Where Phoenix drinks local: brewpubs, taprooms and the new wave.
Taprooms, brewpubs and the local beer scene in Phoenix worth taking a tram to.
Four Peaks Brewing in Tempe is Arizona's best-known craft brewery, pouring its flagship Kilt Lifter Scottish-style ale from a brick warehouse since 1996.
Order: A pint of Kilt Lifter, the multiple-medal flagship Scottish ale.
Tip: The original 8th Street brewery is the room to visit; the Wilson taproom is the production site.
Wren House Brewing on North 24th Street brews from a 1930s bungalow back-building, an Arizona-roots craft brewery pouring in the cottage taproom since 2015.
Order: Whatever hop-forward release is fresh; Wren House's IPAs draw the lines.
Tip: The bungalow taproom is small; a new Paradise Valley location focuses on cask ales.
Arizona Wilderness DTPHX on Roosevelt Street is the downtown beer garden of a sustainability-focused brewery, rotating 15 to 30 beers built on local grain.
Order: Ask what is fresh on the local-grain board; the lineup turns daily.
Tip: The Roosevelt Row beer garden is the downtown room; the original brewpub is in Gilbert.
Greenwood Brewing on Roosevelt Street is a woman-owned downtown Phoenix brewpub, pouring its own craft beer in a bright Roosevelt Row taproom.
Order: A flight to taste the in-house range; the patio runs the social hour.
Tip: On the Roosevelt Row stretch near Arizona Wilderness; easy to pair the two on a brewery walk.
Huss Brewing's Tempe taproom pours the family-run brewery's craft range from its production site, one of the larger Arizona-owned beer makers.
Order: The Scottsdale Blonde or a seasonal release from the taproom board.
Tip: The Tempe taproom is at the production brewery; check the rotating release list before you go.