Phoenix Beer Scene Inquiry

Total Wine recently made an exclusive deal with Crooked Stave out of Colorado to bring their beers into Arizona. They have Colorado Wild Sage, Surette Provision, and St. Bretta that are lower abv Brett infused Saisons. I am not much of a sour/funk guy but the Wild Sage and Surette were very good when i had them a few summers ago. Cheers!

 

This is a great thread, fellas, thank you.

Can I get some Tucson recommendations as well? Looking for breweries, please.

 

Tucson has the best brewery in the state for IPA's in my opinion so you need to hit up Puebla Vida brewery.. Borderlands is another good one and if you feel like driving an hour further south you can hit up Tombstone

 

For west phx....ground control seems to be the pick. Anything else?

GF visiting family in the Litchfield Park

 

Ground Control is pretty much it for pours, and to-go options (Total Wine and Bevmo are the only other to-go spots near Litchfield). Extremely limited for breweries, with 8-Bit being the only place worth considering around there IMO.

 

I'm going to be up in Scottsdale this weekend, with all day Friday pretty much open for me to check out breweries/bottle shops/beer bars. I thought about renting a car to get around, but I'm thinking that I would be better off just using Uber/Lyft to get around and be able to enjoy myself without worrying about driving. I'm trying to nail down my top options, with consideration for best beer/experience versus distance & cost to get to.

After perusing other threads, I'm looking at these possibilities: Wren House, AZ Wilderness (been to once before, and realize it's 40 minutes from the house I'll be at), Wandering Tortoise, The Shop, McFate, and Helton. Any specific thoughts in terms of which ones to focus on, or anywhere else I should go to instead? I have no idea what the cost of an Uber/Lyft from the house I'm staying at (near Frank Lloyd Wright & Scottsdale Rd) to somewhere like Wren House...anyone have an idea of what I should expect?

 

I'm sure the locals can give you better insights, but when I was down in March, we packaged Helton, Wren House, and Wandering Tortoise into one afternoon. Uber from Tempe to Helton was like $15-20 to give you a reference. Helton to Wandering Tortoise is definitely walkable. Being a Chicagoan, Wandering Tortoise to Wren House is also walkable, but more of a trek and probably only a couple $$ Uber ride.

I really enjoyed The Shop in Tempe and Taste of Tops and Tops Liquor (bottle shop) are other decent options that are fairly close. There's a bus that runs along Scottsdale Road with a stop near McFate. It also runs down to Tempe which is pretty convenient if you decide to venture into that area.

 

Thanks - I like the idea of that package deal you mention as well. I'd agree with the willingness to walk a bit further since I'm from Chicago, but the 105 degree weather will probably change my mind! That area may just be my best bet for hitting a few places within a certain area.

I'm heading out there for the MSU/ASU football game, so I'm hoping I can convince my buddies to check out The Shop while pre-gaming.

 

Ground Control is it for the West Side but its actually in Litchfield Park so you will be like 3 minutes away. Do your self a favor and head over to Wren House Brewery in Phoenix as well. Its worth it and you will enjoy it.

 

Wren house is the best in my opinion. The past couple of years they have been releasing really good shit. Wandering torotise always has a good tap list too and they sometimes get their hands on Pueblo Vida IPA's ( Brewery in Tucson who make the best dry hopped hazy IPA's IMO).. I dont go to McFate and Helton as much because I'm always at Wren House or Wandering tortoise.

 

Scottsdale is pretty big so depends on where you are. As far as packages go, in old town/south Scottsdale I would hit Two Brothers, Goldwater and McFate. In Central Scottsdale Gwin Wine Bar. Scottsdale Beer Company and McFate and in North Scottsdale Whole Foods, Ohso and Four Peaks.

In Phoenix I am not as much of a fan of many of the places such as Wren House, Helio Basin or Helton which are easily packaged but Sun Up is vastly underrated and have long made some of the best IPA's in the state and Huss has a tap room just a couple of blocks from there.

 

Some great suggestions. I did the south McFate, Uber to The Shop and then walked to Taste of Tops on my last minute. Was very enjoyable, simple and absolutely hammered at the end of it.

The north McFate and Scottsdale Beer Company is also an easy double hit as they’re only about 2 blocks from each other. There’s an OHSO location quite close too if want to add a third.

AZ Wilderness and Beer Research Institute is pretty convenient to do together if you make the trek to Gilbert.

I’m going to be back in October staying downtown Scottsdale. Probably going to do some combination of Goldwater, McFate south, The Shop and Wren House.

 

Visiting my parents in Sun City West in November, what's my best bet for finding Pueblo Vida cans? I understand SCW is not a prime area for beer, and will be trekking to Wren House/AZ Wilderness, so suggestions in those areas welcome too.

 

Only place I see Pueblo Vida is in Tucson. Try to find some cans from Tombstone if you're looking for good local IPAs. They are at various shops in the valley. Kings might be closest I know of to where you'll be.

 

Agreed. Your best bet is to actually go to Tucson or trade with someone who spends time there. I'm not sure I've ever seen their stuff up here, even on draft.

Honestly, though, I'm not sure it's worth the effort to get. We have access plenty of great local stuff, plus some good distro you may or may not get. Just go to King's and look for Tombstone, La Cumbre, Almanac, Council, Belching Beaver... Depending on timing you might find cans from places that release to retail more sporadically like The Shop, McFate, 12 West, or Wren House. I'd recommend any of them.

 

Wandering Tortoise is your best bet in Phoenix for PV cans, but it's going to be very hit and miss. Would second Tombstone, or some of the more local regular releases (Wren for example).

 

If you want Pueblo Vida cans you're gonna have to drive to Tucson. I do it all the time because their IPA's are worth it. Sometimes ( very rarely) they will sale Wandering Tortoise some cases of their stuff but thats it, them only and it drives the beers guys crazy. They wont sale to anyone else and when Wandering Torotise has them they sale out super quick. Thats the cool thing about Pueblo Vida, they always have good beer you dont have to time a specific release because they always release a hand full of IPA's every month. I cant get enough of Wren House and Pueblo Vida.

 

I'll offer my two cents, curmudgeonly as they may be, and suggest that while, yes, we do have a variety of offerings here, PV is worth seeking out and Wren House/Tombstone/etc. are a definite notch below. (In fact, I'd throw Wren House several notches below, but that's just me.) Wandering Tortoise is the only place in Phoenix I've ever seen cans show up, and it's not regular as folks have noted (and it's a helluva drive from Sun City, but everything is a helluva drive from Sun City). Only other option, apart from driving to Tucson (an easy drive, BTW) might be to get hooked up with one of the AZ beer/trading Facebook groups and see if someone can hook you up with some PV cans.

 

Agreed. Tombstone makes some fantastic DDH/ Wet Hop IPAs.

 

My biggest gripe with Wren House is they dont keep enough hazy IPA's on tap. and just about everything they have on tap is " no fills" where Pueblo Vida offers fills on all their tapped beer. I agree with you about Wren House and Tombstone being a notch or two below Pueblo Vida. I make it from the far west side of Phoenix to Pueblo Vida in exactly 2 hours.