And we’ve finally made it to Phoenix – or close enough to Phoenix that we’re just going to call it Phoenix. The first stop on our way to the Air BnB was an unusual detour to the ‘Anthem Veterans Memorial’ in Anthem Arizona. This completely unusual memorial can only be seen in full 1 day out of the year; Veterans Day (11/11) at precisely 11:11 am. At 11:11, the monument presents the Great Seal of the United States. We were a few days late to see the 11/11 in full effect, but we were just passing through a few days later and were just in time for the show. It’s certainly worth the visit – but get there early because you will not be the only person.
As a side note before we discuss our top 5 of Phoenix – One thing we noticed early in our Arizona beerventure is that every brewery has a kitchen; which is crazy coming from the north east where many breweries are BYOF or have food trucks parked out front. In our opinion, this was great for streamlining our beerventure but also very overwhelming.
In no specific order, or favorite breweries of the Phoenix area were Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co., O.H.S.O. Brewery + Distillery, 8 Bit Aleworks, Fate Brewing Company and Four Peaks Brewing Co.
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co.
If you do any preliminary research into the PHX or AZ beer scene, you will immediately notice Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co coming up to the top of everyone’s favorite stop; and we completely agree it should be one of yours as well. There are two AZ Wilderness venues you can partake in: The Gilbert Brewpub and the Downtown Phoenix Beer Garden. Unfortunately time and travel did not permit us to hit the actual brewpub but we were only a short walk away from the beer garden which is an amazing scene at night. The outdoor seating feels like a desert oasis, there is live music and fire pits around for those colder nights.
The majority of the beer selection is GO BIG OR GO HOME. That’s right, big flavor profiles are boiling over at AZ Wilderness. Our two favorites of our flight were the Watermelon Gose and the Double Picacho Pecan Pie Brown Ale. The Watermelon Gose was unlike any watermelon beer we’ve ever had before. It was real watermelon flavor, and the gose was only modestly tart – perfect for someone who normally overlooks the gose style. The Double Pecan was a thick and rich 11% brown ale that tastes like creamy liquid pecan pie. Considering how packed AZ Wilderness was, and the quality of our flight – we’re assuming that most (or every) beer that comes out of AZ is liquid gold.
AZ Wilderness also has a bunch of sustainability efforts going on to help reduce the impact that the craft beer expansion has on our environment.
O.H.S.O. Brewery
With four locations, OHSO is hard to miss on your PHX Beerventure. We hit the brew-stillery at their Arcadia location but if you can’t make it to Arcadia you have the chance to drink their beers and spirits at the North Scottsdale, Paradise Valley or GIlbert locations. The Arcadia was jam packed and had a nightclub vibe on the interior, and a casual picnic feel on the patio out back.
OHSO has what we lovingly refer to as baby flight glasses so we were able to try 7 of the best they had to offer here. Our favorites of the flight were BOOM Dynamite Key Low and Castle Byers. BOOM Dynamite is an AZ take on the NE juice bomb. There was big grapefruit and other citrus notes, in a smooth 7%/60 IBU form; very juicy.
Key Low is a milk sugar fruited sour with a creamy vanilla and key lime flavor. My mouth is watering reminiscing about this beer. Another sour, and my personal favorite of the flight was Castle Byers – a pineapple upside beer. Yeah like the cake or the shot, but this was in beer form and is perfectly crafted to hit all the buttons my favorite shot does.
There is an honorable mention for the Orange Creamcycle (yes, creamcycle) hard seltzer because it tasted like those Flintsone vitamins growing up. If you’re our age or older, you know what I’m talking about. There is just something about that flavor that we love, despite being so artificial tasting.
Something Other Than Beer
Yes, this sounds like heresy but sometimes you need to do things other than beer. Two of our favorite non-beer stops, and geographically right next door to each other are the Desert Botanical Garden and the Phoenix Zoo. The massive botanical garden is a self-guided walking tour through a variety of botanical exhibits – which unsurprisingly is made up primarily of cactus. There are nearly two thousand species of cactus, but they all kind of look like the same 5. Still, it was a great change of pace to burn some calories.
In our humble opinion, it’s not a Beerventure if you miss out on some sort of animal attraction like a zoo, aquarium or cat cafe. The Phoenix Zoo is a site not to be missed, the massive exhibits are diverse and entertaining.
8 Bit Aleworks
This brewery is a perfect stop to just hang out at. There are old generation game consoles around, delicious beers on tap and a friendly owner (Ryan, aka Player 1) behind the bar serving up video game named beers like Mana Potion and Health Potion.
If you didn’t already guess, yes we had Health and Mana Potions and we were floored. Neither beer really restored health or magical ability, but they were both equally amazing. Health Potion is a vibrant red ale with tons of boysenberry, cinnamon and vanilla. It has a smooth mouth feel with a bit of tart and spice. Mana Potion is a crazy blue/purple colored NEIPA that appears to change colors nonstop – one might actually think the beer was magical. It has the classic juice forward beer mentality, but in a color(s?) so unusual we can’t even describe it.
8 Bit Aleworks is a prime example of a laid back brewery run by owners dedicated to the craft who add a touch of their own uniqueness. This is one of the few breweries on our trip to AZ that we would call a locals watering hole and certainly one I’d spend hours at if we lived in town.
Fate Brewing Company
Fate Brewing Company is one of those breweries with personality disorder. On one side of the menu they have your traditional craft beer styles with nothing unique going on, but on the other side of that same menu is a full throttle ride into the usual. Naturally being Beerventurers we try and skip straight to the unusual past the average or mundane sounding beers; no offense to our Reinheitsgebot puritans!
Before we get to our top two contenders let’s talk about chili beers. People love ’em or hate ’em. They run the full gambit of beer styles and up and down the scoville scale. On many occasions we’ve had scorched palates and tearing eyes so that is pretty much our chili beer baseline. So having a sample of Hatch Chile Gatos at Fate was an immense pleasure. There was actual chili flavor (not just fire) and only a mild heat which paired perfectly with a massive pile of nachos. We don’t often say this, but the chile beer was absolutely refreshing. If you normally stray away from chili beers, give this one a shot.
After you sink your teeth into some nachos and chili beers, you have to wash that down with some candy bars – no, we’re not kidding. Candy Bar Milk Stout and King Size Candy Bar Milk Stout may have been the two greatest stouts of our trip – frankly it’s probably a toss up with Astro Cookie from Dark Sky Brewing in Flagstaff. Melissa was a bigger fan of the 5% Candy Bar Milk stout for its rich peanut, cacao nib and vanilla flavors while I was more focused on the King Size Candy Bar stout which was an 11% version aged in Four Roses barrels. Both beers were extremely creamy but King Size had this nice whiskey finish for those of us who enjoy a bit of char and oak.
If fate isn’t bringing you to Fate, give destiny the finger and take that detour to see what’s going on in this delicious brewpub. There are three of them so I’m sure you can make it to at least one of them!
Four Peaks Brewing Company
Disclaimer: This is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. I know there are strong feelings about InBev in our craft community but as Beerventurers it is our occupational hazard to consume big beer sometimes – when warranted.
Four Peaks is one of those times when macro beer is warranted. By far the most famous brewery in Phoenix, and a staple in the community, this brewpub has a massive lineup of food and beers. It’s also conveniently located next to the airport, making it a perfect last brewery before that red-eye back home. Our two recommendations are the Double Knot IPA and the Grapefruit Radler. Double Knot is advertised as dangerously smooth and drinkable – they’re not wrong. While not being huge fans of grapefruit, the Grapefruit Radler was thirst quenching and hard to hate.
PHX Honorable Mentions
We would also like to give an Honorable Mention to the meadery right next to 8 Bit Brewing; Scale & Feather Meadery. After our stop at 8 Bit, we decided to take a short detour to Scale & Feather, located right across the driveway in the same industrial park. When you walk into the meadery you will notice that it’s a nerdy DnD paradise. Several patrons were playing tabletop games and all of the staff’s job titles are related to role playing games. We enjoyed the mead and the company so much we actually spent almost two hours there! Completely throwing the rest of our day off. But like Superstition Meadery in Prescott, Scale & Feather is another one of those detours you really have to hit; budget your time accordingly because you will love this place.
If mead isn’t for you, you must hit Cider Corps over in Mesa. Their variety of ciders is unparalleled in our long Beerventuring experience. If you happen to visit during and see any cider with the word pie in it, you will not be disappointed. Cider Corp isn’t a hard detour either, it is conveniently located next to Oro Brewing Company, Desert Eagle Brewing Company, and 12 West Brewing.
And that about wraps things up from Arizona!
