On a recent visit to Arizona I had the opportunity to twice visit Iron John's Brewing Company, near downtown Tucson, must a bit south of the University of Arizona campus.
Iron John's is a nanobrewery, started by head brewer John Adkisson. Adkisson was a homebrewer for twenty-five years, and long ago set his sights on opening his own brewery. Two tears ago he made it happen, and it is a lovely little brewery.
The brewery is set up in one of those warehouse/shop space strip mall sort of places and is pretty nondescript from the outside, but inside is a cute, welcoming little tap room. The people who work there are really nice, willing to answer questions and make suggestions, and happy to chat with newcomers and regulars alike, about beer or whatever happens to come up.
Iron John's has a two barrel batch capacity, put out on a brewing setup
designed and built by Adkisson around two 60-gal soup kettles, obtained,
I was told, second-hand from a prison kitchen.
As for the beers, not only are they tasty, but Iron John's is committed to expressing theri region in their brews. Code Talker. for example, was named after Chester Nez, a Navajo Code Talker who served with the Marine Corps.in WWII. El Tiradito Belgian Triple is named after a beloved local shrine. And, it goes beyond just names: In Saison de Juhki, named after the rainy season using the Papago word for rain, they seek to evoke the "smell of the coming monsoon rain" by brewing the beer with sage, orange peel, and creosote flowers.
I started with a flight of four 4-oz samplers, and liked what I had so much that I went for the remaining two beers on the tap list plus a taste of Pedro, a nice double IPA brewed with almonds and pine nuts, which was being offered from the bottle. For me, the standouts were Saison de Juhki, Hey Momo Belgian Peach Wheat ale, and El Tiradito (I liked this one so much I had it on both visits and took a bottle home).
Iron John's Brewing Co.
245 S Plumer Ave #27
Tucson AZ 85719
ironjohnsbrewing.com
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