Arizona Beer Week wraps up this weekend and Tucson is going big before it’s time to go home.
The Tucson Craft Beer Crawl brings together 27 brewers in eight venues around downtown, each bringing two to four beers for the festival.
Organizer Laura Reese says many of the brews have never been seen before, and may not be again.
“Because it is the end of beer week, a lot of them are bringing collaboration brews...specialty brews that they’ve made just for beer week.” Reese says. “So it’s kind of a nice opportunity to get a taste of some of these beers that you wouldn’t normally get from these brewers.”
This year, the event’s second, will see more tickets and venues, including a built-from-scratch beer garden in the parking lot next to 1 North Fifth apartments that Reese says organzers are “building out of thin air.”
Last year’s 300 tickets sold out a couple days before the event. This year, there will be 1,000; with 60 percent already sold 10 days out.
Each ticket includes an entry wristband and 15 tasting tickets to redeem at any of the venues. A quarter of gross ticket sales go to Tucson-based Watershed Management Group, a non-profit that focuses on sustainable living in the desert environment.
“I’m really pro-business, and really excited about the beer industry in Arizona.” Reese says. “But to responsibly grow that business, I feel we need to increase our water supply. More water equals more beer, no water equals no beer, and that’s a scary thought.”
