This week's Thirsty Thursday tasting was a special one. We had a special guest, Dr Tim Cooper, Managing Director and Chief Brewer for Coopers Brewery, visiting the office.  So, naturally we had to celebrate his attendance with excellent beer selection. Aside from offering up two homebrew creations from our own brewing room for Dr Tim to try, we brought in 3 delicious beers from Arizona breweries. Our Arizona beer picks came from 1912 and Ten Fifty Five out of Tucson, and Mother Road from Flagstaff. That meant Dr Tim had a Saison, Brown Ale, and IPA to taste. While he didn't necessarily name a victor, he did note the uniquely spicy nature of the Saison with No Name. Basically, we were all nerding out and asking Dr Tim things about the legend that is Coopers over some beer. It was a good time. Also, if you follow us on Snapchat you saw all of our artsy beer pics.

Saison with No Name from 1912 Brewing Company

Aroma This local Saison smells of sweet, biscuit malt; citrusy, leafy hops; and barnyard-esque yeast. That barnyard aroma is, of course, correct for the Saison style, though it detoured some of our team as it came across "skunky."

Appearance Pours a hazy, gold color, looks to be fizzy, and has a diminishing head with some lacing.

Flavor At first sip you'll taste sweet malt, piney almost spicy hops, and that barnyard yeast with a more estery character than detected at first sniff.

Mouthfeel The body here is light and crisp with moderate carbonation. No Name's clean and dry mouthfeel makes it easy to sip.

Overall Tasting Notes Saison with No Name is very true to the Saison flavor, with some added spice. The team detected almost a clove taste that yields to a grain flavor. Additional notes from the team were "absolutely love this Saison," and "very spicy and dry."  

Betts Brown Ale from Ten Fifty-Five

Aroma Sweet, toasty, biscuit, caramely malts hit your nose first, followed by some bold, earthy hops.

Appearance This brown ale pours a deep copper color with a quickly diminishing head.

Flavor We tasted sweet, grainy, nutty malt with bitter, resinous hops and estery yeast.

Mouthfeel Betts Brown Ale goes down smooth with a light body.

Overall Tasting Notes In general, we found this to be a mild, brown ale with nice caramel notes, and subtle chocolate.  

Tower Station IPA from Mother Road Brewery

Aroma Aside from the biscuit malts; floral, citrusy hops; and clean yeast everyone else detected – I definitely felt like I smelled fresh mango in this IPA. Delicious.

Appearance Gold, cloudy, and a little fizzy, with a diminishing head and some lacing.

Flavor Tower Station tastes of sweet malt; bitter, citrus hops; clean yeast; but also some mango, grapefruit, papaya, passion fruit flavors. Really nice.

Mouthfeel This IPA is medium-bodied with light carbonation, and goes down juicy and refreshing before a dryer, lingering, bitter finish.

Overall Tasting Notes The team loved this beer. Notes were: "Great beer," "Well balanced with a nice full flavor that has a hazy, northeastern feel," "Hoppy but not too bitter," "Bright and beautiful," "Very clean IPA w/ minimal bitterness," and "a great unfiltered IPA."