Spicy Chili and Sweet Orange Blossom Beer at Hoptoberfest in Chandler
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| This turkey chili (front) made us reach for the Kleenex with its creamy heat, but the chicken chili was more of a bland sniffles cure. |
After two weekends of foodie and wine festivals, Chandler's beer drinkers got their fix this Saturday at the Hoptoberfest Chili Cook Off, hosted by the Hungry Monk.
The festival featured 40 India Pale Ales on tap, eight spicy chilis for sampling, live music, Stein-holder contests, and some very brave men in bras wiggling their assets to support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.
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| Shaking his thing for the cure, this guy quickly had a bra stuffed with money. |
We started with samples of two white chilis (with our love for the Nello's White Bean Chicken Chili special fresh in our minds). The turkey chili was a chili for people who don't really like chili, much more like a creamy chicken noodle soup with a tiny, subtle, timid kick to it. Luckily, the chicken chili made up for what the other had lacked, with a thick, creamy, almost cheesy base stuffed with onions, peppers, and white beans. We were only a couple bites into this chili when we had to reach for a tissue: Now that's chili.
The chili gets hotter and the beer gets sweeter - and where you can get the winning chilis -after the jump.
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| The Stein-holder competitions had contestants holding 32-ounce Steins of beer at a 90-degree angle for as long as possible. The winner of the third heat held on for 4:35, though we were impressed with the guy who put in a token second for diving into his Stein. |
To put out the fire, we started with a sample of the Coney Island Human Blockhead, a darker beer with a bitter taste. We then sampled the Four Peaks Raj IPA, a good choice for IPA devotees with a very sharp, very bitter flavor. In honor of the first two rounds of Stein-holder competitions, we next tried the 90 Shilling, a hoppy Scottish ale that's a little bit like an old friend you can still hang out with all day, watching football, without having to say anything.
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| The super smokey Brown's Chili was one of our favorites of the day, especially paired with the sweet and creamy Orange Blossom beer. |
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| Peter Pan may be underage in Neverland, but this Pan finished a Stein and continued with the samples. Are IPAs to thank for his newfound camaraderie with Captain Hook? We think so. |
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| The 90 Shilling had a starring role in yesterday's Stein-holder contests. |
You can do more than taste these three chilis starting next week (the week of Nov. 7) at the Hungry Monk. Each medal-winning chili will be featured on the menu for one week for three successive weeks of mouthwatering goodness. The Hungry Monk is located at 1760 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler, AZ 85224.
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