Photo credit Chuck Powell
Back on September 5th a handful of ASH BJCP judges went up to Williams to judge the Williams Firefighters Labor Daze first commercial AZ beer competition. We judged in the loft of the Grand Canyon Brewing’s brewery & taproom. Afterwards we were invited to attend the Fest & meet some of the brewery representatives and sample a few of the brews we just spent the morning judging. We all knew the winner, but the announcement had not been made when we stopped at OHSO’s booth to get a pour of the winner before it was gone.
We got to talking with Cale Aylsworth, Sales Lead, for OHSO. He mentioned that Jon Lane, OHSO’s owner, had mentioned that they had heard that ASH was sponsoring a Scholarship to NAU’s Brewing Certificate Program and was looking for a way to help us raise the money to fund it. That’s just the kind of guy Jon is.
After a few calls & texts, we decided the ASH 2021 & 2022 Board’s would do a brew with Garret at the OHSO Gilbert location on November 12th and brew a big lager, ‘cuz lagers is what they specialize in. We brewed an 8% XIPL that Garret coined, Cash, Grass or ASH, which OHSO released on December 23rd with a party for ASH members at the Gilbert Brewery. All OHSO restaurants now have our XIPL on tap, so stop by the closest one and have a pint because for every pint sold Jon is donating $1 to ASH’s scholarship commitment – plus, the beer turned out great. In addition, we are helping NAU train AZ’s next generation of brewers, brewing scientists, brewery owners, and managers. Win, Win, Win. Thanks Jon, Cale, Garret & all the OHSO crew for supporting ASH.
Barry Tingleff