Barrio Brewery is Finally Installing Their Canning Machine

Yesterday I stopped into Barrio Brewing Company for lunch and was delighted to see the brewery guys beginning to install the long awaited canning machine. The folks at Barrio have been very busy lately, having recently doubled their brewing capacity as well as expanding and moving all of their brewing equipment over to the empty warehouse next door. Next time I'm over there (soon), I'll snap some photos.

Ian, the barkeeper, informed me that they plan on first canning the Barrio Blonde, and then probably move on to canning their Nolan's Porter (which has a Great American Beer Festival medal), and their flagship (in my opinion) Barrio IPA.

Stay tuned for more info on Barrio's expansion into the world of cans. I'm excited to have another local brew I can purchase at stores for home consumption. Go cans!

Growing Hops in Tucson

Two Cascade Hop Vines Growing on the West Side of My House

Can hops grow well in a place like Tucson? That's what I'm trying to find out this summer, my second attempt at growing hops in this hot, dry, very sunny place.

Last year's attempt didn't fair so well, as I did a very poor job at watering my plants. Most of the hop rhizomes I planted didn't get more than 3 inches tall before they withered away.

This year I decided to be diligent with my watering and try again. I ordered two sets of two rhizomes, Cascades and Chinooks.

This year's attempt has so far been a smashing success. My rhizomes all sprouted and took off with a lot of attention and a lot of water to start. When growing anything in Arizona you have to make some adjustments to what is suggested for plant growth in other places. "Don't keep your rhizomes too wet", is all relative. It's very hard to keep something too wet in this weather, and over watering doesn't exactly exist here. Our soil can soak up a lot of stuff.

Also, hops are supposed to get full sun. In my case, I took a bet on full summer sun not quite being the best choice for any non-native plant to this region. Instead of planting the hops on the south side of my house, I placed two on the east side of the house, and two on the west side.

The Small Chinook Hop Vines, Shaded out by Sunflower Plants

The results? So far, so good. I had to build my hop trellises after about three weeks, and the vines are climbing. The east side hops, which receive less sun, but are also on a less steep trellis, are growing more slowly. These plants are also more crowded by other plants. The plants on the west side are growing fast, and may have already tapped a buried grey water chamber nearby.

I'll post more about these plants as they develop and I learn any helpful things about growing hops in the desert.

1st Annual Springfest Beer Festival

Some Beery Stickers From a Beery Good Festival

April 20th was the Arizona Craft Brewer's Association's Springfest Beer Festival at Rillito Downs in Tucson, Arizona. Over 30 breweries were represented, many of which were local Arizona Establishments. It was really great to see the new small breweries out there, with brewers on hand to answer questions and talk about anything and everything beer related. In fact, the knowledge of the people manning the tents was what made it stand out above the Sun Sounds Beer Fest that is held in October.

Some of the highlights for me were OHSO Nanobrewery, which had a beer bike and was serving their beer out of small wood casks. A lot of crazy stuff, including some Belgians and Sours. They were even running their imperial IPA through a Randell filled with Whole Cascade hops.

Fate Brewery from Scottsdale was by far the beer highlight of the day. These guys had 5 beers to try, including an Amber, Habanero Infused Pale, and Imperial IPA. They were all great. I might actually have to make a trip to Phoenix sometime to get some more of these folk's suds.

Right next to them was Cartel Coffee Lab from Phoenix (They have a store in Tucson as well). I talked to Cartel's owner, and he has been brewing beer in small One barrel batches and the stuff wasn't bad at all. He said he brews a batch almost every day right now! They also had a collaboration beer with Fate, which was a coffee infused pale ale. Just like the habanero, except with coffee instead of peppers. It was very good.

The Festival could have used some free food samples (there were food trucks selling their fare), and I should have worn a bigger hat to keep out the sun, but all in all it was a really great festival. Cheers!