Juicy Brews Tucson
Beer festivals can be great. But they can also be overwhelming due to the large selection of beers to choose from. 40 drink tickets, 500 beers available to taste, and every style under the sun. If you aren’t careful they all start tasting the same after about a few. They can also be annoying (especially toward the end) when droves of people are now inebriated and acting like idiots. More times than not these idiots are the same people who go into a craft brewery and ask for the lightest beer they make or a Jaeger bomb.
Enter the Hop Culture Juicy Brew Fest. Hop Culture is an independent craft beer website created in early 2017 by two craft beer loving buddies, Kenny Gould and Travis Smith, in Pittsburgh. Their first beer event was in Pittsburgh in late 2017 and the goal has been to create beer festivals that matched the culture of craft beer: hang out in a friendly welcoming environment with people who are on the same wavelength as you with their true adoration for the craft behind this delicious beer. The chance of hearing a loud “O’Doyle Rules!” is very unlikely and Hop Culture is ok with that.
So far the Juicy Brew Fests in New York City and Columbus, Ohio have been a huge hit and for good reason. A carefully curated group of breweries highlighted by local places creates a more intimate and enjoyable experience for the true craft beer enthusiast. Hop Culture also takes it to another level with Juicy Brews Fest by focusing on a single style of beer: the ever-so-popular hazy juicy IPA.
I am a huge fan of the juicy hazy IPA’s. This style is quite polarizing in the craft beer world. Some of the old-school types will scoff at the idea and sight of a hazy/cloudy IPA calling it lazy brewing. On the other hand there are others who say work ethic has nothing do to with it, it’s just a different way to brew delicious beer. Regardless of thoughts and feelings (which I’m pretty good at ignoring anyways) I really love this style. After years of consuming pretty much nothing but the more bitter West Coast Style IPA’s my palate eventually took a major beating and I needed a change. I had tried a few of these juicy IPA’s but felt they tasted too much like a mimosa.
The IBU’s (International Bitterness Units) on these hazy IPA’s are almost always much lower (30-60 range) than traditional IPA’s (60+ IBU’s) making them much more drinkable according to my palate. I have also been able to turn quite a few people who say “I don’t really like IPA’s” into drinking these and eventually diving into some of the hoppier West Coast styles they claimed they didn’t like. When people tell me they don’t like beer I tell them they just haven’t found the right beer. The hazy juicy IPA’s can often be that “gateway” beer.
Hop Culture choose the locations for the festivals very carefully. Each location is chosen based on how they feel the city will respond the to the events. Co-founder Kenny Gould has family in Tucson so the city holds a special place in his heart and he also loves the culture.
The Tucson festival will be held Saturday March 10th at Wayne’s Toys in which is a private antique car collection which adds another level of awesomeness to this whole experience. There will also be great food, awesome music, and merchandise.
Originally planned to have two 3-hours sessions there will now be just one 5-hour session.
Be sure to get your tickets fast as there will only be 300 available.
Click HERE to get tickets. Use the code TAPTHAT to get 10% off
Participating Breweries:
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co.
Borderlands Brewing Company
Cellador Ales
Cerebral Brewing
Crooked Tooth Brewing Co.
Dark Sky Brewing Company
Harbottle Brewing Company
Helio Basin Brewing Co.
Helton Brewing Company
La Cumbre Brewing Co.
Mumford Brewing
Odd13
Pueblo Vida Brewing Company
Pure Project Brewing
Superstition Meadery
The Shop Beer Co.
Wren House Brewing Company
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