McFate Brewing Co. – Scottsdale, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Brewpub, Greater Phoenix Area, Microbrewery, Scottsdale, Wine

Located at 7337 E Shea Blvd, Ste 105, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
Open Mon-Thurs 3p-1p; Fri & Sat 11a-11p; Sun 11a-10p
http://www.fatebrewing.com

Note that as of June 2016 Fate Brewing Co. has officially changed it’s name to McFate Brewing Co. after a legal battle with another brewery, also named Fate from Colorado or some shit. The original name is still used in this review as this was posted long before the name change.

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I know I give the greater Phoenix area a lot of shit. I’ve complained about the heat, the abundance of chain restaurants and stores, the cold, uninviting feeling of the city that makes you feel like a burden for even existing and the deep, dark despair  you feel after hours stuck in rush hour traffic. Like your own car is an oven and it’s slowly getting smaller and the constant stop-and-go on the highway starts to almost make you feel seasick while the brake lights of the car in front of you start blink on and off and start to mesmerize you, as if they’re blinking a secret message directly to you and you start to wonder if the Hyundai Sonata is trying to tell you that your life is meaningless and the job you’ll commute to every single day for the rest of your life is slowly eating away at your soul-

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Mother Road Brewing Co. – Flagstaff, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Flagstaff, Microbrewery, Northern Arizona

Located at 7 S. Mikes Pike St, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Open Mon-Thurs 3p-8p; Fri 3p-9p; Sat 12p-9p; Sun 12p-8p
http://www.motherroadbeer.com

The term “Mother Road” is a nickname given to U.S. Route 66, the famous highway that stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles. Route 66 is historically significant because it ran through several rural towns which gave farmers in the early 1900s an easier way to distribute their produce. Plus the road was a huge boon to the U.S. trucking industry in the 30s, right around the time it started being a popular alternative to transporting goods via railroads. And if that wasn’t enough the highway was also the route taken by hundreds of thousands of people heading west to escape the U.S. Dust Bowl in the 30s.

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Golden Rule Vineyards – Cochise, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Cochise, Southern Arizona, Vineyard, Willcox Wine Trail, Wine

Located at 3525 N Golden Rule Rd, Cochise, AZ 85606
Open Thurs-Sun 11a-5p
https://www.goldenrulevineyards.com

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I’ve mentioned before that Arizona has three main Wine Trails where grapes are grown: Verde Valley, Sonoita and Willcox. Today is our first visit to the latter but we’re not exactly heading to the town of Willcox. Instead we’re in a small town called Cochise which is an hour East of Tucson and Sonoita and is less than half-an-hour West of Historic Downtown Willcox.

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Desert Eagle Brewing Company – Mesa, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Brewpub, Greater Phoenix Area, Mesa, Microbrewery

Located at 150 W Main St, Mesa, AZ 85201
Open Mon 3p-10p, Tue-Fri 3p-12a, Sat 11a-12p, Sun 11a-9p
www.deserteaglebrewing.com

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Arizona has a rich history and I try to learn a little bit about it each time I visit a new town while working on this blog. Today we’re in Historic Downtown Mesa, a suburb east of Phoenix and Tempe, visiting a place called Desert Eagle Brewing. I had with me my trusty pamphlet, issued by a group called the Mesa Preservation Foundation, that mapped Mesa’s Downtown Walking Tour.

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Gentle Ben’s Brewing Co. & Barrio Brewing Co. – Tucson, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Brewpub, Liquor, Microbrewery, Southern Arizona, Tucson

Gentle Ben’s located at 865 E University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85719
Open Mon-Sat 11a-10p; Sun 12p-10p
http://www.gentlebens.com

Barrio located at 800 E 16th St, Tucson, AZ 85719
Open Mon-Weds 11a-10p; Thurs-Sat 11a-12a; Sun 11a-9p
http://www.barriobrewing.com

Mining isn’t the only major industry in Arizona’s history. Ranching has also been a big part of the state’s economy for the past few hundred years. Today we’re back in Tucson. The town is located in Pima County which was home to a huge ranching boom in the late 1800s. It was such a big deal at the time that a law enforcement agency called the Arizona Rangers was created in 1901 primarily to deal with cattle thieves…and also to suppress striking Mexican miners but let’s not worry about that right now.

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Prescott Brewing Company – Prescott, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Brewpub, Liquor, Microbrewery, Prescott, Southern Arizona

Located at 130 W Gurley St, Prescott, AZ 86301
Open Sun-Thurs 11a-9p; Fri & Sat 11a-10p
https://www.prescottbrewingcompany.com

Prescott  Brewing Company is probably the polar opposite of the last brewery I visited in this town: Black Hole Beer Company. Prescott Brewing has a traditional sports bar feel and the place gets packed when there’s a big football game happening and has hostesses that tell you it’ll be twenty minutes before a table is available on a busy day. If Black Hole is the hip, young, new Indie band amassing cult appeal then Prescott Brewing is Coldplay. Shut up, I love Coldplay.

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SanTan Brewing Company – Chandler, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Brewpub, Chandler, Greater Phoenix Area, Liquor, Microbrewery, Strippers

Located at 8 S San Marcos Pl, Chandler, AZ 85225
Open Sun-Thurs 8a-11p; Fri & Sat 8a-12a
http://www.santanbrewing.com

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The town of Chandler is a suburb of Phoenix with a long history of cotton farming. A few places in town have the word “historic” attached to them but I have to say that the term seems like a misnomer. I’ve written about other “historic” places like Bisbee, Prescott and Jerome. Chandler has a more modern, fabricated feel to it. Its cookie-cutter houses and major-chain-businesses make the place pretty much indistinguishable from the surrounding suburbs like Mesa and Gilbert. I don’t mean to shit on the town but I doubt I’d ever be making a trip to Chandler at all if I wasn’t visiting today’s microbrewery. Especially considering that the only strip club in town was closed for Easter Sunday, which totally screwed up my holiday plans something fierce.

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Charron Vineyards – Vail, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Sonoita/Elgin Wine Trail, Southern Arizona, Vail, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 1858 S Sonoita Highway, Vail, AZ 85641
Open Fri-Sun 10a-6p
http://www.charronvineyards.com

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Summer is coming. People who live in this state usually don’t have ambiguous feelings over that statement. They’re either incredibly relieved to be able to walk around in t-shirts and shorts and have longer stretches of sunlight in their days or they’re super pissed that it isn’t getting pitch black at 6PM anymore and that they can’t go outside in a suit without passing out from dehydration.

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Historic Brewing Company – Flagstaff, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Flagstaff, Microbrewery, Strippers

Located at 4366 E Huntington Dr, Flagstaff, AZ 86004
Open Wed-Fri 4p-9p; Sat & Sun 2p-7p
http://www.historicbrewingcompany.com

The last time we talked about Flagstaff we didn’t stray far from downtown and the two places I visited were just a few minutes walking distance away from each other. Today we’re taking Route 66 and heading about ten-to-fifteen minutes east of downtown to find a place called Historic Brewing Company. Don’t be afraid when the activity starts to die down and you find yourself crossing train tracks and wandering into an industrial park. You’re in the right place.

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Caduceus Cellars & Merkin Vineyards – Jerome, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Jerome, Northern Arizona, Verde Valley, Verde Valley Wine Trail, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 158 Main Street, Jerome, AZ 86331
Open Sun-Thurs 11a-6p, Fri-Sat 11a-8p, 365 days a year
https://caduceus.org

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Northern Arizona is home to a region called Verde Valley, which itself is home to what’s known as a “Wine Trail.” I haven’t brought this up in any of my previous posts about vineyards so far because they were all preoccupied with some bullshit short story or whatever but a Wine Trail is a region that’s conducive to growing grapes for wine production due to its elevation. Arizona has three main Wine Trails and each one has its own handful of vineyards/wineries/tasting rooms.

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