This ReCoupOn thing just keeps getting better and better. For those in the know, last Christmas the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild created a coupon book (dubbed “ReCoupOn”) as a fundraiser for the guild. Lost revenue due to COVID this past year hit them pretty hard, so coupon book sales help the guild keep the doors open. And beer lovers to save a few bucks. After some initial hesitation about the deals, I’m a true believer now. Two visits to two different breweries just this month have saved me over $10. That Hop Sting didn’t last long… I saved $6.80 on two pints and a four-pack at Simple Machi ..read more

You may have seen local AZ Breweries and taprooms selling a strange looking item at the end of 2020—a glossy looking magazine bearing the unusual name “ReCoupOn.” Those in the know recognized them as actual coupon books…for beer! The Arizona Craft Brewer’s Guild—the folks behind Arizona Beer Week, Real Wild and Woody and the Strong Beer Festival—sold the coupon books at the end of 2020 to recoup (pun intended) lost revenue from 2020. The festivals are a primary source of income for the Guild and you can imagine how COVID and the loss of the festivals in 2020 hurt their bottom line. So, the Gu ..read more

Yes, it is a surprise even to us. We made it to 3 years. Happy birthday to us. Everyone grab a beer. This little venture, which originally was intended to help me study for the Cicerone (c) exam, has lasted well beyond its original purpose. To mark the occasion, GoDaddy auto-bought me a new 3-year contract. Whoo-hoo! Here’s looking forward to Year 6! All kidding aside, year 3 really stank. Due to the various COVID-related lockdowns (governmental and self-imposed), I simply haven’t been able to get our much. We are “AZ Beer TRAVELER” after all. So, there hasn’t been much new content posted in t ..read more

Logo shamelessly appropriated from Untappd. Welcome to the AzBeerTraveler’s “Year in Beer Review” for 2020. Well, that sucked. Let’s just accept the fact that COVID’s effect on Arizona’s beer scene is a given. From closures (Helio Basin) to downsizing (Sleepy Dog, Lochiel), to event cancellations and the AZ Craft Brewer’s Guild selling coupon books (eh, it’s OK) to make up for lost revenue, there is no part of Arizona’s beer scene that has not been impacted by COVID. With that out of the way, here is a short list of other key beer stories and observations from Arizona in 2020: Top Arizona Beer ..read more

I know I said I was “retiring” the Top Taps feature but when a brewery attains the coveted “What are you waiting for? Get here now!” status, you just gotta throw convention out the window. Besides, I’m the author and head honcho around here so and I can break the rules if I want. Enough already! Top Taps is back! Welcome to the club Simple Machine Brewing Company. If you’ve read this blog at all in the past (and that probably means I’m talking to about three of you), you know I chronicled Simple Machine Brewing Company’s entry into the Phoenix brewing scene for much of last year. I drove past ..read more

It’s been a bad month for beer in Phoenix. Just when we started to climb out of the lockdown and beer drinking regained some normalcy, we were quickly reminded that it is still 2020. Still. While, many small breweries survived this pandemic nonsense (Richter, Front Pourch, Simple Machine–to name a few), not all beer-related businesses did. Here’s a quick rundown of closings I’ve come across just this month: Scottsdale Beer Company It was probably a foregone conclusion that Scottsdale Beer Company would not make it through the pandemic. They were among the first to really talk openly about the ..read more

Growler USA, the High-Street beer bar/pub where I spent most of my life while studying for the Certified Cicerone exam, may be no more by year’s end. But it’s NOT closing. [With 2020 being such a disaster, we might not be surprised by another bar closing, but this is not one of those stories…thankfully!] According to sources (and by “sources” I mean loose-lipped servers on a slow Sunday evening), Growler USA will be changing its name, likely before December. Taps, taps and more taps Growler USA is a national beer pub chain based in Colorado that focuses on taps, taps, and more taps. Growler U ..read more

Everyone loves a good underdog story. I particularly love a good beer underdog story. Most people know my disdain for “big beer.” Not only are their brews mostly uninspiring, they dominate grocery store shelf space and leave little room for independent breweries. I’d rather champion places like Barnstar, Verde Brewing, and Copper Brothel. Now you can add Black Horse Brewery in Linden, Arizona to that list. A recent visit while meandering through northern Arizona revealed that Black Horse is not only surviving the pandemic, one could say they are thriving. First…I’m sure you are asking, where ..read more

Regular readers of this blog might have noticed I’ve been absent for a while. [I know, it’s wishful thinking to state that we might possibly have “regular readers.” We get spam regularly enough….] I’m slowly emerging from my own personal hell—one that has nothing to do with Coronavirus. While I haven’t been writing lately, I have been keeping up with my beer observations. To wit: >I finally passed 1000 unique beers on Untappd. I think that makes me extraordinary. I also earned the “Extraordinary” badge on Untappd. My “Beer #1000” was Local Craft Beer’s ‘Cheers MothaF****s 3’ and it was glor ..read more

It’s been just over two weeks since Arizona was given the “OK” to slowly re-open restaurants and bars following weeks of Coronavirus-induced shutdown. In those two weeks, I’ve done my best to help Arizona beer bars and breweries recover quickly. Here are a few truly random observations based on my drinking experiences of the past two weeks: >There are some bad kegs out there. Shortly after things began to open up, I was served a “Kilt Lifter” that bore no resemblance to the Four Peaks Scottish Ale. It had clearly turned. One of the key concerns for brewers, consumers, and distributors durin ..read more