New tasting rooms on North Fourth Avenue, the Foothills
With the increase in craft breweries comes an increase in craft beer-related businesses, including two new concepts, both slated to open early next year.
North Fourth Avenue will soon be home to Ermanos Craft Beer and Wine Bar, which plans to launch in the former home of Arroyo Design at 224 N. Fourth Ave.
Ermanos is the brainchild of brothers Mark and Eric Erman. Mark is an attorney. Eric has worked as a brewer in Denver, Michigan and Portland, Oregon.
Their goal is to create what Mark calls a “progressive gastro-pub,” that will showcase local and national beers and wines, as well as an eclectic menu created by local chef David Valencia.
Mark said Ermanos will take advantage of the building’s large outdoor space, dubbed the Tophoy Courtyard, much like how La Cocina uses its outdoor space at Old Town Artisans.
There will be an entrance to Ermanos from North Fourth Avenue, but also an entrance for bicyclists off of North Hoff Avenue behind the building.
As an added bonus, Erman said Mike Gura and his long-awaited Public Brew House will soon be operating out of another one of the buildings on property.
Find out more at ermanosbrew.com online.
Also on the horizon for early 2015 is the Tucson Hop Shop, a taproom and bottle shop that will tentatively launch in early 2015.
Husband and wife David and Jessie Zugerman are still deciding on where they want to land with their concept.
Their goal is to open somewhere on the north side of Tucson, in a center like St. Philip’s Plaza or Plaza Palomino.
“If you live in the Foothills, you might not want to drive half-an-hour to get downtown,” Zugerman said. “A lot of people in the Foothills might not even realize what has happened downtown.”
The Zugermans met at the University of Oregon, where they first developed a love for craft beer. They moved to Tucson in 2001.
Their initial plan was to open a brewery three years ago, but time and finances were working against them.
With the rapid growth of Tucson’s craft beer scene, they felt another craft beer spot like Tap & Bottle could work.
In addition to serving pints and filling growlers, they also will sell one-gallon small batch brewing kits.
“Homebrewers usually start with a five-gallon kit,” Zugerman said. “You don’t realize how much liquid that is until you are making a five-gallon kit. If you make a mistake, then you have five gallons of really gross beer that took hours to make.”
Follow the bottle shop’s progress at facebook.com/tucsonhopshop online.
