Tucson bars

One of my favorite bartenders is moving to Tucson. Any locals have some good suggestions for drinking establishments? I think he is just looking for somewhere to get good beer, not necessarily to work there.

Tucson a dry town?

I don't make it down to the Old Pueblo as much as I should.

You need to PM DesertBrew. I know he's been crazy busy of late and I'm not sure that he looks at all of the threads.

He just posted in Orfy's pub thread about an Irish place and I know his local is a brewpub that he knows the people at real well.

The Bum Steer might be worth checking out. It was originally a fat rendering plant and the inside looks like a tornado in your grandmother's attic. Haven't been there in five years, but at the time there was a good selection on tap. Sounds like it is more of a club than a pub these days.

He know where he's going to live yet? Tucson proper is 195 sq miles and metro area 600. That's always a little misleading but from the far NW to far SE is still a good hours drive metro.

If he's central you can never go wrong with bars near U of A. Unless he has something against college females walking around in 90+ degree attire . Really depends on the scene he's after as well with the common denominator being good beer. College crowd, biker/blue collar, quiet/boring white collar like me.

His girlfriend is a grad student, not sure if it's at U of A. I would assume he would try to live nearby, but economics might prevent that. The bar he currently works at is a hippie dive bar during school months, most of the females show up from UNH in heavy clothes with unwashed hair. Since the bar has the only good beer selection in town (also probably within an hour's drive), we get a nice cross-section of yuppies, blue collar, and year-round hippies for the summer months.

Thanks all for responding btw, I was getting antsy. He had been to Tucson a couple months ago and was extremely disappointed in the couple of bars he saw. I promised him I would get a name or two of somewhere decent to drink.

He was excited to be able to buy Stone products, we gotta smuggle them in around here.

Gentle Bens is in the U of A area. I haven't been in 5 years or so.

Since DB didn't pimp it. Thunder Canyon which is in the boring white collar burbs.
Nimbus is the local bottler of note.

Grad school would be UA. I wouldn't doubt it if he ends up living central too then; affordable. I fell in love with the atmosphere at the www.aulddubliner.com pub which is right near the university. If I wasn't married 1/2 my house would be looking like that place. Not that much on tap (10?); but all irish/english style.

I don't get down there that often but other places all within walking distance on University or 4th Ave w/ plenty of selection:

Frog and Firkin (small, converted house, outside seating as well)
Maloney's (huge place)
O'Malleys (Huger place or maybe the other way around)
Gentle Bens Brewing Company (never been)

Up the street 2 mi on Campbell - Old Chicago (chain but great pizza, too many taps to count + bottles, still college presence but not quite as much as above). Not like I need to tell you/him this but bars near campus are either real quiet or bouncers monitoring the cattle in/out. Depends when ya go.

6-7 miles south and hard to find in the industrial district is Nimbus Brewery. Drink amongst the 30' high fermenters. Biker/factory centric.

That's a start...

Thanks all, that should keep him lubricated for awhile.

Since you mentioned Stone, one more thing. Plaza Liquors on Campbell for takeout. It's small but if you want it, it's probably hiding somewhere. Crazy selection.

olllllo mentioned my place. almost stumble home distance. Yea, work is beckoning me back

+1 for Gentle Bens

I also agree with the previous post about Thunder Canyon -- kinda boring.

I really liked Breckenridge Brewery, but hear they've long since shut down their Tuscon restaurant.

Breckenridge. Yea, I used to go there all the time when we 1st moved here. Place always seemed hopping and then boom, Closed. Seemed wierd. Closed in 98 I think.

screw work, I'm gonna start drinking instead. .


Ok, youngins; explain to middle aged guy wtf this is below (pic nabbed from that irish pub). Yea, I know its red bull but is this common or unique to this place??

We used to hang out at a couple of Irish-type pubs near each other by 4th Ave. One was significantly better, but I can't remember either of the names off-hand.

Try the Cow Pony on the other side of town if you want some good ol' down to earth fun with a lowbrow biker crowd.

yeah i've seen some girls drinking that crap at the auld dubliner. the name is a ___ trashcan (can't recall what the blank is probably irish but might be some other word). looks gross, probably tastes gross and i haven't seen it anywhere else. it might be served at their sister store in las vegas but that's all i can think of. oh and i was surprised no one mentioned the shanty. not quite the human meat market that the rest of 4th ave can be but they have plenty of beers (draft and bottles) and the porch is open year-round.

DesertBrew said:

Since you mentioned Stone, one more thing. Plaza Liquors on Campbell for takeout. It's small but if you want it, it's probably hiding somewhere. Crazy selection.

Click to expand...

o wow, I love that place. And its right around the corner from brew your own

My family goes way back in Tucson (owns AAA Lock & Key).......they did all the locks at U of A. I'm not a big fan of the town personally....had my brand new truck broken into! I know the country bars are pretty popular out there....line dancin' is big.....and so are the tips!