A trio of craft beer enthusiasts have started the process of opening their own brewery in an industrial area just east of Downtown.
Arroyo Chico Brewing Company is in its earliest stages, according to Mark Rogers, who is opening the spot at 2018 E. 14th St., with his college buddy Casey O'Brien and Wayne Shawver, facilities manager with Dragoon Brewing.
Rogers estimates that they are at least a year out. When completed, the brewery will serve more than half a dozen beers, including a Mexican lager and what Rogers describes as a “working man pilsner” with at least one non-beer and one non-alcoholic option available.
“We are going to have a variety of styles,” Rogers said. “People ask what my favorite beer is to make. I tell them whatever the next batch is.”
Rogers and O'Brien are friends going back to their days at the University of Arizona in the 1980s.
In more recent years, right around the time Tucson’s craft beer Renaissance was taking shape, with establishments like Dragoon Brewing and Borderlands Brewing opening their doors, the two took to homebrewing.
"My daughter gave me a Mr. Beer kit," Rogers said. "I started brewing batches. Casey loved it. He started getting into it, too."
Rogers, who works for the county, and O'Brien, a real estate appraiser, began frequenting the growing number of breweries around town and joined the local Homebrew Club.
“That is where it started,” Rogers said. “We met a lot of people. It was like an incubator. There wasn’t a jerk in the room. We all bounced ideas off each other and learned.”
Rogers said the craft beer community made setting up a brewery a more comfortable process. The three have received a lot of advice and support from other breweries around town.
“The brewing community in Tucson is fantastic,” Rogers said. “Everyone plays nice.”
Roger said Arroyo Chico will have both indoor and outdoor seating and will be dog-friendly. He believes its location, near East Broadway and South Kino Parkway, in a neighborhood that runs along the Sunshine Mile, will serve as an advantage.
“It’s on the way to downtown,” he said. “You can have a couple of beers with us, and then head on down to Pueblo Vida.”
You can follow Arroyo Chico’s progress here.
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Gerald Gay is digital content producer who comes from the world of print journalism where he spent two decades covering life in Tucson for the Arizona Daily Star before joining the KGUN 9 team. Share your story ideas with Gerald by emailing gerald.gay@kgun9.com.
