Have done the search and read the travel guides. Beerrun33 has given me a ton of ideas what to do and where. What are the "must sees" I need to do in the area? Plan on doing Jerome and Flagstaff in our travels.....probably blow through Phoenix as an airport only stop.
Well, the best beer places are Tucson & Phoenix. Airport only? You could be happy with a stop on the way out of town northbound. Or heck, add Prescott to your route and hit up the Raven Cafe and Prescott Brewing that are around the corner from each other. The drive from Prescott to Jerome is quite nice once you're a bit out of town. The travel guides are fairly thorough because there's not many options, though Flagstaff has some newer places that many folks in the valley haven't tried yet.
Don"t bother with Prescott Brewing as the beers suck. Tucson has 4 or 5 fairly good breweries including Thunder Mountain and Barrio Brewing. Phoenix area has several good breweries including Four Peaks and Sun Up. Flagstaff has decent breweries.
Wow.... the responses.... when will you be coming? Certainly PHX and TUS have many of the better destitutions but a Northern Arizona trip can be lots of fun for a BA. Well firstly Sedona is a pretty heavy winer drinker kinda town but it has a brewery and it is s pretty decent one too. Oak Creek Brewing: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4326 http://www.oakcreekbrew.com/oakcreek/home.php They make several nice beers and a have a cute patio. Jerome is an awesome place but it’s pretty wine centric. I was able to find a few nice beers at the hotel, the pizza place and the bar on the main drag that looks like an old 40s – 50s Diner…sorry I don’t know the names of any of these places. But Jerome is smaller than some celebrities’ backyards so you’ll figure it out. And people party hard here…boose and other stuff all the time…plan accordingly. Flagstaff is a great mini beer destination. There are nine beer bars and breweries all within the three minute walking radius of downtown. Everybody seems very into beer. Flag Brewing is right on the main street and is a gathering place for the colorful locals. They make several German style beers and carry more than a few guests handles from well-known breweries. The people you’ll find there are mostly very very relaxed as befits the super low key vibe of the city but they are semi-beer centric and will be happy to over advice about where else to go. Everything is literally in walking distance for people of most abilities. Its officially Flagstaff brewing Company but everybody knows it as “Flag Brew(ing)”. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/6266 http://www.flagbrew.com/ Lumberyard is, for my money, of the two great breweries in Arizona. They make a great red/amber of from which they make a double/imperial and barrel-aged version both of which are excellent. They also have stellar barley wine (barrel aged) and a nice barrel aged porter. The bar itself is beautiful, they have a great patio utilized even in cold weather, and the food is pretty good as well. This is the best drinking spot for BAs in Flagstaff for sure. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23675 http://www.lumberyardbrewingcompany.com/ Beaver Street Brewing is a deep part of the local culture…seems like it has been there as long as some of the historic buildings though apparently only since the 90’s. I believe it was the first project of the owners of Lumberyard. Go to both. If you have time for one only, I’d suggest Lumberyard. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1104 http://beaverstreetbrewery.com/ Mongollon Brewing Is a very good brewery which makes what I used to think is the best AZ beer (Apache Trout Stout) and some other solid offerings. But the rumor is they may be in financial trouble Their website seems to be down as of this posting. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2200 Hops on Birch A great bar with maybe 30 handles: many local and lots of West Coast beers. There will certainly be something for any BA here. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28986/view=beerfly http://hopsonbirch.com/ Mia’s Lounge A nice popular bar with 20 – 30 handles always something good Loud with a stage. Because of the live music (which is a plus or minus depending upon your mood) Thur, Fri and Sat nights can be very crowded after 9 and especially after 11 Around the block from Flag Brewing and across from Beaver and Lumberyard. http://www.myspace.com/miaslounge weird I guess they don’t have a proper web page… McGaughs Smoke and Bottle is the only bottle shop I know of in the Flag area.it is TINY place but run by real beer geeks and full of stuff that disappears fats on shelves in Phoenix. Looks for stuff on the wall behind the counter for gems they are holding on to. You can walk from there to the heart of downtown in about 90 seconds.
