Local beer purists cried foul in December when Four Peaks Brewing became the latest craft-beer prestige piece snapped up by beverage giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. The Tempe-based microbrewer will join the likes of Goose Island and Elysian in the company’s High End portfolio, part of an effort by AB InBev to capture a portion of the growing “beer that doesn’t suck” market.
Terms of the deal weren’t immediately disclosed, but one imagines Four Peaks founders Jim Scussel, Andy Ingram and Randy Schultz – who started the brewery in a disused Arizona State University campus-area creamery in 1996 – fared extremely well in the deal. Four Peaks sold an estimated 70,000 barrels in 2015, which makes it one of the largest craft brewery acquisitions in recent years.
Pinker than Thou
Where are the best places to live in the Valley for LGBT people? The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) says Phoenix and Tempe. Both cities earned perfect 100 scores on the civil rights organization’s 2015 Municipal Equality Index, a yearly measure of livability that reflects non-discrimination laws, equal employee benefits, city services and other gay-friendly metrics. See how other Arizona cities fared on the index.
Chandler 63
Gilbert 30
Glendale 29
Mesa 50
Peoria 38
Phoenix 100
Scottsdale 51
Tempe 100
Tucson 100
Weird, Arizona
We were fumbling with Google maps the other day when a town called Kaka caught our eye. Kaka, Ariz., to be precise. So we looked around and, yes, weird city names are a “thing” on the Internet. Whole websites are devoted to them. Our contribution: The Top 5 Funniest City Names in Arizona.
1) Rare Metals, AZ: Catchy, no? “Viable Phosphate” was already taken.
2) Brenda, AZ: She hates it when people call her Donna.
3) Kaka, AZ.: Suggested sister city: PooPoo, HI.
4) Double Adobe, AZ:. Ooh la la. We can only afford a single adobe.
5) Three Way, AZ: Charlie Sheen has visited a few times, we understand.
HOT MIC
“She’s made some interesting comments to the public, but it’s not like she’s going to be teaching. We have accredited teachers for that.”
– Steve Farley (D-Tucson) to the Arizona Republic upon learning that fellow Arizona Senator Sylvia Allen (R-Snowflake) would assume chairmanship of the Senate Education Committee. During a 2009 legislative committee meeting, Allen said the Earth was 6,000 years old.
