Desert DigestThirsty Thursday: New Craft Beer Releases from AZ Breweries
Matthew JohnsonJuly 9, 2020
Here's all the new craft beers released from Arizona breweries for this week.
Desert Digest
Desert DigestBeer of the Month: Top Secret Battle Monkey from The Beer Research Institute
Craig OuthierJuly 7, 2020
100 international bitterness units (IBUs) in a double IPA? That must translate into some face-melting hops bitterness, right? Magically, it does not with this superbly tuned hammer of a beer from Mesa-based The Beer Research Institute. Employing Citra and Denali hops for a citrus-pineapple punch, the brewers employ “zero-second,” after-boil late hopping to “avoid that overpowering bitterness,” according to manager Zack Forsythe. “It’s an amazingly balanced beer for how heavy it is.” Now available in...
Temporarily closing FnB, the little gin joint I help run in Scottsdale, due to COVID-19 was challenging and sad. In stark contrast, my other life in Baja Arizona has never been busier. The vineyards don’t stop growing at Los Milics, our nascent winery in Sonoita, so my wife and I have been hard at work. For the last couple of months, we’ve been finalizing trellis architecture. In 2019, we finally put our own vines in...
Desert DigestA Tale of Two Tequilas
Leah LeMoineJuly 6, 2020
Valley spirit producers Mezcal Carreño, Tequila Corrido and Tequila Corcel burst onto the scene over the past year. How to tell them apart? Mezcal Carreño is easy – it’s a mezcal producer. The tequilerias are more confusing. Here’s a cheat sheet: Tequila Corrido Owner: food and bev pro Sarah Foote (founded by her late uncle) Name inspo: A corrido is a traditional Mexican ballad, often a narration of a historical event. Tequila Corcel Owners: brothers...
Takeout Family-Style Meals We’re digging the sweet spot between bulk catering and regular family takeout with its costly individualization. We’re all having North Italia pasta for dinner, fam. Deal with it. Cocktails To Go People take home growlers of IPAs all the time. Why not growlers of Negronis? Meal Donation Shouldn’t it always be this easy to thank a first responder with a salad or a cup of coffee? Gift Card Bonuses Many restaurants rewarded...
Since March, the Valley’s Serrano’s Mexican Food Restaurants have been sharing their classic Mexican cuisine in the form of family meals and bulk market items such as meats, tortillas, rice and beans. Now, Serrano’s is sharing a recipe for its popular Pollo Ranchera, the filling for its famed Pollo Fundido. It’s also a delicious addition to rice and beans and in flour tortillas. Serrano’s Pollo Ranchera Serves 4 Ingredients: 1 lb. of chicken breast 1/2...
Here is a trio of regular virtual happy hours that offer camaraderie, entertainment and an alcoholic education by some of the best bartenders in town – and you don’t even have to get up. Marshall Shore’s History Happy Hours “Arizona’s Hip Historian,” Marshall Shore, hosts this weekly happy hour filled with fun Arizona history trivia, tidbits from the state’s past, a view from the “Hist-O-Cam,” lively conversations with guests such as Valley drag performance legend...
Desert DigestPHXTogetherFrom the Kitchen to the Canvas: A Local Charity Collaboration
Alison CutlerJune 30, 2020
Paradise Valley creator Shanna Israel considers herself somewhat of an artistic chameleon. She blends into each of her pieces to let the story behind them converse with the audience. “You’ll never know that my pieces come from the same person,” Israel says. One recurring theme is impossible to squander in all her artwork, though – the purpose behind it. Israel often collaborates with other people in the Phoenix community to produce story-based art and raise...
Desert DigestNew Craft Beers This Week: Have Your Cake and Drink It Too!
Matthew JohnsonJune 25, 2020
Exciting new offerings from Pueblo Vida, Arizona Wilderness, Tombstone and Goldwater highlight this week's list of craft beer releases from Arizona breweries.
Desert DigestStout Justice: Arizona breweries join forces on “Black is Beautiful” beer collab
Matthew JohnsonJune 24, 2020
“We talked about having a beer that is about social justice on until we don’t need one anymore, which will be a great day. Not a day I see coming soon."
Here is a big new list of new craft beers from breweries across Arizona before Father's Day.
Desert DigestHappy Hour: Los Sombreros
Leah LeMoineJune 15, 2020
A few months ago, I asked my colleagues which local restaurants they’d always wanted to try but never got around to visiting. Our answers were varied, interesting and at times a little embarrassing (I don’t want to “out” anyone, but some were jaw-droppers). One of many on my long list was Los Sombreros, which I’d read about years ago as a budding foodie hanging on every word Howard Seftel wrote in The Arizona Republic. That was back when Jeff Smedstad (pre-Elote Café...
Next week, Hulu is releasing a series hosted by Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi, about the search for true American food. Taste the Nation follows Lakshmi as she travels across the country to learn about different styles of American cooking, with a focus on immigrant and indigenous cultures and foods. Lakshmi says, in the official trailer, that “everything that the American cuisine is today is because all these different people and different cultures contributed to it.”...
Desert DigestPHXTogetherLocal Nonprofit Musically Fed Provides Meals to Food Insecure Amid the Pandemic
Madison RutherfordJune 12, 2020
Musically Fed’s mission is simple – to feed the hungry. The Scottsdale-based nonprofit works with musicians, promoters and venues to donate excess tour and backstage catering to the food insecure, homeless and veteran community. Musically Fed’s work is personal for its founder, Maria Brunner, whose late husband was a Vietnam vet. “When he passed away, it became very evident that we should all know more about our vets,” Brunner says. “I felt that in the...