Tap That Az

In this episode I sit down with Craig and Judd from "Fire and Foraged", the mobile kitchen stationed at The Shop Beer Co. Awesome dudes making awesome food that goes great with some awesome beer. Enjoy the show! 

Ok, so I got bullied out of my own show this time. In the last episode I hung out with Mikel Anne from the Shop, Erin from Huss and Liz from Whining Pig to talk about the Women's Collaboration, Murder She Oats. But when we finished up they were having such a good time I just said “hey, keep it rolling!” So they did. And this episode is a result of that. I actually went back to the brewery talk with the boys from the shop while they did this so I didn’t even know what was going on but they created some magic with what we are going to call “Who Walks in the Door”. It happened so naturally that there was not much structure with it but it was awesome and I think the idea that spawned from it will result in some great future episodes. Moving forward the idea behind WWITD will be for the ladies to do some blind taste testing of Arizona beers with, well, who ever walks in the door. Really excited for this. These girls are awesome so enjoy episode 1 of WWITD. 

For the past 3 years the awesome women of the Arizona craft beer scene have been getting together to brew some beers of their own. The goal is to raise awareness for women in the industry as well as giving back to women in the communities of Arizona. This year they all got together and brewed a throwback IPA called Murder She Oats and even made an awesome t-shirt with Angela Lansbury on it. Keep an eye out for the beer for AZ Beer Week, In this episode I sit down with Mikel Anne from The Shop Beer Co., Liz from the Whining Pig and Erin from Huss to discuss the 3rd annual Arizona Women's Brew.

In this episode we travel up the hill to Flagstaff to brew an Imperial Blueberry NEIPA with Dark Sky Brewing. After we brewed (and after drinking quite a few delicious Dark Sky beer) we sit down with Ryan and Nick from Dark Sky as well Liz from Whining Pig to talk about....well, pretty much everything. Enjoy the show!

I know that this may come as a shock to many people but water in the desert is not exactly abundant. I know, crazy talk. But its true. And thankfully we have guys like Chip Norton who are taking strides to ensure the proper steps are being taken to keep the natural water flowing. Oh yeah, and Chip loves beer. His desire to conserve the Verde River and his love of craft beer led him to get together with some like minded individuals and start Sinagua Malt. The purpose of Sinagua Malt is to help preserve the Verde River flow but an amazing byproduct of this is that Arizona breweries can now have access to Arizona-grown malt for their beers. Although they just started a couple of years ago and aren't even running at full capacity they are already seeing a major increase in the flow of the Verde River. In this episode we travel up to Camp Verde to hang out with Chip and hear the story behind Sinagua Malt. Enjoy the show!

In this episode I sit down with Aaron Markus and Justin Cross to talk about how Tap That AZ came to be and whats in store for the future of the show. Enjoy!  Thanks to Goldwater Brewing Company for letting us use the Goldmine to tap this episode All video production and biggest shoutout goes to Aaron Markus from 8 AM Films for just being awesome and creating amazing work. Thanks to Chris Dodson for his awesome production/editing work to help put the audio side of the episodes together. Intro/Outro music is "La Negra Tomasa" by the awesome local Arizona band Fayuca Want to show your support and help this show grow? Simply click here, give the show a rating and share some feedback!

In this episode along with co-host Chris Dodson I sit down with Noel Garcia, co-founder of 12 West. We talk about how his obsession for making quality beer and unconcerned approach to what some people may consider failure has helped 12 West become on of the hottest and most revered breweries in the state.  Enjoy the show!

In this episode I sit down with owners Matt and Greg and their brewer Colby. We talk about opening a place where they would want to go, making the type of beer they want to drink and attracting the type of people they would want to hang out with. So far so good. Enjoy the show!  

In this episode I sit down with the head brewer from Pedal Haus Brewery in Tempe, Doc Osborne, and get educated on beer. Great conversation, really cool knowledgeable guy. Enjoy the show! 

Anyone who has even met Brian Helton knows that he is a huge advocate for education in the craft beer world. He has done many types of classes including pairings food with beer as well as sensory classes to help you become a better beer taster. This also includes Beer School which is basically a handful of breweries getting together to put on mini crash to help educate people in different areas of craft beer.  Plus you get some sweet swag, get to taste awesome beers and meet some of the best people in the world. In case you haven't heard, craft beer people are the most awesome people in the world. We were lucky enough to be invited to cover this event and there was no way we were going to turn that down. It was great talking with everyone from people within the Arizona craft beer industry to home brewers looking to improve their craft to straight up beer enthusiasts.  All but the first four pic compliments of Virginia from Virgin Adventures Big thanks to the participating breweries: Helton Brewing Beer Resea

From day one Gabo Fayuca and Helio Basin Brewing Company has been great supports of this podcast. So awesome to see them putting together this awesome event of November 22nd to benefit Phoenix Childrens Hospital. Great beer, great music, and all for a great cause. In this episode I sit down with Dustin from Helio and Gabo to discuss the festival. Always a blast hanging out with these guys. Free admission so make sure you get there. Fayuca Rizing Xtra Pale Ale's first Beer Fest Presented by Bravo - Tip or Pay, Stir It Up Records & Productions and Helio Basin Brewing Co. Festival de Beer y Musica is a free music and beer fest hosting 9 bands on 2 stages, food, vendors, family activities and ice cold beer!!Wednesday, November 22 at 4 PM - 10 PM FREE - All Ages Helio Basin Brewing Company - 3935 E. Thomas Road, Phoenix, Arizona 85018 Ticket Information BAND SCHEDULE:  BEN ANDERSON 4:00PM FAIRY BONES 4:30PM A.C RIGZ 5:00PM JAM NOW 5:30 HALEY GREEN 6:00PM THE BANTER 6:30PM BEAR GHOST 7:15PM FAYUCA 8:15PM info:

I have a secret to tell you. I’ve never told anyone this before. I really enjoy beer. I know. Shocking. But I wasn’t always a beer drinker. In my early years I was surrounded by the likes of Genesee and Natural Light so on nights out I would usually opt for a Jack and Coke even though I wasn’t a huge fan of pop (as we called soda in the Midwest). But hey, I had to drink SOMETHING. Then I moved to Arizona and my life changed. In many positive ways. But in the category of alcohol consumption for the purpose of this article. I was first turned on to craft beer which I quickly feel in love with. My love affair with quality spirits was a much longer courtship. The first taste of Scotch I even had was a 15 year Highland Park that my father in law bought to share with a group of us for Christmas. There were about 8 of us and we each got a pour to taste, contemplate and discuss. The first sip immediately triggered my inner dialogue to respond with “Spit it out! Now! You have just ingested some sort of handcrafted bl

For most of my beer drinkers out there when we hear “cider” we respond with “Oh yeah, my wife loves those”. For many of us cider is just too sweet or tart and usually just too weak. We want a little kick with our drinks especially for us hop heads whose smiles get bigger as the ABV’s go up. So when my buddy Stefan, aka AZ Beer Jedi, said “hey, there is a cider house opening in Mesa soon” I was like “cool” but also secretly thinking “ok, I’ll probably never go there”. But also in the back of my mind I know that Stefan is a man of good taste so I hadn’t TOTALLY eliminated all chances of ever going. There was still a small thread of interest. Then I read the story behind Cider Corps. Jason Duren had been stationed in Afghanistan and suffered 2 traumatic brain injuries caused by 2 separate IED explosions in late 2012. When he returned home the adjustment was very difficult and a doctor recommended that he take up a hobby to help in the rehabilitation process. His brother Josh also wanted to do what he could to he

My very first experience with Arizona craft beer was Railhead Red at Beaver Street Brewery. It changed my life. For better and worse. I now know what good beer tastes like. But I also gained a few pounds. Well worth it. After hitting up Beaver Street periodically over the next year or so II was super excited when word came out that they were expanding and opening a new bigger brewery and restaurant which became what is now Lumberyard Brewing Company. Owners of what is quite possibly the best patio view in downtown Flagstaff Lumberyard has become an oasis of freshly made craft beer and amazing food.  In fact, another life-changing experience happened to me right on that very patio. I’m a huge fan of BBQ pulled pork. Hands down one of my favorite foods of all time. I also love mac n cheese because I’m an American. Seriously, you show me an American who doesn’t like mac n cheese and I’ll show you a terrorist. Well anyways, I’m looking over the menu and suddenly a single  beam of light shone from the heavens with

Justin Cross is a great episode to the podcast. We are following him on his journey to opening up his own brewery here in Arizona in a mini-series called "Somethings Brewing" (listen to part 1 and part 2 so far). As much as Justin is passionate about beer he is possibly equally as passionate about fitness. So Justin did what many before him did. He thought "Hmmm. Fitness and beer. They go together like.....well, fitness and beer". When he first presented his theory to me I thought "This poor fellas needs to tighten up his technique on skull crushers and not take it so literally". But then he explained it. And it made sense. You don't have to choose one or the other. You can really have both. Its all about balance. Another guy with the same idea and Justin's good friend Elliott aka Apartment Bartender together came up with the idea of Earn Your Booze, a philosophy about having that balance and making sure you earn those drinks by kicking butt by getting some sort of exercise in. This concept has caught fire a

When Rob from North Mountain Brewing Company toured Europe as a young man it showed how that beer can be really good. That trip and his desire to do something different has inspired him to create certain styles that not many breweries try to tackle such as Belgian Strong Ales, Belgian Quads, and Saisons. And he nails them. And their food is awesome so so that never hurts. The food is deliberately made with the beer in mind.  Official Tap That AZ Recommendations: Beer - Belay Double IPA Food - Asian Pulled Pork Sliders North Mountain Brewing Company: 22 E Dunlap Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85020 Video content created by 8am Films Intro/Outro music is "La Negra Tomasa" by the awesome local Arizona band Fayuca Want to show your support and help this show grow? Simply click here, give the show a rating and share some feedback!

In this episode I sit down with Steve McFate, owner of McFate Brewing Company. We talk about how a leap of faith propelled him into a career in craft beer and we talk about how every neighborhood should have its own brewery. Since starting this podcast I have wanted Steve to be a guest and really enjoyed our conversation. Enjoy the show! South Location/Brewery - 1312 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257 North Location/Tap & Barrel - 7337 E Shea Blvd #105, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Intro/Outro music is "La Negra Tomasa" by the awesome local Arizona band Fayuca Want to show your support and help this show grow? Simply click here, give the show a rating and share some feedback!

Since it opened its doors in 2015 Goldwater Brewing Company has hit the ground running. Spawned from their dads passion for brewing Dillon and Chad McClelland have turned this Scottsdale brewery into the place to be in Old Town Scottsdale. Above ground there is a beautiful taproom and brewery that pumps out more beer than you could ever imagine from the space given.  But the real gem is The Goldmine: a former underground shooting range that houses barrels currently aging some future awesomeness ad well as a few Brite Tanks laying horizontally in some of the 75 deep wholes previously used as the firing areas of the shooting range. Yeah, you heard that right. This place is unlike anything you've ever seen and these guys maximize its uniqueness.  These guys are killing it and a recent Bronze metal at the Great American Beer Festival for their Machine Gun Teddy Brown Ale proves it. In this episode I sit down with Dillon, Chad, and assistant brewer Jordan to talk about how their dad influenced their beer styles,

Arizona is a food lovers paradise. Everything from authentic Mexican food to some of the best pizza in the country we are so lucky to have so many choices. But sometimes that can be the program. How do you decide when give so many options? Do you want to rely on the opinions of many unqualified people who mainly just use the platform to feel more important than they really are? Yes, I'm talking about Yelp. I think South Park summed that whole thing up pretty well. Enter Valley of the Sun Foodies, a small yet passionate group of people who love supporting the local Arizona foodie scene. They use their Facebook page to promote positive support of the local scene. When I recorded my very first episode at Mother Road Brewing Company in Flagstaff I met a gentleman by the name of Brian Roper. He was super excited about what I was doing and let me know that he also loves supporting the local scene and told me about a group her just started called Valley of the Sun Foodies. Since then Brian has been an awesome suppor

Big thanks to my man Stefan Canchola, aka AZ Beer Jedi for joining me in this episode, providing the pics and for the following write-up. In beautiful and luxurious Scottsdale Arizona you will find a wonderful playground of attractions and delights to satisfy any taste or craving, from world class restaurants, resorts, shopping and entertainment, but did you know you will also find the best craft beer in all the state, literally. Tucked safely in the heart of what is known as "Old Town" you will find the 2nd oldest house in the area. Built in 1937, 6922 E Main St had only been home to a few businesses but for the most part had been neglected and abandoned and anyone wanting to use the location definitely had their work cut out for them. Opening it's doors on Saturday March 7, 2015, Craft 64 hit the ground running as a force to be reckoned with not just in the craft beer community but as a destination spot for locals and tourists looking for a great place for a quality drink, out of this world pizza and a grea