The Four Peaks Brewsletter
Home to the Only Exclusively Swamp-Cooled Brewery in Arizona.
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Beer Dinners, Golf Tourneys and Internet Stuff
July is all but over and the onset of August always seems to signify the ( very) beginning of what we call the "busy" season. It might not seem like it right now, but the rest of the year is going to start flying by real soon. We've got football just over the horizon, Labor Day a little over a month away, Fall Semester around the corner and not too long after that Pumpkin Porter, pumpkin carving, the Four Peaks Golf Classic and Thanksgiving. Sure, I know it sounds like wishful thinking Actual views during the 6th Annual Golf Tournament will greatly differ...
 | with the temps and humidity still at or above the unbearable stage, but the " Bueller" part of the year is almost upon us. Did I say something about The Four Peaks 6th Annual Golf Classic in the above paragraph? You bet I did! The date for the big event has been set for Tuesday, November 10th with a shotgun start at 12 noon! Start getting your foursome organized and make plans to join us at ASU Karsten Golf Course as we once again take the concept of "Charity Golf Tournament" to new heights! More information on how to take part or to contribute coming up in the following weeks, keep checking back! You know all about the Four Peaks Grill & Tap Beer Dinner coming up on Thursday, August 24th (if not, scroll all the way down and check out the menu), but did you know about the Beer Dinner we're involved in at Hotel Valley Ho? We are once again pairing our beer with the exquisite dishes Chef Wiley prepares for his Monday Night Chef's Table at Cafe Zuzu in the Hotel Valley Ho on August 16th. The price is only $52 per person and the event starts at 6:30 that evening. Special hotel rates are also available for those that want to make a sleepover out of it! For more details and to set up reservations, please go to their website HERE. Don't forget that we have recently released our Kilt Lifter and Sunbru cans out into the wild. You can come across them at most Valley wide Bevmo and Whole Food locations. If there is a particular establishment you frequent and would really like for them to carry your Four Peaks canned favorites, please let them know. If you think it would work better if we had an "enforcer" show up to "tell" a particular location what they "need" to "carry" contact our Distribution Guru/Master "Persuader-Guy" Ted Golden at ted@fourpeaks.com. Please try to plead your case in 100 words or less, try not to be too desperate and, above all, have fun with it. The best letter may even be featured in an upcoming Brewsletter... I know it's hot out, but having the entire Tempe Town Lake just up and leave in the middle of the night was something I did not see coming... ...update from the world of the electronic interwebs...Our new website should be up and running around the end of August and trust me when I say that it's not only going to look awesome, it's going to be a damn sight more user friendly to boot. A lot of folks out there know that we have a facebook page (we recently switched over to a fan based company page, our new handle is " four peaks brewing"and just click the "like" icon to stay up to date on our goings on) and were asking us to do something with our Twitter page. After a myriad of problems with passwords and the ilk we gave up and started a new Twitter page. Please follow the link below to begin following our tweets...but be delicate, it's only a day old! We have more social media treats to come (I hear this new thing called foursquare is gaining some momentum) so stay tuned! This weeks issue finds our Brewers Blog contemplating the categorization of their skill, the Grill & Tap Dispatch ponders the ways to keep busy over the long summer and you are offered another chance to peer at the deliciousness of our latest upcoming beer dinner. See you later and if you see our Town Lake, tell it to come back home! Cheers! The Four Peaks Brewery and The Four Peaks Grill & Tap
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The Grill & Tap Dispatch
by Dave Tanzi
SLUMMERTIME
In this week's episode, there are no new episodes, The Dispatch sneaks in another Who reference, and our entertainment menu features Ruffalo and Hamm, with a touch of Grenier & Piven demi-glaze.
When I talk to out-of-staters about the oppressive Arizona summers, I describe it as spending three months in outer space: You work and reside in controlled environments, travel between them in an air-tight pod, and any time spent outside of these three elements are brief or carefully calculated.
If you compare it to living in the northeast or Midwest, I'll choose three months of sweltering and nine months of paradise over four months of bitter cold shoveling the steps and scraping the ice of my windshield every morning. That being said, a Can't believe your good fortune, guys? Don't worry, neither can we.
 | northern winter, as brutal as it can be, will always have one thing over an Arizona summer: a full television slate.
While the entertainment industry functions primarily out of season-less Los Angeles, the majority of viewers reside across the eastern seaboard, and thus the annual television schedule is tailored to their viewing tendencies. From 60 Minutes to Family Guy, that means virtually no new content for almost three months, which just happen to be the three months full-time Arizonans need them the most - the months when we're stuck in our controlled environments. Even the news cycle seems to take a vacation. Or maybe it just seems that way because I get all of my news from the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, both of which have been on break for most of July.
For the past four weeks the only new non-reality programming of any significance was HBO's Entourage. Actually, this is the ultimate non-reality program: a show that jumped the shark three seasons ago and is now nothing more than a 26 minute fantasy reel about 5'5 guys getting doted on by the most beautiful women in the world. Don't get me wrong - I still watch it, but mostly because I've already invested five seasons. It's like an adolescent self-pleasuring session to the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue; ironically it also leaves you feeling only mildly satisfied and a little bit guilty, even if it was the highlight of your week.
Another drag, summer blockbusters while expressly hyped also mostly suck. The That's his fourth scotch of the day and it's only 10:15 am!
 | major studios try to release any real Oscar contender at the end of the year. The exception to this was last year's Hurt Locker, a late June release that went on to win Best Picture. Fortunately, this year there is another worthy Oscar sleeper currently in the theatres - The Kids Are All Right is on two screens at Harkins Camelview 5, though I suspect it may be on more throughout the east valley this Friday.
On the home viewing front the savior is AMC's Mad Men. It's third season premiered Sunday night, bringing more nostalgia to a time when you could drink on the job and smoke in elevators. If you're not familiar with it yet (and judging by the ratings it pulls, you're not), consider yourself lucky - the DVD's of seasons 1 and 2 will keep you occupied until I get approval on next summer's temporary new location, Four Peaks Flagstaff Tent & Tap. All I need is a keg of Hopknot and a lawn chair...
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Upcoming Events
July - Is almost over!!
Sunday, August 8th - The NFL HOF Game with Cincy playing Dallas at 5pm
Wednesday, August 11th - Our latest
monthly Cheese Puff Day
Saturday, August 14th - First Preseason Football Games for both the Cardinals and the Vikings (although not against each other)
Tuesday, August 24th - Four Peaks Beer Dinner at The Grill & Tap. Call (480) 991-1795 for reservations
Thursday, September 23rd - The Autumnal Equinox!! And it's less than 2 months away!!
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Cask, Seasonals and Guest Beers
SCOTTSDALE: 8th Street Ale
TEMPE: Double Knot Double IPA
Seasonal: Double Knot Double IPA
Guest Beer: Saison du BUFF (a collaboration beer between Stone Brewing, Dogfish Head and Victory Brewing.
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The Brewer's Blog
It's a question that kind of chaps us a little, probably
because we know the answer while being confounded by the premise, that is, it's
a loaded question...Is brewing Art or a Science? Well, let's look at it under another genre entirely;
painting. Now, no one would argue that
painting is anything other than an art form; except, of course, a lot of
painters. Let's take Leonardo da Vinci,
perhaps best known for the portrait of Mona Lisa; one of the finest works of
art known to man. But if you asked da
Vinci what he was he might not say painter, he might say inventor or botanist,
or architect, or anatomist. Which, of
course, he was. But he didn't just do
drafts of helicopters and war machines and human bones he also invented new
ways to paint. Sfumato is what it was
called. A secret technique developed by
Leonardo to blend contours into discernable yet soft images; as if smoke has
come between the subject and artist (Mona Lisa being a great example). Here's the real question though; was Leo simply being an
artist when he painted or was he using his renaissance appreciation of science
to experiment and learn? If through
purely scientific means you produce something that is pleasing, beautiful even,
are you an artist? Or, like Leo, if you
set out to create a work of art and in the process create a new, repeatable,
testable technique are you a scientist? And it's tricky because you can't say "both". OK, we'll let you off the hook; the answer is... Well, there is no answer. Or should we say that after being asked the
question a dozen times we've found it best not to answer. We're not artists.
Define "art" and get back to us when you realize that you can't (and,
"I'll know it when I see it" only works for pornography and racial
profiling...). We do, at times, feel like
scientists but we've not really mastered any one field (we know just enough to
really get into trouble... or make beer). We're brewers. That's
it. We set out to make something that
people find pleasing by using proven science and techniques. It's funny, and this may ruffle some feathers, but when a
brewer calls himself an artist we tend to think they may not understand the
science. And when a brewer calls himself
a scientist we tend to think they miss the point that craft brewing can, and
should be, unpredictable, something that can exist outside of formulas. And there's a certain beauty in that. |
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Beer Dinner Menu
Don't forget that we have a Gourmet Beer Dinner up at the Scottsdale Grill & Tap coming up in August. We are extremely excited about this one and hope that you can attend!
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Four Peaks Grill & Tap
Gourmet Beer Dinner
7:00 PM, Tuesday, August 24th
Reception
*Cask Conditioned 8th
Street Ale*
First Course
* Ceviche Trio *
Octopus
& Bay Scallops Octopus and bay scallop ceviche with Aji Amarillo
sauce, red onion, tomato, cilantro, scallions and toasted guajillo
Prosciutto
Wrapped Hamachi Prosciutto wrapped Hamachi with a sweet red onion and yuzu sauce, served over a mango and orange salad with lemon oil.
Watermelon
& Ahi Rocotto pepper, diced watermelon & sriracha sauce with pumpkin seeds, thai basil, red onion and chili oil.
* Collaboration Patriot Pilsner * Second Course * Tacos de Venado * Shredded
venison shank in a spicy cascabel chili sauce with farmer's cheese, yellow
tomato pico de gallo and shredded cabbage rolled in a home made tortilla, served
with a three bean casserole.
* Hop Knot * Third Course * Red River Stuffed
Pheasant * Red
River Pheasant breast stuffed with house pulled mozzarella, pesto, and
escarole, wrapped in prosciutto & caul fat, oven roasted and served with
spicy carrot
quinoa and creamed corn.
* Kilt Lifter* Fourth Course * Homemade Smores * Homemade
ginger graham crackers layered with Belgian chocolate and house
made gooey marshmallows, topped with chocolate hazelnut
ganache. * Oatmeal Stout with Kriek*
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For more information and/or to make reservations feel free to contact our
Scottsdale location either by phone at (480) 991-1795 or by email at
scottsdale@fourpeaks.com. The phone lines are now open and our internet is... internetting! The price is $65
per person with the air conditioning included free of charge! Space
is extremely limited so make sure you reserve your spot today!
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