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Football Sundays Are Back!!
 Like
you folks really need the reminder, but the beginning of the NFL
Football season is just a few scant hours away!
Whether you prefer yet another season of mindless drivel
spewed by such infamous talent as The Fox NFL crew of Terry Bradshaw,
Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long; or the more vapid musings of James Brown,
Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe at CBS, all dreams will
be fulfilled beginning this Thursday night! As always we will be
catering to the Minnesota Vikings crowd in both the front and side
areas of the Tempe Brewery location when they are playing. As in
past years, there will also be a sign-in sheet for special prizes to be
given away at the end of the regular season.
In case you're part of the population that cheers on one
of the other 31 NFL teams, did you know we have a special area behind
the bar for your ilk? We refer to it as the Valhalla Room and it
allows you easy access to all the other NFL games going on
simultaneously! That's right, named after the Hall Of The Slain in old Norse Mythology,
this region is manned by esteemed Four Peaks regulars Thor and Loki
(a.k.a Ron and Tony, last names withheld for the sake of anonymity) who
make it their special mission to keep all Fantasy Football stats
updated in real time in the hope to prevent Ragnarök!
You have heard correctly, one can now keep on top of the return of Adam
"Pacman, Pac, Pac Diddy, Diddy" Jones, "Jet" Favre,
Ricky "For Medicinal Purposes Only" Williams or just whatever
the hell Jillian Barberie is wearing this week! We also boast more High
Definition televisions than last year to make you feel like you are
part of the action.
Of course the East Coast time differential means we will
be opening our doors at 9 a.m. on Sundays to cater to the early game
viewers until Daylight Savings Time kicks in. The major drawback of
this? Well, according to Arizona State Law no alcoholic beverages
can be served until 10 a.m., so please come in and make yourself
comfortable and
feel free to
enjoy a delicious soft drink until the kitchen and bar opens. We will
also offer the same delicious array of breakfast items you have become
familiar with along with a different weekly "special" to keep
you on your toes!
Will this be the year the Vikings take it all?
Will spygate persist to plague the future of the New England Patriots?
Will the love life of Tony Romo continue to be exploited by the sports
media? Do I like to wear mittens when the weather gets cold? All will
be revealed in the remaining weeks of 2008!
And let's not forget, The Phoenix New Times' Best of Phoenix Readers'
Choice Poll is still taking your nominations! Please share your
love with the rest of The Valley!
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Commence de Festival!
An Editorial by Timothy Neuman
Hello Phoenix!! Are you ready for a Shindig, a Happening, a Hootenanny,
or perhaps, a Hullaballoo if you will?
 You've all heard the names,
Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival, crikey -
even the Phoenix Metro has gotten involved with the McDowell Mountain
Music Festival. But there is another extravaganza out there that has
the history and the pedigree that we, at The Four Peaks Brewing
Company, felt compelled to be a part of: The Telluride Blues and
Brews Festival. Conveniently located about 8 hours away from Phoenix in
scenic Telluride, Colorado, The Blues and Brews Festival is a 3-day
event boasting such performers as John Hiatt, Gov't Mule, G Love and
Special Sauce and Etta James. It will be September 12th to the 14th,
and we will be one of the 53 mostly regional microbreweries
participating in their "Grand Tasting" from noon until 3 p.m.
on Saturday the 13th.
Sinces its inauspicious beginning on October 1st, 1994 with only The
String Cheese Incident performing, the event has grown over the last 14
years to become a weekend-long festival. With tickets for the entire
three days still available at $155, including
the beer tasting, it'll be a nice weekend retreat for escaping the
Valley's summer heat (yeah, I can rhyme). Single day passes fetch
anywhere from $55 to $60 depending on when you go... but enough of me
yacking, you probably want to know what we will be offering up there.
Well, the way they've got it set up there will be two tents, one for
the regular admission crowd where we will be offering our Kilt Lifter
Scottish Amber, the Hop Knot I.P.A, and the Sunbru Kolsch. The other
tent is for those lucky enough to have purchased the V.I.P. ticket
package (sorry, these tickets are SOLD OUT according to the web site)
where the Kilt Lifter will be offered.
So come up and say, "hi" to one of our many representatives
from both the Tempe and Scottsdale stores who will be on hand to serve
our delicious beverages. If you're lucky enough, you may even have the
pleasure of having an ale or seven with one of them! We look forward to
running into all of you.
If you're thinking you're too old to go to a music festival, I must
interject to tell you how erroneous that statement is as reinforced by
this article from pollstar,
the premier website for upcoming concerts and festivals around
the world.
Official
Web Site for Brews and Blues
If
You're Thinking of an Extended Vacation
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Ask An Expediter
In the interest of being fair and balanced, we realize that the brewers
have a blog, the Grill and Tap have their Dispatch, and some wiseacre
bartender from Tempe gets to to talk smack about whatever tickles his
fancy. But what about the players behind the scenes? Those people you
see when you first come in, the ones who bring you your food or the
ones who might even prepare it? Last week we put the door guys in the
spotlight, this week, inspired by our friends at the Grill and Tap,
we've decided to pose a few questions to one of our expediters. Ladies
and gentlemen, I give you Matt Barrett.
The Questionnaire
1.
What is your favorite condiment?
Garlic Honey Mayo. I don't taste the garlic or the honey, but it's so
d**n good (and ambiguous).
2. Visualize yourself on a cooking show with Emeril Lagasse and
Rachael Ray, which one would you want to punch in the throat
(figuratively) first? Why did it come to this?
Probably Emeril. You could hit Emerill and say "BAM!" I
enjoy comedic violence.
3. Imagine you are hypothetically still drunk and coming in to
watch football at Four Peaks, what would be your optimal hang over food
off our menu and why?
First of all, this would NEVER happen. That being said, pass the
spinach artichoke dip down my way.
4. 1971 was the greatest year in music history, it saw the
release of "Sticky Fingers" by The Rolling Stones,
"Who's Next" by The Who, and, arguably, the most famous of
Led Zeppelin albums, "Runes" more commonly called
"4", which album by The Hold Steady would hold its own in
this company?
Being that I am still partial to "Boys and Girls In America,"
I am going to go with "Stay Positive." I don't know s***
about music from 1971. I'm shallow.
5.
How has knowing Randy Schultz changed who you are as a worker and, more
importantly, as an individual?
Randy Schultz, or "Papa Bear" as I like to call him, has
provided me with a myriad of valuable life lessons... listening to
Phish, putting on gloves to pick up your drink for a sip, relationship
advice, work ethic... but most importantly, Randy has taught me that
middle-aged (sic) men in tie-dye are always going to be a little weird,
but they mean well!!
Let's give him a hand, folks, for being such a good sport! It's not
every day I can interrogate a cat in his early 20's and ask for his
opinions and perspectives.
Other
middle-aged men in tie dyes
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IN TEMPE THIS WEEK
8th Street Ale: It's like our award-winning English Style
"Best Bitter" was made for cask conditioning. Mellow
bitterness and a slightly sweet malt flavor accompany a heavenly hop
aroma derived from lots and lots of rare imported Kentish hops. 4.5%
Alc./Vol.
Hop Knot IPA: A true American original and the Four Peaks
regulars favorite. Chock full of nothing but North American hops,
although lighter in color and slightly lower in alcohol than it's big
brother the Raj, it's not to be missed in its cask incarnation!
IN SCOTTSDALE THIS WEEK
Hop Knot IPA: What else can I say about the Hop Knot that I
haven't already said, so just take a look up one paragraph and the
answers will be right in front of you
This time we found a wonderful little article from The NY Times
discussing the joys and a litle history of cask condioned ales... enjoy!
The
New York Times Weighs In
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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Thursday,
September 4th: Washington
Redskins @ NY Giants as the 2008 NFL season kicks off (as if you didn't
already know)
Wednesday,
September 10th:
Stop by The Four Peaks Grill and Tap between 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. for
the Beer And Cheese Pairings Of The Week!
Friday,
September 26th:
Beer Dinner @ The
Phoenician Resort's Windows on The Green. Featuring two
Four Peaks Brewers, five craft ales and food pairings at $60 per
person, all-inclusive. For more information at this time, you can email Ted Golden.
Sunday, October 12th:
Walk to Defeat ALS. To join Four Peaks' Walk Team, or for more
information, visit our Walk
Team Page!
Wednesday, November 12th:
Fourth Annual Four Peaks Charity Golf Tournament to Benefit The ALS
Assocation of Arizona. Details to come.
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Have You Seen Our Updated Home Page?
A quick word or so to our intrepid readership, have you
seen our new web page? We have remodeled, streamlined, and updated our
home on the web!
New additions to this latest incarnation include a link on the left
that reads "Here & There." The "Here" tab
is just a little reminder of where you can find our two wonderful
Valley locations, but when you click the "There" tab it opens
up a little interactive window. Simply enter your city, street, or zip
code, then, on the drop down menu, pick which medium of Four Peaks beer
(bottle, draught or keg) you are looking for, and... Voilà! A list of
all the accounts in that neighborhood serving or selling our beer!
These lists are going to be updated on a monthly basis so keep checking
back to see if your area tavern or supermarket is offering your local
favorites!
We also offer a direct link to the latest Brewers Blog which will allow
you to comment directly to our our esteemed brewing staff! So read it
up, take it in, and feel free to weigh in with your opinions and ideas!
We encourage you all to check out the new look, the updated press links
and articles, the latest pictures of our brewers doing the Hopsquatch
"Hop Squash '08" in the mash tun, as well as all the current
events, merchandise and brewsletter back issues you could ever need!
Our Brand New Home Page For You
To Bookmark
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Brewers Blog XIII: Beer
- The Big Picture
We decided to write a blog about how to evaluate beer; see it, smell
it, taste it, feel it. As always, we do a cursory search to see if
anyone else has contributed to the topic and, lo and behold, we found a
blog entry on this very topic by Charlie Papazian. Charlie's not very
well known outside of the cloistered walls of brewers and breweries,
but he should be. His was the first book we read on the subject of
homebrewing and we suspect his was the first read by a great many of
the professional brewers in this country. So, in a way, he's been our
teacher. He is kind of like that first pre-school teacher who taught
you more about going to school than about what to learn in school.
Charlie's a great deal bigger than that, of course, as he heads up the
Brewers Association, which acts like a national brewers guild. They
send out information about legislative alerts, they also host an online
brewers forum, and, of course, they put on the biggest beer festival in
the world, the Great American Beer Festival, amongst many other helpful
and necessary duties.
Anyway, we could go on and on about Charlie. Instead, we'll let him do
the blog on evaluating beer. Enjoy.
And thanks Charlie, for everything.
Charlie
Papazian - Beer Examiner
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by Karina Lang
Hi
everyone! I have some exciting things for you this week so
without further ado, let's dig right in. If you happen to be in
the neighborhood of the Grill & Tap this Thursday, stop in and
check out the celebration of this weekend's release of Jake's Corner.
Jake's Corner stars Richard Tyson, Danny Trejo, BJ Thomas, and Diane Ladd and is filmed here in
Arizona. Not only is this a local film, but it will also be using
Arizona's premier craft beer. It's true; the small star of the movie
may be the beer itself as Four Peaks makes its long awaited big screen
debut! If you can't stop by to rub shoulders with the actors, make sure
to check out the film at your local theater and we'll see you at the
movies!
Last week our guests enjoyed the first Wednesday of our delicious beer
and cheese pairings. For those of you who haven't gotten the scoop on
what this is all about here's what's going on; each Wednesday, we pick
three cheeses and pair them perfectly with three 10-oz. pilsners of
Four Peaks hand-crafted ales chosen by none other than our brewmaster,
Andy Ingram. The beer and cheeses vary each week, so there will be
plenty of opportunity for you to try a vast assortment. We hope to see
you... last week was a big hit so don't miss out!
 Last, but definitely not least,
this Sunday is the unveiling of Four Peaks' Specialty Bloody
Marys. There will be four styles to choose from - all completely
different and delicious! If that doesn't tempt you to stop by for one,
hopefully the fact that yours truly, your very own Grill and Tap
dispatcher, will be behind the bar whipping up your Bloody Mary or pint
of choice every Sunday. Yeah, I knew I would get you on that one!
Enjoy the rest of your week, and as always, I look forward to seeing
your faces around the Grill and Tap.
All
You Want To Know About "Jake's Corner"
Bloody
Mary Folklore
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The Passing Of The Storm
Surge
Just like CNN's extended coverage of Hurricane Gustav, we too are
winding down. Make sure to check back next week as we get a little more
in depth about the upcoming beer dinner at the Phoenician with special
guest brewers, Jim and Andy. We hear there is going to be a putting
contest before the Reception as well as door prizes to give away!
We would also like to thank the readers and voters in PHOENIX
magazine's Best Of The Valley Issue who voted us Best Bar Food in their
Reader's Choice category.
"Le'chaim"- Hebrew toast
View From Shuttle As People Converge for Hopsquatch '07
Unveiling In Tempe
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