Visiting Phoenix, AZ in August

What part of town are you staying in?

 

Most of the good places are in the Tempe area. In tempe area you have Four Peaks brewing, Papago Brewing(Scottsdale but close to tempe), Boulders on Broadway, Sleepy Dog, Taste of Tops, OHSO(Arcadia) World of Beer, Mellow Mushroom or Yucca taproom. Those place are all close to each other in north tempe. In south Tempe and Chandler you have Flannys, Whole foods bar, San Tan brewing, and Hungry Monk. In downtown Phoenix you have Roosevelt Tavern, Lost Leaf, Carly's Bistro, Cooper Blues, and Angels Trumpet Ale house might be open by then. Thats a good overview of the places in the Phoenix area

 

SunUp brewing is close to Downtown Phoenix too

 

Jefeipa summed it up aptly.

Though I wouldn't want to stay near our airport unless I had no other choice in the matter.

Also wouldn't want to go to Yucca taproom, at least not after dark. I guess not in the daytime either.

 

Yucca isn't as big of a dive bar as it use to be. They have 30+ taps and nothing over $6 and cheap bottles. It is a spot for hipsters.

 

Close to the airport Phoenix Ale Brewing and Four Peaks are the closest breweries to check out. Four Peaks doesn't have air conditioning just a swamp cooler and misters so plan on hitting it at night. Bottles and drinking wise Papago and Tops are the spots to hit.

 

In August we could have some humidity if they get a monsoon when your in town.

 

If youre a hop guy, make the effort to check out SanTan in Chandler. Nowhere in Phoenix is that far if you really want some awesome brews. SanTan makes three of the best hoppy beers in Arizona. HopShock IPA, Devil's Ale, and Count Hopula blood red IPA.

 

bah, I'll take Four Peaks or Sun Up over San Tan for hoppy.

 

For bottles, Papago is #1 IMHO, Whole Foods and then Tops would follow. I'll answer for Yemenmocha, Total Wine or Bevmo. I prefer to buy my beer from places that treat craft beer right and keep it refrigerated, especially in the summer time. All 3 will also do growlers for you. At Total Wine and Bevmo you might save a couple of cents (and then again you might not) and you are guarenteed that the beer you are buying will have been sitting out on a warm store shelf. Tops has some warm beer but they do have a lot of beer in the cooler also, plus they have some good taps.

 

Az wine is good too

 

I'm sure Yemenmocha will be pleased you took the time to answer for him. That's what the craft community does- helps each other out!

 

I've noticed a lot of new breweries will be popping up in Phoenix very soon: North Mountain, Mischief, Freak n'Brew, Arizona Wilderness, Desert Eagle, Fate Brewing. 6 new ones off the top of my head, plus more from Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott, Lake Havasu - which will all be targeting the Phoenix market.

Should be interesting.

When combined with the current players, it makes you wonder if the market can support them all.

 

As long as they're as good as Four Peaks or better then I'll happily defend and spread the word for the new Arizona brewery scene. We don't need 6 more Dave Electrics, Grand Canyons or Old Worlds, so the fact that there's 6... has me worried but somewhat hopeful.

 

It's not even a good attempt at a straw man either.


You'll save dollars, not cents, by going to Total Wine and BevMo. Total Wine and possibly Whole Foods will have a larger selection than Papago too, and WF Chandler & N.Scottsdale is right up there with the 31+ tap handles of special stuff.

Just saw some Ayinger Celebrator at a local place for more than $5/single bottle vs. $3 at Total Wine. On a six count basis that's a $12/sixpack price difference. Just bought some Celis White for $6.99 Total Wine and saw it for $9 at a local place. I guess that's 200 cents, if you're counting cents. I bought a case, so that's 800 cents savings.

Bell's Two Hearted I just bought with July 25 bottling date. yeah it was warm at Total Wine. I paid $2 less per sixpack. Wait, no, I used their recurring coupon so I saved $3/sixpack.

With all of these savings, maybe I'll use it to buy the extra gas to drive all the way across town to one of the local places that only have one location instead of many convenient locations around the valley.

We ought to talk expired beers because I've noted plenty of comments about the local places (Tops among them) having old stock. You just can't compare the volumes of the smaller local places vs. the normal/low priced larger ones.

Caveat Emptor with your buy-local dogma.

 

Not as a slight to any locally owned place, but I'm with Yemen on this. I live on the West Side, not close to Papago or Taste of Tops, etc. Total Wine on 75th avenue is close, convenient, cheap, great, great selection. Never had a complaint about the employees (all of whom live 'locally' I'm guessing).

I don't drink warm beers, but once I get home and get the beers chilled, they seem fine too.