November trip to Phoenix

You hit all of the breweries to hit for sure, McFate is always really solid so try to hit that in addition to your first three.

Bottle shops are pretty numerous (especially since you have a car!). Try to hit Kings Convenience in Phoenix, Liquor Express and Tops Liquors in Tempe, GCM in Gilbert, or Craft Beer Hop Stop in north Phoenix. All of those will have better selection than the grocery/Bevmo stores, and are all run by stellar owners. Shoot me a pm, would love to meet up over a beer. Cheers!

 

You pretty much covered it. Only two other things I would mention. Total Wine has a much better beer selection than BevMo, surprisingly. Also, I'd highly recommend Beer Research Institute. Great food and great beers, but it doesn't get talked about much.

If you run low on time, I might skip Huss. I love their beers, but they don't have food, and the tap room is nothing special. You can get their beer on tap or in cans and enjoy it just as much.

 

I would bump up Papago and Tops on your list simply because you kill two birds with one stone, great beers on tap at both places and a great bottle selection. The mix and match pricing is also superior to the bigger chain stores.

 

I'd also prioritize Papago personally. Great beer on tap and for take away.

And call me old-fashioned but I think no beer-centered visit to the valley is complete without a visit to the original Four Peaks Tempe brewpub location. Actually visited them on opening day 20 years ago, they are the true pioneers of AZ modern-day craft beer. Something to be said for having a Hop Knot IPA & a meal on the patio there.

 

I'm surprised I keep seeing these breweries listed as "must sees" but anywho...if you "have to" see SunUp and WrenHouse, then you will also have to see Helio and Helton, as those four breweries are probably closer to one another than any other breweries in the state. You could tack on OHSO as well and that would be a pretty epic beer tour. For my money, Helton is making the best beers right now.

Day two could be "Old Town" - Goldwater, Papago, and McFate at which point you could drop down to Four Peaks in Tempe. Despite their recent sale to ABInBev, they still make the best beers with the greatest depth and breadth of style and selection. Their new tasting room is awesome.

AZ Wilderness is off on its own, and a good little drive "out of town" so to speak.

 

I've got a quick visit this weekend to catch the Seahaws-Cards game Sunday night and looking for any "new" recommendations (opened in the past 9 months or so). Has anyone tried out Craft 64 over in Scottsdale? My folks are so sweet and always look for new/exciting beer places to check out when I come to visit. Also would love to make it over to AZ Wilderness to get some bottles/cans but not sure I'll have the time to swing it this weekend.

 

Craft 64 is one of the better places to go for local beer since that is what they feature. Just stay away from their house brews which Sun Up brews for them but freshness seems to be an issue with them. It is small and wait times can be a problem on the weekends but not during the week. That said I am not a fan of the pizza either (which is certainly a personal thing and not indicative of quality-I just prefer old school pies vs. foo foo pies.-but to each his own).

 

Yeah, Craft 64 doesn't get mentioned in these threads often enough. Instead of going to 4-5 different breweries, you can go to one place to try the best of each brewery.

Also, if you will be in town on 11/12 you can go to the NovemBEER festival. You can Google it to see the lineup but I'm thinking there will be a bunch of breweries from the Phx area and the West Coast that you don't see in MA.

 

Do both McFate locations have the same tap list or does it very by location? Heading out there tomorrow for a big race this weekend.

 

They vary - the south location (McFate Brewing Co.) has more taps, so they've got probably 15 of their own beers on right now. The north location (McFate's Tap + Barrel) is the one on TapHunter, which speaks for itself. Lately I've found that anything on tap at the north location is available at the south location, and then some.

If you hit the south location, they've got their big BA imperial stout 'Shot in the Arm' on tap right now, which I've been thoroughly enjoying for the last couple weeks, and both have their seasonal 'Candy Bar Milk Stout' on tap (nitro and normal), which is pretty popular every year - and quite good!

What race are you in town for?

 

Javelina Jundred at McDowell - thanks for the recs!

 

Just went by the McFate by Papagos. Right now their Candy Bar Milk Stout is out. Fantastic and one of the best IMO. They also have a barrel aged version which is delicious called King Size. But the best part was they tapped fresh this morning their Candy Bar Milk Stout with coconut. I had it on Nitro and it blew me away. Right up there with Death by Coconut from Oskar Blues. Enjoy your time here. I will be out of town over in El Paso this weekend or I would meet you over at McFate for a pint. Cheers!

 

Actually gonna be in Phoenix in early Dec, got some good recs on breweries and bottle shops (though more are always welcome) but my question is:

Besides AZ breweries, what gets distro there that I probably don't see at all on the East Coast? I'm in upstate NY and while we get killer distro, we don't see much from CA beyond the big boys (Ballast, Alpine, Alesmith, Stone, etc.) or a lot from the Southwest either. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

From San Diego, I can think of Mike Hess, plus we are supposed to start getting Modern Times next week. Hangar 24 and Coachella from the Inland Empire. From Oregon, there's Deschutes and Ninkasi; not sure if you get those at home. Colorado, I can think of Ska.

Then you have the neighboring lesser known (for beer) states. From New Mexico, we get Marble and Santa Fe. Nevada has a couple, I think, but I'm not really familiar with any. It would be easy to just walk into a well stocked bottle shop and pick up whatever catches your eye on the shelf. You're bound to find some things youve never seen before that we forgot to mention.

Perhaps someone else can chime in here. It would be nice to get a somewhat comprehensive list of this for beer traders and beercationers.

 

I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of what we do and don't get distributed, but as far as what we get that upstate NY doesn't, I really have no idea. That's the trouble.

 

Right. In a perfect world, we would have a table with the breweries that distribute here, along with the states that they do/don't distribute to.

I was thinking we could at least compile a list of breweries that distribute in AZ that have distribution to limited distribution throughout the rest of the country and world. A list of regional beers, perhaps would be the best way to phrase it.I have trouble distinguishing between local, regional, national, and international distribution sometimes. All I know is that we get that beer here.

 

Seekabrew may not be perfect but its a good place to start.