Day 8: Middle Child's Day

August 12: Middle Child's Day

The only thing tougher about growing up on the mean streets of Mesa in the 80's was growing up a middle child on the mean streets of Mesa. That is a pretty sweet Mt. St. Helens t-shirt however...

Arizona Trail Ale (6% ABV)
THAT Brewery
Pine, Arizona

Nothing terribly middle child-ish about THAT beer. Our past weekend camping trip ended with a scenic Sunday drive through the countryside east to west along the Rim Road and eventually through Pine. It was there we found ourselves too early for the daily opening of THAT Brewery and Pub. Not to fear, the visionary townfolk of Pine were on Chapter 2 in the book of "Running a Proper Mountain Town" and had organized a festival. THIS festival had the predictable random collection of local artisan wares, Cutco knives and lotion bars. Yeah, lotion bars. Apparently the traditional lotion market was moisturized, er...saturated and therefore lotion bars were born. I didn't get a chance to inquire about their melting point or survivability in the great desert so I had to pass. The resident Knights of Columbus (to be read in Ron Burgandy voice) announced their pancake breakfast was now half price since it was after 11am. This meant THAT Brewery was open. Sorry good sir knights.

THAT Brewery is the reincarnation of the old Rimside Grill on the south end of Pine. According to a 2012 article on the psaznews.com website, owners Tamara and Steve Morken purchased a closed restaurant and re-opened it as the Rimside Grill which operated through 2012. Early that year, Tamara and Steve decided to follow their love of beer and renovated Rimside into a pub-style brewery name THAT which officially opened on June 1, 2012. In a keep-it-local effort, Tamara and Steve employed as many local trades as possible during the renovation building not just a new watering hole but some collateral with local residents too.

Some quick local insight- The news story also references the resolution of regional water issues which is likely the water shortages around the May/June 2012 time. Proper beer needs proper water.

THAT Brewery and Pub had seven of their beers on tap this past weekend including two blondes (one strawberry), an amber, the ale, the IPA, a stout and an ESB. Their beers were all solid brews and paired very well with the mammoth cheeseburgers (one burger with green chilies and jack cheese and one standard cheddar cheeseburger) we ordered.  The wifey and I preferred the Backwoods Blonde, the Roadrash IPA and the Arizona Trail Ale.

To continue on the theme of "Running a Proper Mountain Town" the good folks in Pine started an annual mountain bike race. The Fire on the Rim mountain bike race, run this year on September 14th, is now in its 3rd year. The race has received pretty good reviews from the Arizona mountain biking community with previous riders citing the turn out and local support through out the race. Stories of on-trail home brew aide stations abound. Race proceeds go to wildfire prevention projects and trail advocacy. THAT Brewery is one of the sponsors this year. Beer and mountain biking, who knew!?!