With the help of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild and nearly three dozen local beer aficionados, we just wrapped up with judging nearly 250 beers for the third annual Arizona Craft Beer Awards. As always, the beers were blindly presented and judged on taste, aroma and color based on GABF guidelines. The winners will be announced on October 6. Until then, let’s look back on some of our favorites from the past few weeks that we actually knew what we were drinking!
FAVORITE
Bleed American
Roses By The Stairs Brewing
It’s unbelievable how every new beer from Roses By The Stairs is better than the last. This latest one to blow me away is a double IPA with huge aromas of the tropics and a creamy, sensual, rich mouthfeel of juicy and fruity goodness. Inject more of this into my veins. It was by far my favorite beer purchase in August.
For the sake of transparency, I make most of my beer purchases at Trevor’s Liquors in Scottsdale and the Goldwater Brewing Longbow taproom in Mesa.
RUNNER-UP
Machine Gun Teddy
Goldwater Brewing
Like a silent assassin, a brown ale in August surprisingly hits the spot. This classic, award-winning beer from Goldwater is always on point with its aim and never misses, even during an unrelenting summer in the desert.
LOOKING FORWARD TO IN SEPTEMBER
Attention breweries: unleash all your fresh hop/wet hop beers and watch me work! Not only are these the freshest beers available all year, there’s also an unmistakable citrus quality to each beer that makes me wanting more. Plus, with all the Oktoberfest/Marzen/Festbier releases, this is truly the best time of year to love on local craft beer.
