Magic Hat #9

Beer: #9 Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Co. Style: American Pale Ale ABV: 5.1 percent There are a few ways to judge the strength of beer culture in a city. One would obviously be the number of breweries operating within the community (and judging by recent events, we’ve got this one)…

Your Drink This Weekend: The Eva Perón.

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. If you’ve been into a cocktail-oriented bar in the…

Chow Bella’s Guide to Pumpkin Beer 2012

In the past, pumpkin beers were rare — a seasonal sideshow, showing up only in the breweries daring enough to make them and enjoyed only by drinkers willing to take a chance on the oddities. Today, however, brews made with pumpkin have officially become mainstream, with nearly every brewery worth…

How to Make the Perfect Mai Tai

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. After working for five years at the now-shuttered Trader…

Gordon Biersch Märzen

Beer: Gordon Biersch Märzen Brewery: Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Style: Märzen/Oktoberfest ABV: 5.8 percent It was a cool fall day more than 200 years ago, and the Germans were partying. It had just been announced that Crown Prince Ludwig, who would later become King Ludwig I, was to be married…

Pavle Milic Harvests the Grapes for His Still Unnamed Wine

In this occasional series, Pavle Milic (co-owner of FnB, Baratin, Bodega and AZ Wine Merchants in Scottsdale) will spill about his current mission to learn how wine is made — literally from the Southern Arizona ground up. Today: the harvest. Momentary Suspension of Reality I have made the drive to…

Chill Drinks Extra Fast, With SCIENCE.

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. It’s happened to you. At least, I secretly hope…

Sam Adams’ Thirteenth Hour

Beer: Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour Brewery: Boston Brewing Co. Style: Belgian-style stout ABV: 9 percent See also: Four Peaks Up ‘N’ Runnin’ See also: Odell DeConstruction I like to think I’m pretty advanced, from an evolutionary standpoint. I went to college; I can string sentences together fairly well; my thumbs…

How to Make the Perfect Sidecar

One of my favorite parts of writing Last Call is getting to answer people’s burning questions about booze. I’m not kidding in the intro tag up there, I truly love getting to pull the curtain back on the alchemy of bartending. This week, I opened up the mailbag and read:…

Odell DeConstruction Golden Ale

Beer: DeConstruction Ale Brewery: Odell Brewing Co. Style: American Wild Ale ABV: 10.5 percent See also: Four Peaks Up ‘N’ Runnin’ See also: Schneider Aventinus Weizenbock Welcome back to Craft Beer 101, class. Hope you brought your thinking caps as well as your drinking glasses, because today’s lesson is quite…

A Modern Classic Deserves Your Attention: The Cosmopolitan.

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. I pity the poor Cosmopolitan. At the turn of…

Five Tips for Making the Best Sangria Ever

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. See Also: Want Something With Beer? Have a Shandy…

Four Peaks’ Up ‘N’ Runnin’

Beer: Up ‘N’ Runnin’ Brewery: Four Peaks Brewing Co. Style: Mild Ale ABV: 4.8 percent See also: SanTan Count Hopula See also: Schneider Aventinus Weizenbock Mother Road. Mischief. Freak’n Brew. Arizona Wilderness. North Mountain. THAT Brewery. OHSO. Fate. Granite Mountain. Desert Eagle. Oh, and Four Peaks. Some of those names…

Celebrate National Whiskey Sour Day. You Know How.

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. See Also: Five More Drinks That Get Screwed Up…

SanTan Count Hopula

Beer: Count Hopula Brewery: SanTan Brewing Co. Style: American Strong Ale ABV: 7.1 percent See also: SanTan Mr. Pineapple Beers that come out every year but don’t stick around for long — seasonals, we call them — are an important piece of any brewery’s portfolio. Drinkers will often eagerly anticipate…

Richardson’s: Happy Hour Report Card

See also: Local Bistro: Happy Hour Report Card See also: Kelly’s at SouthBridge: Happy Hour Report Card The Spot: Richardson’s, 6335 N. 16th Street, Phoenix, 602-287-8900, www.richardsonsnm.com. The Hours: Happy Hour: 2:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m. every day…

The Hemingway Daiquiri: Frozen Isn’t Always Froufrou

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, in which Shady’s bartender JK Grence serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. See Also: Classic, Straight-Up Daiquiri Ask most bartenders what…

Schneider Aventinus Weizenbock

Beer: Aventinus Weizenbock Brewery: Schneider & Sohn Style: Weizenbock ABV: 8.2 percent See also: Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale With new breweries popping up almost every day to create unique new brews, craft beer is currently experiencing a renaissance in America. All this excitement over beer may confuse citizens of…

Five Deceptively Difficult-to-Make Cocktails

Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. See Also: Five Safe Drinks in Any Bar See…

Pavle Prepares to Harvest the Grapes and Reveals the Blend

In this occasional series, Pavle Milic will spill about his current mission to learn how wine is made — literally from the Southern Arizona ground up. Today: preparing for the harvest. See also: Pavle Milic’s Quest to Make Wine: A Quixotic Exploit? See also: Pavle Prunes the Vines — and…

Cascade Sang Noir

Beer: Sang Noir Brewery: Cascade Brewing Style: American WIld Ale ABV: 9.5 percent See also: Moa Imperial Stout See also: Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale Whoever said “It’s about the journey, not the destination,” was A) Probably a dirty, baked-out hippie, and B) Full of it. The journey is filed…