Phoenix Restaurant Guide

It was a hot August night in 2001 when the doors of the little brick building on East Camelback Road finally opened to the public. It had been a long, arduous project to renovate the old buildings. Plumbing needed to be redone, kitchen fixtures and appliances had to be installed, bars, tables, parking lots paved, taps and booths all needed to be put in place. The list of construction projects seemed endless as the property and infrastructure got a complete makeover. However one local independent businessman knew that these old original bricks would shine up nice when complemented by the stained glass windows he envisioned and the pub type atmosphere that he so desired. But as we all know, "Good things come to those who wait" and after a year or more of construction the Sonora brewhouse was off and running in the summer of 2001. We served the beers of the separately owned Sonora Brewing Company. Our taps streamed with six of their regular beers, their cask conditioned ale, the Rootbeer and a myriad of seasonal ales. The Brewery already had a following as they had been in business since 1996. It was those followers that became the first pilgrims in our ever growing customer base.

In the fall of 2004 the owners of Sonora Brewing Company sold their brewery and we were faced with some big decisions to either change our format or renovate our other buildings into a brewery. Never before had we even dreamed of being in the brewing business and now faced with it the thought seemed daunting. Reminders of past microbreweries that had tried and filed in the Central Corridor surfaced. In the end we jumped in and began yet another long construction renovation. The seven barrel system that looms behind the floor to ceiling glass in our Brewer's Den is the fruits of our labor and February 14, 2006 marked a new chapter in our history. You see, this was the day that the first three beers brewed on site flowed.