“A change is brewing in America …”
So begins “Craft Beer: The New Wine,” a one-hour special about the growing popularity of small breweries that create new and unique beers. Produced by Tempe-based PBS station KAET-TV (Channel 8), the show airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
“We wanted to do something that would show what was happening here in Arizona and also what was happening with craft beers,” says show co-producer Scott Wallin. “This is one of few growing industries in our economy.”
The show’s opening segment examines craft beers in the Valley, including interviews with Anthony Canecchia (pictured below), owner and brewmaster of SanTan Brewing Company in Chandler, and Ron Kloth, president of Papago Brewing Company in Scottsdale, among others.
Andy Ingram (pictured above), brewmaster at Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe, walks viewers through the extensive beer-brewing and packaging process in the second 20-minute segment.
The final segment spotlights the making of Palo Santo Marron, a specialty beer made in Paraguayan wood casks by Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales in Milton, Del.
During the show, Dogfish Head’s Western sales representative, Louis Dolgoff, aptly summarizes the appeal of craft beers in the current economy:
“Unlike wine, where the best wines in the world can cost $50, $200, $300, you can go to a fine liquor store and get some of the best beers in the world for $4, $5, $6.”
“Craft Beer: The New Wine,” conceived in December and shot over an eight-day period in early February, is intended to spark interest in two upcoming KAET fundraisers.
On June 19, KAET will host an Ancient Ales dinner at the Millennium Resort in Scottsdale. Archaeological discoveries have allowed brewers to re-create ancient beers from Turkey, Mexico and China, which will be paired with a five-course meal for $125.
On June 20, KAET and Valley-based Draft magazine will present a four-hour craft-beer-tasting festival at Turf Paradise in Phoenix. Tickets are $60.
Filming the television show and setting up the two events has been an eye-opening process for Henry Brodersen, the show’s other producer.
“I think the biggest thing I’ve taken from it is just how much these brewers at these micro-pubs and breweries love their art and their craft,” he says. “They put so much time and energy into creating these wonderful beers.”
Wallin agrees: “I’ve always drank the same old ‘big brewers’ beer, but you start tasting these things and the differences are unbelievable. I mean, some of these are virtually wines.”
On TV
“Craft Beer: The New Wine” airs 9 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 8. It will re-air at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
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