAR has
now become the nation's largest spectator sport and it's making its way into
the valley next week. So if you like a
whole bunch of left turns with your tailgating, stock up with a few cases of
Kilt, 8th St. or
Hop Knot and head out to PIR  (Phoenix International Raceway). I'm telling you, you'll be doing a great
service for the community by educating a large group of Americans on what a
beer should be and who knows; maybe a few years from now we'll be seeing Jeff
Gordon driving the # 24 Four Peaks Brewing car?
All kidding aside, make sure to take those pictures of you enjoying Hop
Knot out on race day and send them in to us.
We're really enjoying seeing where our bottles are going and I'm pretty
sure that a NASCAR race is on the list of places to see.
Ok guys, I'm going to call it a day and wrap up the dispatch
'cause this should be plenty of info to fill up those calendars. Some of you may be wondering why I'm giving
you things to do for a week from now, well the truth is that I'm going to be
missing from next week's Brewsletter. I know, I know, you're devastated...but, I'm heading out to the Bay Are to hang out
with my new buddy Nomar for the Red Sox - Oakland A's series. So have a great couple of weeks, not to mention
a fantastic Easter and I'll see you soon!
You can contact us in
Scottsdale at 480-991-1795 or at Scottsdale@fourpeaks.com
|
A Few Parting Words...
In case you didn't notice it in the "Upcoming Events" column up there, we will be on a segment of Good Morning Arizona this coming Saturday (the 11th). It's true, in order to promote the movie Beer Wars (remember, I talked about it  right HERE), Jim Scussel and Andy Ingram will be dropping by the 3TV Studios to talk a little bit about the craft beer craze and unveil our new "can" beer designs. That's right, Jim is venturing to the super secret beer can development location tomorrow to procure a few "spares" so we can display them prominently next to our bottles! So tune in for the grand unveiling between your cartoon watching!
BREAKING NEWS..BREAKING NEWS...The response to the Four Peaks "Tatter" hats has been so tremendous that we ordered a new batch! You heard correctly, version 2 (looks the same as ver. 1) has just arrived and is screaming to be put atop your head today. Come in a pick one up now and be the envy of the neighborhood. Nothing says, "Hey world, check me out," better than a distressed hat with a bottle opener gleaming in the beautiful Arizona sunlight on an oppressive July afternoon! Our operators (i.e. managers and bartenders) are ready to take your order! That'll do it for the Easter Spectacular, hope you were able to learn a little something. We here at Four Peaks wish you a pleasant Easter Sunday no matter how you celebrate it and look forward to having you stop by and spend some time with us, I know that there is no other place I'd rather be (and I couldn't anyway, I'm scheduled to work at 2 at the Brewery)! Hope to see you up/down here! Cheers!
"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks"
- Joe E. Lewis
If Only OUR Event Could Look This Classy...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
