Arizona Craft Beer

There was an interesting question asked yesterday on RateBeer.com concerning the status of the Arizona Craft Beer scene. Here were my thoughts on that:

The closest thing we have to a brewer putting a big beer in a bottle is Sonoran with their 100 Batch Series. The 200 will be out shortly and carries substantially more flavor than the 100, as well as a substantially lower price. Still expensive, but for a 19.37% ABV beer that has experienced 5 different fermentations, not too bad. Sonoran is also looking at out of state distribution. Papago is now working with Van Steenberge to produce Oude Zuipers, which is now available in bottles (as of this morning). Of course, Prescott (and soon Four Peaks)are canning their beers to add the the growing canned beer movement, which in AZ includes 5 products from Oskar Blues, 3 (the third as of this morning) from SKA, 2 from Big Sky, one from New Belgium, and possibly some others that I have forgotten. We have a fairly solid craft beer scene. We have always been several years behind California and Colorado, but we have been making progress at a good rate. Five years ago, most bar owners, even multi-taps, couldn’t spell IPA, now its one of the faster growing craft categories in the state, right behind seasonals and wheat beers. We have had a couple of new breweries open up in the last few years, we have had several existing breweries begin distribution, including Sun Up and San Tan. What we are missing is a defining entity, be it a brewery, a brewpub, an event, a beer style, or an area of the city. There is talk of a Phoenix Beer Week, which would be great. Imagine a week bookended by the Strong Beer Fest and the Great Arizona Beer Fest, with dinners and tastings every night, including major brewers...and enough interested people to attend them all. We, who already have this passion for craft beer, must continue to spread the word and induct others into our little cult of malt and hops so that we can obtain a critical mass of craft beer drinkers that will push the category over the last few hills. That’s when the fun begins.

So what else do we need? Really the most important thing becomes building a consumer mind set that demands great beer, and won't settle for less. At the Craft Brewers Conference, Greg Koch from Stone talked about "Being Remarkable", as he presented it he was talking about the craft brewers assembled there. But the more I think about it, the more that needs to apply to consumers as well. There's always a time and place for lighter beers, American Premium Lagers and the like, but when you want craft or specialty imports, then I have a message for you. Consumers, Be Remarkable, don't accept mediocrity, don't accept okay, make sure that you are asking for the best beer available, whether it be craft or import. We believe that most of the time those beers will be from our portfolio and that will make us happy. We will make the same committment back to you...we will Be Remarkable and do our best to provide you with the best product you can possibly get in Arizona.