Two Tempe Breweries, Giant Wings & Barrel-Aged Surprises - Hundred Mile & Catalyst
We traveled across the Valley for a Friday brewery crawl featuring Hundred Mile Brewing Company and Catalyst Crafted Ales. Along the way, we took on a dangerously smooth 12% triple IPA, enormous buffalo wings, shrimp tacos with controversial pineapple, barrel-aged stouts, and a surprisingly powerful margarita slushie... all while Dedra moved one step closer to joining the dark, delicious stout side.
Adam & Dedra
7/16/202610 min read
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A 12% IPA, Giant Wings, and a Trip to the Stout Side
There are responsible ways to begin a Friday afternoon brewery crawl.
Eating breakfast is probably one of them.
Starting with a 12% triple hazy IPA on an empty stomach is probably not.
Naturally, we chose the second option.
For this adventure, we made the long journey from the West Valley to the mysterious land known as the east side of Phoenix. Our destinations were Hundred Mile Brewing Company and Catalyst Crafted Ales, two breweries we had wanted to visit for quite a while.
We had great beer, enormous chicken wings, barrel-aged surprises, a margarita slushie with a dangerous amount of alcohol, and another small step in Dedra’s transformation into a barrel-aged stout drinker.
It was a productive Friday.
Christmas in July and Another Tree House Beer
Before getting into our brewery adventure, we opened the episode with another beer from Tree House Brewing Company.
We know. We have been drinking a lot of Tree House lately.
We are not sorry.
This one was Orange Super Treat, an American double IPA brewed with oranges. The label looked like an orange lollipop, and the beer delivered a noticeable citrus punch without becoming overly sweet. Dedra described it as refreshing and perfect for summer, which made it an appropriate choice for a July episode in Arizona.
Dedra also decided to celebrate Christmas in July by wearing her Clark Griswold-inspired Dixon shirt. It was a long-sleeve bamboo shirt, which somehow remained comfortable indoors despite Phoenix apparently trying to relocate itself directly onto the surface of the sun.
Adam also wore a long-sleeve Dixon shirt.
Dedra fact-checked this by looking at his sleeves.
Journalism is alive and well on The Adam & Dedra Show.
A Rare Friday Brewery Adventure
Our brewery trip happened on the Friday before the Fourth of July. Adam and our friend Randy both had the day off, which gave us the rare opportunity to begin brewery hopping before most responsible adults had even left work.
Living in the West Valley means that visiting new breweries often requires a drive of 45 minutes to an hour. Hundred Mile Brewing Company was roughly 60 miles away, but we were ready to make the journey.
We arrived near the brewery and immediately became confused.
From the freeway, Hundred Mile was easy to spot thanks to the large tower displaying its name. Once we exited, however, we found ourselves circling through what appeared to be a hotel parking lot.
The parking lot was narrow, curved, filled with speed bumps, and seemingly designed to make first-time visitors question every decision that brought them there.
Eventually, we crept through the lot, followed the GPS, and found the brewery. Dedra even secured a front-row parking space beside a tree.
The tree provided absolutely no shade.
But when it is 115 degrees outside, even the emotional support of a nearby tree is appreciated.
Inside Hundred Mile Brewing Company
Once we entered Hundred Mile, the confusion disappeared.
The building was impressive. Large windows displayed the brewing equipment on one side, while a spacious patio stretched along the other. During cooler weather, it looked like the kind of patio where you could easily spend an entire afternoon drinking beer and pretending you were going to leave after the next round.
The entrance itself was slightly unusual. There was no host stand or obvious place to check in. Instead, we walked past several oversized cigar-lounge-style chairs and found a second bar farther inside.
We sat down cautiously, unsure whether we were in the right place or had accidentally wandered into an unattended furniture showroom.
A bartender eventually appeared and confirmed that we could, in fact, order beer there.
Success.
Get Both Beers
Dedra was deciding between two IPAs: the West Hawk American IPA and the Desert Neon New England IPA.
Adam offered the kind of practical advice that has helped countless people throughout history.
“Get both.”
Because Dedra was driving, both beers were ordered as 10-ounce pours. She was able to taste them side by side, which turned out to be the correct decision.
West Hawk came in at 7% ABV, while Desert Neon was a much more manageable 6.1%. Dedra enjoyed both and immediately realized that ordering two smaller pours was an excellent solution whenever a beer menu created an impossible decision.
Adam took a slightly different approach.
He ordered Bloodhawk, a 12% triple hazy IPA.
We had not eaten yet.
This was how we started the day.
The Most Dangerous 12% Beer
Bloodhawk arrived with a reddish color that Adam was not expecting from a hazy IPA. It was thick enough to suggest that consequences were approaching, but the alcohol was surprisingly well hidden.
A 12% beer usually announces itself.
It might have a strong alcoholic bite, the heaviness of a barleywine, or the richness of a barrel-aged stout. Bloodhawk was dangerously smooth.
It was the kind of beer that politely tells you everything is fine while quietly removing your ability to pronounce basic words.
Fortunately, food was on the way.
Shrimp Tacos and the Great Pineapple Dispute
Our first food order was the shrimp tacos.
Rather than serving large whole shrimp, the kitchen chopped the shrimp and mixed it with the other ingredients. Adam liked this approach because it meant there was shrimp in nearly every bite.
Dedra would have preferred whole pieces.
Then she discovered the pineapple.
Adam enjoys pineapple in tacos. He also enjoys al pastor tacos, where pineapple is common.
Dedra does not enjoy hot pineapple.
She does not want it on pizza. She does not want it mixed with shrimp. She prefers pineapple cold, by itself, or possibly sitting harmlessly on the edge of a cocktail.
After discovering the sweet pieces inside her taco, Dedra began removing them.
Adam made sure none of them went to waste.
Marriage is about teamwork.
Despite the pineapple controversy, the tacos were still good. The shrimp was properly cooked, the flavors worked well together, and chopping the shrimp helped distribute it throughout each taco.
But then the wings arrived.
The Chickens at Hundred Mile Must Be Huge
The buffalo wings at Hundred Mile were enormous.
These were not small, disappointing wings requiring you to order 20 just to feel like you had eaten something. They were thick, meaty, tender, and cooked perfectly all the way through.
The chickens responsible for these wings may have been doing CrossFit.
They were topped with buffalo sauce and blue cheese crumbles. Adam could have done without the crumbles, but the wings themselves were outstanding.
The size initially made us nervous. Large wings can sometimes become rubbery near the bone or cook unevenly. These did not. They were tender, juicy, and easily became the highlight of the food we tried at Hundred Mile.
Even the shrimp tacos had to accept defeat.
Dedra’s only suggestion would be to add a spicy dry rub option. Crazy Mike’s has established the standard for dry-rub wings in our household, with Booty’s holding a respectable second place.
Hundred Mile’s wings were good enough that a great dry rub could potentially create some serious competition.
The Mayor’s Chips and More Hundred Mile Beer
Randy also ordered an appetizer known as the Mayor chips, reportedly named after the mayor of Tempe because it was his regular order.
The chips came with two dipping sauces. We could not remember exactly what the sauces were.
This was not because the chips were bad.
We were simply still thinking about the wings.
The beer exploration continued as well. Randy’s flight included Hey Buddy, a peanut butter stout that initially caused some confusion because the menu offered very little information about it.
After a few sips and some Untappd research, we confirmed the peanut butter flavor. It was a very good stout and one of the more memorable beers from the stop.
Adam also sampled a smoky stout that may have been called Burnt Embers. It started well, but the smoke lingered afterward in a way he did not enjoy.
Dedra described it as tasting the way you smell after returning from a camping trip.
Adam compared it to waking up the morning after smoking a cigar and still being able to taste it.
Neither description is likely to appear in the brewery’s official marketing materials.
There was also a peach New England IPA called Peachza. It was a decent hazy IPA, but the peach flavor was difficult to find.
Dedra did not remember drinking it at all.
That probably tells you everything you need to know about how memorable the peach was.
Next Stop: Catalyst Crafted Ales
With food in our stomachs and several beers already behind us, we continued to Catalyst Crafted Ales.
We had wanted to visit Catalyst since trying one of its hazy IPAs at an event hosted by Saddle Mountain Brewing Company. Dedra enjoyed that beer so much that she considered remaining permanently in the Catalyst line until the keg was empty.
She did not want them burdened with having to transport leftover beer back to the brewery.
She is thoughtful like that.
Catalyst was tucked into the corner of a shopping center. We spent several moments looking in the wrong direction before realizing the brewery and its large patio were directly beside us.
The patio was one of the first things that caught our attention. Mature trees surrounded the space, misters helped fight the Arizona heat, and plenty of tables made it look like a perfect place to spend an afternoon once the weather becomes less hostile.
Inside, the brewing equipment was visible behind a short wall. Fermentation tanks, kettles, and other equipment immediately gave the room the unmistakable feel of a working brewery.
There was a long bar with additional seating around the room.
Naturally, we sat at the bar.
It is where the beer lives.
Dedra Takes It Easy
Because Dedra was driving, she ordered one New England hazy IPA and drank it slowly.
We arrived during the quiet part of the afternoon, sometime around 2:30 or 3:00. Most people were still at work, leaving only a handful of customers and several retirees who had wisely arrived before the younger crowd could take over.
Dedra enjoyed being able to relax, sip her beer, and appreciate the space without fighting through a packed taproom.
Adam and Randy had a different plan.
They discovered the barrel-aged menu.
Catalyst’s Secret Barrel-Aged Program
Adam initially ordered Digging Up Bones, an IPA Catalyst had brewed in collaboration with Smelter Town for its beer festival.
Then he looked more closely at the menu.
Catalyst had an entire selection of barrel-aged beers that we had not known existed.
At that point, the visit changed from “let’s have one beer” to “we should probably investigate all of this.”
For research purposes.
One of the first was Vanilla Reality, a barrel-aged stout with a colorful bottle design that reminded us of Ready Player One. There was also a stout called The Standard.
The Standard lived up to its name. If that beer represented Catalyst’s normal standard for barrel aging, the bar had been set impressively high.
We also tried a barrel-aged Belgian-style beer that Adam remembered as a Trappist-inspired quad. Adam has slowly been developing more appreciation for Belgian doubles, triples, and quads, and this one delivered the rich, traditional flavors expected from the style.
Then there was Mobility Scooter, a barrel-aged barleywine with a name that immediately improved the entire drinking experience.
The barrel-aged selections stole the show.
Bringing Out the Bottles
Behind the bar, Catalyst had a narrow refrigerator filled with barrel-aged bottles.
Unfortunately, it was located at the opposite end from where we were sitting, and the labels contained writing far too small for Adam to read from a distance.
He attempted to examine them using the natural zoom function of the human eye.
It did not work.
The bartender would not allow him behind the bar, presumably because breweries generally do not let enthusiastic customers wander freely through the alcohol storage area.
Instead, she began bringing the bottles over.
Several trips later, Adam had an impressive lineup in front of him and wanted nearly all of them.
He eventually purchased one numbered release to take home. The bottle was number 31 in what he believed was a run of only 100.
The benefit of buying a strong barrel-aged stout is that there is no need to drink it immediately. It can be saved for the right occasion and shared with friends.
Assuming Adam can resist staring at it every time he opens the refrigerator.
Dedra Crosses Over to the Stout Side
One of the biggest developments from this visit was Dedra’s growing interest in barrel-aged stouts.
When we began the show, she was not much of a stout drinker. Slowly, however, she has started taking more samples of Adam’s beers and finding barrel-aged stouts she genuinely enjoys.
Adam is thrilled by this development.
He loves sharing beer, especially when it involves proving that a style Dedra previously avoided is actually delicious.
Dedra described her transformation as crossing over to the dark side.
Adam corrected her.
She is crossing over to the stout side.
We welcome her inevitable conversion.
Two Breweries Worth the Drive
Hundred Mile Brewing Company and Catalyst Crafted Ales gave us two very different but equally enjoyable brewery experiences.
Hundred Mile delivered excellent IPAs, a surprisingly smooth 12% triple hazy, very good shrimp tacos, and some of the largest and best-cooked wings we have had during our brewery travels.
Catalyst impressed us with its comfortable patio, relaxed taproom, hazy IPAs, dangerously delicious margarita slushie, and a barrel-aged program that deserves far more attention.
The trip required a long drive across the Valley, but both breweries made it worthwhile.
We also got to spend the afternoon with our friend Randy, eat great food, share a ridiculous number of beer samples, and begin drinking while most people were still answering work emails.
That is how a Friday should be spent.
Cheers!
