Tucson's growing craft beer scene creates popular pairings with restaurants

In Tucson, fine dining isn’t always accompanied by a restaurant’s best bottles of cabernet, merlot or riesling.

Sure, those are all fine options, if wine is your cup of tea.

But for craft beer enthusiasts, perhaps nothing is more satisfying than pairing a well-made meal with a locally produced (or not-so-locally produced) stout, porter or IPA.

This city loves its beer dinners. And its beer lunches. And brunches.

Tucson Hop Shop proved that theory late last month, in a collaboration brunch with popular spot Prep & Pastry and New Belgium Brewing.

The five-course menu included paprika-battered fried chicken, a spinach salad with goat cheese and maple bacon dossant bites (the restaurant’s version of the cronut). Tickets sold out quickly.

“Beer and food pairings are not just fun and educational,” said Jessie Zugerman, who owns the Hop Shop with her husband David. “They also key into that desire for a unique experience.”

While everything else in Tucson is slowing down in June, beer dinners seem to be picking up steam.

Iron John’s Brewing has several pairings planned for this month, including a beer flight dinner at Delectables on North Fourth Avenue, June 17, and a collaboration dinner with Pastiche for Father’s Day weekend, June 18-19 (more info at ironjohnsbrewing.com).

One beer-pairing dinner high up on the list in certain craft beer circles is the twice-a-year Casks and Cooks event, which takes place at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive, on Saturday, June 11.

The culinary event is a spinoff of the resort’s long-running Blues, Brews & BBQ brunches held each Sunday.

Between six and eight stations will set up on one of the resort’s patios, each station offering a meal paired with a different style of beer from local favorite, Dragoon Brewing Company.

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Past Casks and Cooks have showcased a mix of local breweries, including Pueblo Vida and 1055, but Dragoon has always been the constant.

Many of the culinary pairings are creations of the chefs who run the kitchens at the resort’s different restaurants, with Loews Ventana Canyon’s executive chef Ken Harvey getting the final say.

Last October’s Casks and Cooks offered a German menu, including currywurst, bratwurst and potato pancakes, that was then paired with a Pueblo Vida Bavarian hefeweizen, breakfast stout and Oktoberfest special.

Another concept at the same Casks and Cooks featured braised lamb barbacoa and pork ahogadas as a complement to Dragoon’s IPA and Stronghold Session Ale.

“It is an event that allows us to knock down the walls for one night and do something that we are passionate about for people in Tucson,” Harvey said. “We enjoy getting creative.”

Harvey said he and Dragoon co-founder Tristan White often meet before Casks and Cooks events to discuss possible ideas and pairing concepts.

“We have been challenging each other for a while now,” Harvey said. “We are both very passionate about what we do, so it is fun figuring out which flavors work best.”

Dragoon has teamed up with other restaurants for beer dinners, Noble Hops and the now-closed Acacia among them, and has found a good partner in Loews, White said.

“We have a great relationship with their culinary team,” he added. “I’m a foodie. It is appealing to me to talk food with someone like Ken, who does this for a living.”

Menus are still being ironed out, but among this year’s offerings, Harvey said, will be a traditional pozole with a seafood twist, a meal incorporating lobster, clams and mussels.

“We like to see what we can come up with.” Harvey said. “It’s all about balance.”