Tucson Help

I would scratch off Nimbus and anyplace rated lower.

 

I would recommend a stop at Tap & Bottle. We didn't have much free time when I was in Tucson but my wife and really enjoyed hanging out there. It's a bar/bottle shop and not a brewery though.

 

I believe they have rotating food trucks stop by in the evenings.

 

OP, Barrio, Borderlands (not sure what their hours and days are anymore, as I visited in July and they were closed...thought maybe they'd been shut down), Thunder Canyon and Tap & Bottle are all fairly close to one another.

I'd suggest going to Barrio first (they have food) then either doing the 10-15 minute walk to Thunder Canyon (also has food) or taking a Lyft. Both are in the solid category for beers with a few great beers. At Barrio I recommend the NCAAle and the BA version if available. Thunder Canyon also has a bunch of taps beyond their own and the food is decent bar food.

From Thunder Canyon it's a very short walk to Borderlands, which again, may or may not be open. If it isn't open, you can simply continue on past it, walk the underpass and find yourself at Tap & Bottle, which is an awesome place.

T & B has an excellent taplist and does growler fills (any growler too) and they have a bottle shop of sorts as well. Truly a great place. There are usually food trucks there, especially a pretty good Mexican truck.

1702 seems to get good beers, but the ambiance is very college-kid oriented and the pizza is just bad.

I am a huge fan of Dragoon and think you should make a point to go there as a beerhead, but be warned it's a smaller taproom and has very little in the way of ambiance. If your wife is like mine, she won't be too pleased to go there. But to my thinking, they're the best beers in Arizona and they do some of the coolest stuff (low ABV English milds, berliner weisses, tequila-barrel aged stuff).

Plaza is supposedly the best liquor store but I think it's pretty bad. You'll find a better selection and prices at Tap & Bottle or by going to the BevMo or Total Wine.

I've never been to Nimbus or Ten 55 as both of those are way out on the East Side, but Nimbus bottles can be found around town. Also, I think the brewery called Iron John's has bottles that show up at Tap & Bottle and Plaza. They don't have a tasting room last I checked (July 2014).

Sentinel and Noble Hops are pretty new so I can't comment on those.

 

Like others have said, don't bother with Nimbus. It is way out of the way, unless you will be near the airport. The only one of their beers I remember liking was Old Monkeyshine, and that was probably 10 years ago (early on in my beer pilgrimage).

I haven't been to Tucson in over five years, but I used to always go to AJ's Fine Foods on the North Side to stock up on bottles.

 

I think this is excellent advice and I would just do repeat visits to the above mentioned places once you've hit them once and found your favorites. Don't go to too many of those places on the original list.

 

I was just in Tucson for the holidays, so I'll take a shot at this, but remember this is solely my opinion.

Coming from Austin, the beer scene in Tucson is pretty weak. There are several places that are "recommended" there that wouldn't stay open for 6 months here. But here is my take:

Breweries/Bars:

1. Dragoon is the best in town, by a long shot. And they actually just opened a new tap room (they took over the gymnastics studio that was right next door) and its a REALLY nice space. They only serve their own beer, but had 12 things on tap while I was there, several of which were excellent (including the gose, which was fantastic). Here is a pic of the taplist from when I was there in December (so you can see the variety)



2. 1702 - I don't get the fascination with this place. Its a pizza place (pass) on the edge of the campus of UofA. They DID have several BCBS offerings on tap while I was there, so maybe they rotate decent taps. They also just opened a small bottle shop behind the store, but it has VERY limited hours so check before you bother heading over there.

3. No idea

4. Noble Hops - I had high hopes for this place, because its about 2 miles from my in-laws house. It has a beautiful outdoor area, and is really the only option for craft in Oro Valley. The problem is they can't seem to decide if they want to be a craft beer place, or a craft food place. The food was actually pretty bad - we sent several things back, and what we kept was meh. And I was bummed that there was only 1 AZ beer on their tap list (around 28 taps) - almost everything else was generally easily available, national stuff. So we only went once. Here is the best thing I ate there - pretzel, along with a flight.



5. No idea - didn't go

6. Thunder Canyon - located in the Foothills Mall, and sort of reminded me of a Hooters. I know they also have a downtown location now (near a newish World of Beer) but didn't go to that one. Mediocre.

7. Barrio - here's where I'm going off-script from what everyone else might tell you. This place is a DUMP. Walked in the door, and the smell of mold and stale, wet beer hits you immediately. The table was sticky and gross, and we ordered 2 different beers, and both were undrinkable - obviously dirty lines (and the glassware was grossly dirty as well). Don't know if this was once a decent place, but I would NEVER go back again, based solely on my personal experience.

8. Never went, based on terrible reviews.

9. Gentle Bens - havent been there since I was a student at the UofA. I wasn't aware that anyone except students went there.

10. Pueblo Vida - no idea, didnt go.


Tap & Bottle is awesome. Great, knowledgable guys working there, very good little bottle shop in the back, and nice tap selection (they also fill growlers). I dont think they serve food, but you're 2 blocks from 4th Street, where there are tons of places to eat, and they get food trucks pretty regularly. Its a "must do" in Tucson.

Other than that, the other good bottle shop is Plaza Liquors. Great selection (picked up Pugachevs and Abyss off the shelf), but staff was not particularly friendly or helpful. You can also look for bottles at Total Wine and Bevmo, but you won't find much "special" there.

That's all I can remember right now. Please feel free to BM me if you have any other questions.

 

Dragoon.

Everything else might as well be Dirtbag’s-

http://www.yelp.com/biz/dirtbags-tucson

 

Haha Dirtbags was one of my wife's favorite places to go in college, along with Wildcat House. I tended to be found at The Cage.

Back on track - Dragoon. Go there.

 

I just moved to Tucson from Dallas, barely been here over a week, but we visited a couple of times before the move. I did some of the same research you're doing.

Honestly, Tap & Bottle should be a good bet for beers on tap/bottle selection. I've been to TC, Borderlands, and Barrio. Barrio had ok food, the BA NCAAle was nice, not really sure otherwise, kind of off the beaten path. Borderlands was enjoyable enough, they do flights, food will be from a truck. Thunder Canyon is ok, but you would be better off going to World of Beer. I've yet to get to Dragoon, but I've had the IPA, which is solid, and I've heard good things about the rest of the lineup. Pueblo Vida is young from what I've heard, they do consistent beer, but are not too adventurous with their styles yet.

Don't forget to give Total Wine, Bevmo, and Whole Foods a look along with Plaza Liquors if you're looking for bottles to take with/growler/WF has taps onsite.

I've got a bunch of stuff with me from Texas if you'd like to get together when you're in town. I'll be out of town the weekend of the 14th though. Otherwise, I hope you have an enjoyable trip.

 

I think by my 2nd year there, the shanty was the only place I could stay for more than 20 minutes without puking...or getting my nose broken.

 

THAT's the place I was trying to remember last night! LOVED that place

 

Dragoon has kinda weird hours fyi...not open Sunday if I remember correctly.

 

Not any more

Taproom Hours
Wednesday (3-10 pm)

Thursday (3-10 pm)

Friday (3-10 pm)

Saturday (12-10 pm)

Sunday (12-5 pm)

 

Just recently moved to Tucson, most of the recs above are pretty spot on but I'd definitely check out Pueblo Vida & Iron John's. Pueblo has some nice beers but they're just getting started so they only have about 5 beers on tap right now. Iron John's is really small and they only do tasters there but you can buy bottles to go, and they have new beers coming out every week which is awesome. Great people all around too.