[Q:A] Fur Treats by Four Peaks Recipe for Your Pup!

Just chillin’ at Four Peaks Kilt Chaser in VIP. No biggie.

Each year at the Kilt Chaser Festival, we invite our friends and family to join us and celebrate all things Arizona — the Kilt Chaser 5K, live bands from all over the 48th state, delicious BBQ, and local food trucks. This year, we even invited over a dozen of our closest brewery friends to send some of their beer to celebrate with us!

Erin and Trevor Schultz, creators of Fur Treats

Each year we also welcome our furry friends to come and hang out with us too. Our volume of spent grain combined with our unquenchable thirst to extend our hospitality to each of our guests whenever possible lead a couple of members of our team to develop a recipe for special dog treats using spent grain from our brewing process.

I sat down to ask Trevor Schultz, a long-time team member of Four Peaks, to talk about his creation. He was gracious enough to share the grainy details, including the recipe, for our fans.

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Q: How did you come up with the idea for ‘Fur Treats’?

This guy waits patiently for his Fur Treat!

T: We wanted to do something fun for the first festival at [Four Peaks Tasting Room on] Wilson. At the time, Erin and I just started making treats for fun for our pup, Lil Ginger. 

We found out you could use spent grain from the brewing process via Google and Pinterest. Erin definitely did her homework. Over the years, our recipe has evolved. 

Q: How fun! Love that making these treats became a family project. Can you walk us through the process?

T: The day starts out early as I head to Four Peaks [in Tempe] to get the spent grain from the first brew of the day (Kilt Lifter this year). I then get home, and we start cooking. Or baking. Or whatever. 

Our recipe and what our oven can handle at one time is

4 cups of spent grain
2 cups of whole grain flour
2 eggs
1 cup of peanut butter (make sure you get puppy friendly peanut butter)
1 tablespoon of honey
A few dashes of parsley for their breath. 

We then mix it in our mixer and beat it until it has a nice consistency. Erin then rolls it out evenly and cut out tiny bones. We then bake it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. We take them out and then turn the oven down to 225 and then bake again for another hour to help make sure they dry out. 

After that, we let them sit on the racks [to cool] and then bag them. You want to make sure to keep them in an airtight container for up to two weeks. 

Q: For this year’s Kilt Chaser Festival, what was the yield?

 

T: This year we made 450 treats. We filled 200 bags. We also gave them away to our neighbors and their dogs in the hood. Our girls are still happy. 

Q: Thanks for the information and the creative inspiration, Trevor! Cheers!

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“Spent grain” is the grain that has been used in the brewing process to make beer. At Four Peaks, we take care to use our spent grain in an ecologically sustainable manner. Once the grain has been used, it is given to local farmers as animal feed. Homebrewers may find this recipe useful too!

Catch us on the right day (well, morning — early, early, early morning), and we may have some for you too! You can also contact your local brewery to see if this is an option for them or contact your local Society of Homebrewers and they may be gracious enough to share with you!

Catch us having fun all over the interwebs! We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest!

Got an idea for a Four Peaks blog? Let me know at marie@fourpeaks.com!

Grilling with Kilt Lifter

Kilt Lifter Brats paired with Kilt Lifter. Facebook photo credit: Barb Walters Harris

The Fourth of July and summer are synonymous with grilling for Arizonans, even as the temperatures reach the triple digits.

Take your summer grilling from ‘Wow!’ to ‘POW!’ with one simple, easy to find ingredient Arizonan ingredient – Four Peaks Kilt Lifter.

Beer is very versatile as a cooking and grilling agent and can be more than the Grill Master’s companion. In fact, our very own brewer, Jim Roper, originator of a couple of these tricks will tell you, “There isn’t anything too crazy about it but it definitely makes a difference.”

Jim suggests a couple uses for the Kilt Lifter as an ingredient for grilling baby back ribs. Jim has personally used Kilt Lifter two ways when making ribs. If the low and slow style of smoking is your grilling game, soak your favorite hardwood chips in Kilt Lifter. At 225-240º F, allow the meat to smoke for a minimum of 4 hours then finish on charcoal or gas grill, as needed. This works great for other smoked items such as brisket, pork shoulder, and chicken.

If time is of the essence, boil your ribs in Kilt Lifter instead of water. If desired, add some salt, pepper and onion and boil for about 45-60 minutes. Pre-heat grill, season ribs as necessary and place ribs on grill meat side up to start and turn about every 5 minutes for a total of 20 minutes of cook time. Lather in your favorite bar-b-cue sauce and enjoy!

Von Hanson’s Meats & Spirits – 2390 N Alma School Rd, Chandler, AZ, 85224

Ribs don’t have to be the only grilled item that gets all the fun. When marinating your skirt steak or pork loin, add Kilt Lifter to your favorite marinade or use as a marinade all on its own. Brush on some Kilt Lifter on that salmon you’re grilling too!

The first step to any successful grilling recipe is purchasing quality cuts of meat from your favorite butcher. For superior cuts of meat, we suggest Von Hanson’s Meats and Spirits. This is a fantastic one-stop shop for all your grilling needs. This locally owned shop has a fantastic selection of top quality cuts of meat, wood chips, a wide selection of Four Peaks brew and is home to the Kilt Lifter brat. (Another great way to add some flavor to a favorite grilling item!)

Are you a proud Grill Master with additional Kilt Lifter grilling tricks up your sleeve? We’d love to hear from you! Post your triumphant meal on Facebook or tweet them out to us!