Four Peaks Brewsletter

Occasionally Reporting Real News For Almost 8 Years!
February 2010
Issue 4

Guess What's Coming Up...

Hello friends, readers and beer enthusiasts from around the world. As I take a break from my nonstop regimen of Winter Games viewing to compose another weekly masterwork, I feel the need to address something of extreme importance...Olympic Curling. From what I understand it appears to be an augmented version of shuffleboard on ice, but that's not where I take issue. In my youth I equated the standard of Olympic excellence upon more than the actual sport, it was also about conditioning. Years of hard work and dedication meant that you were not only among the elite in the sport of your choosing, you were also in peak physical condition...then I saw some of the Olympic Curling athletes. I'm at a crossroads here folks, I'm not sure if I'm disappointed that the Olympic ideal that I held so dear is not only erroneous but an archaic way of interpreting some of these sports, or if it inspires me to look at myself in the mirror and say, "Oh yeah, now THERE'S an Olympic caliber physique!"

But I digress, most of the U.S. Olympic team is performing in an exceptional manner with the pinnacle thus far being last Tuesday's Olympic Record 6 Medal Day. Congrats to all of you! Sadly this will all be over with come Sunday and we can all go back to being mildly disappointed in our body's lack of definition as early as next week!

Speaking of next week (what a long way to go to get this lead in), the month of March begins on Monday and you know what that means...St. Patrick's Day preparations!

Yes, that most joyous of holiday seasons that celebrates one of the most important aspects of American life...the art of drink! There is only one day out of the entire year that could entice us to open our doors at 7 am on some random weekday, March 17th! All of our plans are in place to make this the best one yet. How? Well, we are planning on having our traditional St. Paddy's Day brunch and Dinner menus, all-day drink specials, free T-Shirts to the first 100 people (don't worry, we'll be getting quite a few more shirts for purchase this year for those who don't make the cut), bagpipers and a lot more fun and surprises! Each week from now until the 17th I will reveal one more detail of our planned extravaganza, let us begin with our menus:

Breakfast Buffet
$12 All You Can Eat
Entrees Include:

Green Eggs & Ham
Waffle Station
Corned Beef & Hash
Potatoes O'Brien
Eggs Benedict

With
Sausage Links
Hickory Smoked Bacon
Fresh Fruit
Bagels
Danish Tray
Coffee/Soda

as well as one breakfast special:

Celtic Beer Bread     $10
Scrambled green eggs, smoked ham, country potato, melted pepper jack cheese, and jalapeno hollandaise sauce wrapped in our house baked beer bread.

As the morning slowly morphs into a hazy afternoon, our strictly Irish kitchen staff will be pulling out all the stops! You'll feel like you just got off the boat in Cork as you get dazzled by our:

Shepherd's Pie $10
Choice chopped sirloin, carrots, onion, and savory beef gravy topped with garlic mashed potatoes and oven baked to perfection.

Corned Beef & Cabbage      $11
Our 8th Street Ale simmered and fresh sliced corned beef served with red bliss potatoes, carrots, steamed cabbage, and a spicy horseradish sauce.

Baked Salmon Cakes    $12
Two baked Alaskan Salmon cakes topped with dill aioli, served with Irish potatoes and steamed carrots.

Irish Stew ....................................................$3
Irish Stew in a Bread Bowl....................... $6

That's all I will say about St. Patrick's Day for now, check back next week for more info on what we have in store!

Now, take in our weekly installment of the Brewsletter proper!

"One Taste At A Time"

with proceeds benefiting The Arc of Tempe

It's a culinary event wrapped in a beer festival that's soaked in a wine tasting all the while benefiting the Arc of Tempe! Just like the successful "Tempe, One Taste At A Time" from last year, Four Peaks is proud to be a sponsor and contributor again this year. More than 60 beers and over 75 wines will be available for sampling and many top chefs and restaurants will be providing complimentary samples of their art as well. Tickets are only $30 and are available at our Four Peaks Brewery location and online HERE. Set the date on your calendar and join us, won't you?

One Taste At A Time

Sunday, March 7th
4 pm until 7pm
Pera Club, Tempe (map)
More Information

Upcoming Events

February 27th & 28th: The 46th Annual Scottish Highland Games in Phoenix. Four Peaks is a proud sponsor! Tickets and information found HERE.

Tuesday, March 2nd: Steve Lynchs' Annual Birthday Recovery Day/ Beer Dinner, both SOLD OUT!

Sunday, March 7th: "One Taste At A Time" at the Pera Club featuring over 60 beers, 75 wines and delicious foods! More info in this issue!

Wednesday, March 17th: Join us for St. Patrick's Day (no relation to our own Patrick Murphy)

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Our Locations

IN TEMPE:

1340 East 8th Street #104
Tempe, Arizona 85281
480.303.9967
480.303.9964 fax

AND

IN NORTH SCOTTSDALE:

15730 North Pima Road
Suite D5-7
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
480.991.1795
480.991.1796 fax

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Cask Conditioned and Seasonal Beers

IN SCOTTSDALE THIS WEEK:

8th Street Ale

IN TEMPE THIS WEEK:

8th Street Ale...I love it when the planets align!

SEASONALS:

Double Knot IPA: Now Available but going fast!!

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and

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The Brewers Blog

The following email was sent to the Four Peaks Brewsletter Main Office and World Brews Headquarters in Downtown Tempe late in the afternoon today:

Dear Editor,
We've been temporarily abducted by Italian filter technicians. We apologize for missing our latest deadline. Clearly, we would love to clean up this murkiness quickly but the turbidity of the situation requires clarity of mind and a bright focus (he heh). Therefore, no Blog this week.
But we took a picture.
Arrivederci,
The Brewers

Yet another friendly reminder that it's never an easy job for our friends in the Brewery. Maybe huffing all those hops can drive a person mad over time after all. Anyway, let them know how great a job they're doing next time you run into them, they'll appreciate it!

Next week: New Adventures in Mash Tun-nery!

The Grill & Tap Dispatch
with David Tanzi

I feel obliged this week to begin with an apology - I spent the entirety of the last edition as a bastion for the significance of the WM Phoenix Open on our location; heightening anticipation, fueling expectations, and throwing down the gauntlet to the world's best golfer. And so, in preparation for our busiest week of the year, I immediately went and sustained an injury that may very well keep me sidelined from the business side of the bar throughout the event and beyond. As a result, I am typing essentially one-handed this week. Since I have no dictation software, and know no human being at this time that I dislike enough to subject to providing dictation services for me, this is going to be a shorter than usual entry. Also, the aggressive rehabilitation schedule I've self-imposed is both exhausting and time consuming, but I think if I stick with it I just may come back even stronger than before the accident. And that is why I must immediately return to drinking beer, watching hours on end of Olympic curling, and diligently depleting my copious pile of Vicodin.

Although Show Us Your Cans press edition is still in winter hibernation, the submissions are not, and you can send your best efforts to mike@fourpeaks.com. I can't imagine we don't have a few Four Peaks disciples in Vancouver this week, so I'm looking forward to some shots of SunBru on the curling button, or a KiltLifter atop the biathalon rifle targets. What I'd really like to see more of is our cans in the hands of celebrities, and I would think the Olympics is rife with opportunities. The host country's icons would be ideal, of course, so Show Us Your CAN-Adians this week, Four Peaks travelers! Nash, Gretzky or Celine Dion would be fine, but if you can score one with Kruchko's man-crush Ryan Reynolds I'm betting you'll be drinking free for a while.

While I'm working on my draft hand recovery, I promise to be back to full form for the dispatch entry next week, one way or another. In the interim, I'll likely be coming to a host stand near you; and to avoid further injury, I'll be wearing my crash helmet and pads, which are composed of a steel mixing bowl and two oven mitts. Safety first, kids.

Thanks in advance to all of our regulars for your patronage and patience this week - enjoy the Open

Spring Training Venue Preview
(part 3)

We are down to one more week before the long MLB Baseball drought finally comes to an end. Are you ready for the boys of summer? If not, you better get dialed in because the bats will be swinging next Wednesday. The last two weeks I covered both Scottsdale and Tempe Diablo stadiums respectively, so this week let's cover the stadium that is situated right in PHX Municipal Stadium the middle of them, Phoenix Municipal. Located at 5999 East Van Buren, Phoenix Muni (as the kids are fond of calling it) is just north of the Mill Avenue District and adjacent to Papago Park; it is quite literally at the nexus of three cities. With that in mind you can imagine the plethora of choices you are bound to have when it comes to locales that serve a Four Peaks beverage. Let's start with places closer to the Phoenix side (as always, click on highlighted text for more information).

When you are discussing something so profoundly American as baseball, what automatically comes to mind? Alright, what comes to mind after hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet? Absolutely right, steak is the correct answer! And what would be the first place you'd think of when it comes to steak? Yes, The Stockyards Restaurant and 1889 Saloon! See, you're really, really good at this game! This historic Arizona landmark is also known as "Arizona's Original Steakhouse" and is a great place to get a huge slab of delicious red meat while drinking an 8th Street Ale, a beer named after the street of where another historic Arizona landmark is located. Can you guess what it is?

Is that a little too "high-end" for you? Does your concept of an idealized America revolve more around wings and pizza? Fine, stop in to Draw 10, it's just down the street a piece. Having been around for more than 20 years, Draw 10 has carved out a niche that has transcended all of the recent trends and fads. It's a great place to shoot some pool or work on mastering the Tahiti Cove Golf Course on Golden Tee while imbibing on a tasty Kilt Lifter. Oh yeah, and the food is pretty damn good too.

You can't talk about Phoenix Muni without bringing up its proximity to the Mill Avenue bars and restaurants. I've spent many a Brewsletter talking about particular places in and around arguably the most popular area of Tempe, here are some of our collective favorites:

Casey Moore's - This popular "hometown" bar is one of our very first accounts and continually a fun place to frequent.

The Tavern on Mill - Lotsa TV's, lotsa space, great food and a terrific brunch from 9 am until noon on the weekends.

Bison Witches - Touted as a "Bar & Deli" it really is so much more. Aside from having Kilt Lifter on tap, they have a great selection of other microbrews as well.

La Bocca Pizzeria - Great food and one of the few places around Mill Avenue to get the crowd favorite Hop Knot. Enjoy!

Lastly, if you find yourself unable to decide between the Giants game in Scottsdale and the Athletics game in Phoenix, do yourself a favor and stop by Papago Brewing Company while you try to make up you mind. Conveniently located between the two stadiums, it's a nice place to weigh all your options before finally saying "screw it" and spend the rest of your "productive" afternoon never drinking the same beer twice! It's one of our favorites and a great place to find and procure some of the more hard to find beers in the world, Papago has more than 30 beers on tap that rotate all the time. You never know, sometimes a limited edition Four Peaks beer makes a guest appearance every now and again...

Final Musings...

This Friday the 26th would have been the legendary Johnny Cash's 78th Birthday. Feel free to celebrate in the only fashion we could think of...wearing ALL BLACK. Yes, it will definitely be a somber day but surprisingly he was able to come out with a brand new album yesterday after being dead for 7 years! Incredible isn't it?!? God Bless you Johnny Cash and wherever you are now...

Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis and J.C. (a.k.a The Killer, Carl, The King and The Man In Black)

See you all next week.

Cheers!