Visiting for work and was hoping to get some good beers to bring back. And find a bar or two to visit with great on tap selections. Staying at Marriott desert ridge which is north of Phoenix. Open to IP trades I'm coming from PA so here are the breweries we don't see. Alaskan Big Sky Bison Black Diamond BridgePort Butte Creek Cismontane Crooked Stave Epic (Utah) Figure 8 Four Peaks Funkwerks Gordon Biersch Grand Canyon Heretic Hermitage Indian Wells Johnny American Karl Strauss [Limited] Knee Deep Left Coast Brewery Lightning Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Lumberyard Marble Marin Maui Mother Road Mudshark New Belgium Ninkasi Nimbus Oak Creek Odell Papago Prairie Artisan Ales Pyramid Salt Lake (Squatters) Santa Fe SanTan Schirf (Wasatch) Sierra Blanca SKA Sonoran Southern Star Tap It Thunder Canyon [Draft only] Any suggestions would be great! Cheers
Not sure how far you are wanting to drive? But, you are close to the Desert Ridge Marketplace. There is a Total Wine & More there. One of our large chain stores which does have a very large selection of beer and some of the best prices. I am not too familiar with that area as I live in Gilbert which just far enough of north Phoenix that I usually don't make it up there. But I do believe there is a Yard House there also. They have a pretty large tap selection.
Aside from Total Wine and Whole Foods, there is also a Mellow Mushroom practically across the street that usually has a good tap selection. A short drive away you have Four Peaks and Moto Sushi (they have surprisingly awesome taps for a sushi place).
I just stayed in the same hotel a couple days ago (pretty nice place btw). I stopped at the wholefoods down the road (really close) and they had a good selection of Odell's among other things. My eyes were on things I can't get in CA so it was Odell's and Bells for me. The fridge has a ton of stuff but there's also a row of unrefrigerated goodies near the bar area (and sushi section) where they have a couple taps for growler fills. In the room temp section I saw Fernet Aged Porter, FiftyFifty Eclipse (3 types) and about 5 others. Ask the bartender for help rather than the regular workers. They said they were tapping Bell's Double Cream soon. We also stopped by AZ Wilderness on the way in (might be a bit far for you) and they had some interesting beers and the food was not bad. The hotel bars also had 1-2 local beers on tap.
Headed to Phoenix Memorial Day weekend (ironically, also staying at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge). Definitely planning to stop at AZ Wilderness, but would like to bring back some bottles of things I can't get in Ohio. Those Total Wine and/or Wholefoods sound like good places to start. @baybum, have you already been there and back? What did you find? Any additional recommendations?
Only made it to 1 store; Total wine. It is across the street but its a long walk back with beer. Great selection of bombers. Look for Grassroots, Deschutes, & Odell.
If you're willing to make the trek to Arizona Wilderness, then hit up Gilbert Convenient Mart too. Best selection of about 10-15 shops I visited while in PHX a few months ago, and the owners are great.
If you are going from Desert Ridge to AZ Wilderness there are a bunch of great bottle shops around. Gilbert Convenience Mart, Quick n Shine, Whole Foods Chandler, and Top's Liquor.
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the recommendations! We hit up AZ Wilderness for lunch on our way from the airport to the hotel the day we arrived. Great atmosphere, great staff (who offered plenty of other recommendations). We also had dinner at Four Peaks one night (the draft Hop Knot was good), and lunch at Fate Brewing one afternoon (their Single Hop Sour was the star there). Also ate at the Yard House one evening (the draft of Odell's Myrcenary I had that night might've been the best beer I had all vacation). The Total Wine across the street from the resort worked out great! Was able to bring home plenty of Firestone-Walker, Odell, SKA, and Maui, along with some miscellaneous canned IPAs unavailable in Ohio. Was thrilled that the day before we hit up Total Wine, they got in 12 bottles of Stickee Monkee. One bottle limit, so my wife and I each picked up a bottle. Again, thanks!
It sounds like you made some great decisions! AZ wilderness, four peaks, fate.. I would have also recommended Papago Brewing Co. if I had seen this post earlier..they usually have around 4-5 of their own great beers on tap at any given time plus around 24 guest taps from around the world.
I'll be staying in north Phx (near 101 & I 17) for Thanksgiving. Will driving to the Goose Island event on Friday be the best bet to pick up bottles of this years BCBS/variants? Or do TW/WF/BevMo spots in north Phx typically have them in stock as well? Looked like the better bottle shops were in Scottsdale/Mesa/Chandler/Gilbert while doing searches.
The ones held for Black Friday I've purchased at Total Wine, but there is usually a bottle limit and they do sell out. Go at the opening time. The smaller, locally owned shops are a bit further from you. You're a few minutes from Total Wine and BevMo in Glendale off the 101, or a few minutes east to the Desert Ridge Total Wine and maybe Whole Foods on Mayo.
Thank you! It's good to know I'll have multiple choices that day. Last year I was just able to scoop up bottles no problem but they only had BCBS and BCBW in my area. Was hoping at a shot at coffee or vanilla this go around.
